April 5, 2016

Animation Reel, Bricks in Motion, and Hungry Harry

Yet again, I forgot I had a blog. I removed the link to my blog from my bookmarks because I figured I didn’t need it cluttering up the place, thus, I forgot it existed. So, where have I been for the past few months? Well, like I’ve said before, you can find my whereabouts on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. (I use Twitter the most, btw)

But to sum it up for you loyal stalker blog readers, I’ll link all THREE (huge number I know) videos I’ve made in the past four months.

2016 Animation Reel

This is a summary of the best pieces of animation I made in 2014 and 2015. Sure, it’s not that impressive, but just you wait, I’ll knock some socks off this year in animation! *writes note that I need to animate some socks getting knocked off, then puts it in a video and calls it a reel*

Bricks in Motion: The Documentary – LEGO Titles VFX Breakdown

Back in late 2015, after Sola Luna, Philip Heinrich, owner of BricksInMotion.com, and creator of the Bricks in Motion Documentary (a feature length documentary featuring the super nerdy niche hobby of brickfilming and showing how cool the people that make brickfilms really are!), contacted me (I think this is officially a run-on sentence) asking me to create some practical FX for the film. Well, my job was to design and build LEGO-brick words (names of the featured people in the film) and light and photograph them to line up with real scenes. Don’t understand what I’m talking about? Watch the video to find out.

Hungry Harry

A user on BricksInMotion.com hosted a little one-day event where people make brickfilms based on a theme, and I participated. The result was my weirdest film yet, Hungry Harry (if you can discover the actual title from within the video, you get a virtual muffin). There’s not much to say about this video, you have to watch it to see what it’s about.

Hopefully, I’ll keep this blog at least partially updated in the future, but who really knows!

-rioforce

November 22, 2015

Why’s it so quiet around here?

Hey all! It’s been really quiet around the blog lately. In fact, it’s been quiet for a while now. I did threaten to bring back this blog once, but I lost interest quickly, unfortunately. The fact is, I’m not finding much time for blogging anymore. Nowadays, I’m far more active on YouTube, Twitter, Vine, Facebook (barely), and forums. Especially with my animation, I find it easier to simply tweet about things than to make a whole blog post. However, maybe I will eventually revive this old blog and do something with it. So, if you’re missing me (which, if you are, you probably need to go see a psychiatrist :P), you can check out my social media pages, and we can chat there:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/rioforce

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_rioforce

Vine: https://vine.co/u/1277152170340667392

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rioforce-Animations-889986401033861/

Thanks!

-rioforce

November 13, 2015

(un)denial – Brickfilm

Here’s a film I made for Bricks in Motion’s “The Citizen of the Year LIVES” contest. I made the film in September, couldn’t release it until November 1st. I keep forgetting that I have a blog around here, so this post is a bit late, but not too terribly late, I suppose.

I also made this for the secondary TCOTY Lives contest, which was an art contest:

September 5, 2015

Sola Luna

I made this film for Bricks in Motion’s contest Darkness & Light. I won’t give much away about the plot so that you will watch it, but I can tell you that I had a lot of fun working on this classic space inspired movie. Hear that? Classic space! Yeah, you know you’re a sucker for classic space! Oh, you’re not reading this anymore, you watching it? That’s fine with me! 😉

UPDATE: I came in first place in Darkness & Light! Thank you all for your support and for enjoying the video! 🙂

August 2, 2015

Balancing Animation with the YouTube System

YouTube-Animation-BalanceSo, you’re an animator. You know the insides and out of the animation process, and you understand what it is to make good content that is worth both your time and the viewers time. Good for you! But what happens when you want to grow your YouTube audience and attempt to be a “popular” YouTube animator?

The problem is, it’s basically impossible to be a YouTube animation “star” unless you have a team of people that can work quickly and devote tons of hours into animation.

Now, popularity isn’t everything. Getting popular on YouTube shouldn’t be your life’s goal. YouTube stars rise and fall more quickly than the Roman Empire. As a filmmaker, you should strive to make great content and express yourself in the videos you create. However, there is always that “I want to get my content watched by more people” feeling.

So that’s where I will begin. With you, the animator, wanting to grow your YouTube fanbase and gain visibility.

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July 26, 2015

The Surveillance Situation • Behind the Scenes

On July 18th, an annual week-long LEGO animation contest started on BricksInMotion.com. It is called BRAWL 2015 (Brickfilm Rapidly All Week Long), and contestants are to, like it’s name implies, make a brickfilm in one week. I entered said contest, and produced the following video:

The Surveillance Situation

This film is based on a series of films I began in BRAWL 2014. This series follows Captain D. Rom, a very goofy cop with a sidekick named Laura (who seems to end up being the unnoticed real hero). You can watch the other two Captain D. Rom films here:

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March 16, 2015

(Fan news) Bound – Brickfilm Epic Released

LEGO Universe News!

This is not official LEGO news, this is news of the LEGO fan community.

MS_Bound_dvd-storeMonitogo Studios, a sibling-started LEGO film company, has officially released their first feature film, Bound. Bound is a 49 minute stop-motion epic. Read a synopsis below:

An incredible stop motion adventure following two children and an old man on a quest to rescue their brother from the clutches of a fearsome foe. Following Zathen’s abduction by his worst enemy, his two younger siblings must learn to face unknown fears and follow the guidance of a wiser man. Amidst harsh weather, villains, and twisted backstory, the trio’s dedication to their quest will be firmly tested. Climaxing at the enemy stronghold, Bound provides an interesting and fun adventure for the family in a format and scale never before seen in brickfilm. After all, there are no holds barred when someone’s soul is on the line.bound1

Imagined and…

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January 6, 2015

New Recruits (THAC XII)

Captain D. Rom is the best cop around. Sometimes he is a little too good. While looking for new police officers, he looses control and launches into interigation mode in the comedic police brickfilm.

Voice Actors:
Harrison Allen: https://www.youtube.comannoyingnoisesinc
Walter Benson: https://www.youtube.com/walterbensonvids
Brick7: http://www.bricksinmotion.com/forums/…

MADE IN (under) 24 HOURS! Yep, that’s right. I started at 7:00 am on January 3, 2015, and am ending when this finished uploading at about 5:00 am on the 4th. Made for a contest on BricksInMotion.com called THAC XII (That’s “Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 12).

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