SDS Studios - Films

Films

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Quicktime Version

Length: 00:08:40 (8 minutes, 40 seconds) Format: Quicktime Size: 30.0 MB

This was arguably the closest I've come to not finishing a film for a contest deadline. Though I started filming this in February, after the Friendships and Rivalries contest was announced on Brickfilms.com, I progressed very slowly and really had to rush with editing near the end. As with The Man with the Top Hat, Joseph Frank has scored this film. Unfortunately, (and this really was my fault) he didn't have very much time to score it, but I think he still did a great job considering.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:02:06 (2 minutes, 6 seconds) Format: Realplayer Size: 10.4 MB

Like the first Abduction, this film is an entry to one of Brickfilms.com's Twenty-Four Hour Animation contests. Though it doesn't have much to do with the contest's theme ("giving"), I was bent on making an Abduction sequel, since I've always wanted to do an alien invasion film but have never come up with a good script and had the time. With this, I was able to broaden the concept in Abduction, allowing the potential for more sequels.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:02:09 (2 minutes, 9 seconds) Format: RealPlayer Size: 5.1 MB

The Dark Apprentice trailer was the film I began working on for the LEGO Star Wars Moviemaking Challenge, but abandoned when the rules were announced and I realized it wouldn't work very well (I ended up making The Exiguous Eschewal instead). About a month ago I decided to finish it, after completely rethinking the story. Originally, this was based mainly on Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire novel, but I decided to shift the focus more to the parts of the trailer from Kevin J. Anderson's Dark Apprentice.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:01:35 (1 minute, 35 seconds) Format: Realplayer Size: 5.1 MB

Another contest entry, this time for the 3rd Twenty-Four Hour Animation Contest on Brickfilms.com, Abduction is a short suspense/horror film involving aliens, hence the title. It was made in 16 hours, and that includes everything. The contest theme wasn't announced until its start, so I had to think up the film's story within that time span as well. The film ended up a lot shorter than I expected, but I still think it manages to be very creepy, especially with the music I chose.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:01:59 (1 minute, 59 seconds) Format: RealPlayer Size: 18.3 MB

Star Wars: The Exiguous Eschewal is my entry in the LEGO Star Wars Moviemaking Challenge. It didn't make it to the semi-finalists (and neither did any of the other good entries) mainly because I don't believe that anyone even watched it before picking the semi-finalists. The LEGO Company doesn't seem to have planned the contest very well, and as a result, all the best entries were ignored, no doubt because they were submitted just before the deadline. I was very disappointed, since I went to quite a lot of work to make this.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:05:59 (5 minutes, 59 seconds) Format: RealPlayer Size: 19.1 MB

My entry into the Brickfilms.com IDEA Competition, The Inventor is about... well, an inventor. Though the film never says so, it is meant to take place in 18th century England, however there are a few time continuity errors that would suggest otherwise. Much like my other films, the story is not the strength of The Inventor. It is rather simple and, especially at the end, confusing. Still, though, I am mostly pleased with how it turned out. Alexander Suppe did a brilliant job on the music, which in my mind really adds to the enjoyment of the film.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:14:00 (14 minutes) Format: RealPlayer Size: 34.6 MB

By far my longest film to date, the Tompa City Menace is the sequel to my last film, the Man with the Top Hat. It is separated into two parts, the first of which tells the story of how the Man with the Top Hat got started as a criminal, and the second part continues the story started in the first film. I have made a great effort in this film to remove confusion in the story, since both my last two films had this problem. However, there are still a few things that are not fully explained; this is intentional, of course, and I hope it doesn't detract from the film.

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RealPlayer Version

Length: 00:06:30 (6 minutes, 30 seconds) Format: RealPlayer Size: 16.2 MB

The Man with the Top Hat is my entry into the Brickfilms.com Fame, Infamy and Glory contest. I started it at the beginning of May 2006 and finished principle photography around the end of May. Then I sent it off to Joseph Frank (the Duke) for the music. He produced a simply amazing score that my film would be nothing without. I submitted it just two days before the deadline. When the results came in, I found that my film had placed sixth overall, which isn't bad since this is technically my first film (I finished it before Capastroid, and my montage clips don't count).

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Windows Media Version

Length: 00:04:29 (4 minutes, 29 seconds) Format: Windows Media Size: 14.5 MB

Capastroid is one of my first full length films done at 15fps (by "full length," I mean longer than 20 seconds). The only other films I've done (my montage clips), were very short, and required no sound editing on my part (since the sound was taken from the movie). This film, on the other hand, was done entirely by me.

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QuickTime Version

Length: 00:00:18 (18 seconds) Format: QuickTime Size: 5.47 MB

This montage clip is my favorite 18 seconds in all six of the Star Wars movies turned into LEGO®. I would estimate that this clip is about 60 percent CG, so what you see in it is nothing like what I filmed. Every shot had about 10 layers of effects, such as smoke, sparks, dust, lightsabers, clashes, lights, lava, backgrounds and more.

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QuickTime Version

Length: 00:00:13 (13 seconds) Format: QuickTime Size: 4.01 MB

A short clip I made for BrickFest 2006. This took me three days to make, and it was the first film I made in After Effects. Overall, I think it turned out great, and am especially happy with how well the animation fit the sound from The Phantom Menace, but there are a few small things that bug me, such as the clay holding Darth Maul's lightsaber to his hand in the first shot.