The Apartment (second episode in the Ben and Jerry series)

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May 12, 2003 at 9:16 pm #2730
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Well, here it is, our second episode. It is significantly longer than the last and with more animation. We realize the animation could be better (as well as the sets) but we were on a deadline and had to cut corners(notice the hallway scene where we used the same frame for about 10 seconds of dialogue). As with our last film, the audio isnt perfectly synched because MACs ARE PIECES OF CRAP AND THEIR CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS EVEN WORSE. The audio is playing a choppy on my comp but wasn’t on the other I tried. Here is the stats:

Title: “The Apartment”
Length: 5:49
Format: .mov (QuickTime 6 or better required)
File Size: 23mb

Returning Characters:
Ben
Jerry
Chip (aka “the gay guy”)

I realize this file size is a little large, but so far it is the best compression I have achieved. Plus, with the file types that were imported into the film before compression, it may account for some extra data. I just downloaded it here on my home comp from Brickshelf and it took about 20 minutes. I think it may be because there is a fair amount of activity there at the moment(My comp is also screwed up but what else is new).

Please, give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I’d especially like to know what you think of the animation itself, the apartment set, and the voicework.
Enjoy.

“The Apartment”
http://brickshelf.com/gallery/7thHour/7thHourFilms/Ben-and-Jerry/theapartmentf.mov

“Pilot”-our first film incase you havn’t seen it(3min 12mb)
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/7thHour/7thHourFilms/Ben-and-Jerry/pilotf.mov

And yes, that is me going oldschool on the Mavs and Panthers 8)
May 13, 2003 at 2:49 am #2773
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legotronn

This is all I can say about your new movie… WOW! It was real hilarious! I like the penguin gag and how the bookshelf was supposed to be a couch. :lol: Didn’t exactly like the Chip thing though. But the rest was great! Good Job! Can’t wait for more! :)

LEGOTRONN
May 13, 2003 at 3:33 am #2782
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Cool thanks. I’m actually a little surpised though, most people liked Chip in the first one even though he only said one word. His part was actually made specifically for a friend who is blatantly homophobic but can still do a real good “flamer voice” as he calls it. We didn’t really want to offend anyone so we are working on an edited version that isn’t as…intense(“perversion of nature” is gone). But I always like to show the original first. But thanks for the kind words, we really tried hard on this one. Unfortunately our creative skills outmatch our arts and crafts skills and filming skills to make it all look good :-)

May 13, 2003 at 3:36 am #2784
Avatar of RevMen
RevMen

That’s definitely a big improvement over your first episode. For one thing, there are walls now. :)

The Chip sequence probably won’t sit too well with some audiences, and may have been overdone, but definitely showed some thought. The “I’m not decorating” joke was pretty funny. I think the problem is that you never really resolved it very well. It’s hard to tell whether Chip actually is, errr, riding the other bus or not. If he isn’t, you probably could have found a better way to make it obvious and make the guy (I don’t remember if it’s Ben or Jerry) look very bad, like in a Blazing Saddles sort of way. If he is, then it’s just simply making fun of people who are, errr, putting from the rough, which I think most people will find distasteful. But hey, to each his own. I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend your right to say it with my life, or at least some of my tax dollars. (Voltaire, sort of).

The voices were pretty good, though the dialogue was missing some fluidity at times. The old man, the penguin, and Chip were all voiced quite well and sounded quite distinct from Ben and Jerry.

Seeing NHL 95 brought back flashes of an entire summer wasted in front of the TV taking the Red Wings through the Stanley Cup multiple times. Ahhh, youth. I didn’t recognize which version of NBA Jam you had going, but I would have liked to see a de-pantsing.

Again, great improvement over the last episode. Good, solid jokes that weren’t just one-offs or zingers and a lot of real deliberate character development. Certainly some technical advancements would make the next one a little more watchable, but that’s not what’s really important for films like these. And bring more of the penguin, he’s cool.
May 13, 2003 at 3:42 am #2787
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legotronn

If your doing an edited version, leave Chip in (second time around I liked him) just take out how Ben says, “Gay”. Then it’s fine. I like the decorating gag. :)

May 13, 2003 at 5:36 pm #2822
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We are. We were actually trying to make it confusing as to whether or not he was really gay or not. The line “Gay? Im just going to help decorate. Freak.” was added. But even that line was a little strong and is being edited. Now it will be alot more subtle and people will have to draw their own conclusions. Its probably better that way anyway. A friend of ours really wanted to do something and we just came up with something for him. But he is going to be moving this summer so he can’t do any voice work for us. We realized it was a little juvenile but we really wanted to use the decorating joke and couldn’t think of a way to fit it. But thanks alot for the suggestions guys. The guy that did the penguin voice will still be around so hopefully we can continue to use him. Ditto the old man. We aren’t quite sure if we will have time to do the third episode before the semester ends (this was all part of an independant study) but I plan on making more over the summer with any free time. Thanks again for the suggestions and kind words.

Oh yeah, and it was NBA JAM Tournament Edition. If I get an excuse to use more video game footage, I’m breaking out the “Excitebike” and “World Cup” :)

May 16, 2003 at 6:01 pm #2979
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Motfilms

I would love to watch, but it would take forever to download on my crappy dial-up :(

May 18, 2003 at 2:54 pm #3075
Avatar of WeirdEars
WeirdEars

um…Ben and Jerry is a brand of ice cream. but, i like the movie.
May 19, 2003 at 1:05 am #3107
Avatar of

Thanks. And yes, we did that on purpose. Notice the Penguin named “Sherbert”.
May 30, 2003 at 7:06 pm #4122
Avatar of Motfilms
Motfilms

Ok I finally decided “Heck, it has a penguin in it, so I’m downloading it!” It took a while, but it was worth it :)

*Spoilers*

“You perversion of nature!” :lol: I liked the jokes about Chip and decorating. The actor who played Chip was hilarious! You could tell he was gay, just by the voice. The old man was sort of funny. The dialog seemed to be choppy up in some places. The animation wasn’t the best, 10fps is really the minimum you should go for. But the humor was great! The comedic timing could be worked on a bit, and I got sick of watching the video game footage. 5 seconds would be enough to be funny, but 40 seconds?!? Anyway, it was great to see a penguin in another Brickfilm!

*End of Spoilers*

I hope all of that was constructive criticism, and not just criticism :) But I reccomend this movie, even to dial-up users! Penguins Forever!

Tom
May 30, 2003 at 10:02 pm #4135
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I am glad you enjoyed it(especially if you had to download it with 56k). Hehe if you didnt like the length of the video game footage as it was, its a good thing I cut the rest of it out( it was actually twice as long orginally lol). The animation was actually at over 12 frames a second. I myself am still mystified at how it looks slower(I think my pudgy fingers make the movements jerky lol). But thanks alot of the criticism- I take any comment I can get :)

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