Nathan Wells

Nathan Wells is an American brickfilmer. He is known for brickfilms including the Alex and Derrick series, The Cleaners, Beast, 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure, Driven, and Infinity Squared. He also produced and contributed stop-motion animation for the 2016 documentary Bricks in Motion and ran the twelfth through fifteenth Twenty-four Hour Animation Contests, from 2015 to 2018. He is considered to have been an early major influence on pushing the quality of set design in brickfilming.

Filmography

 * 2001 || The Vikings ||
 * 2002 || Super-Brilliant Sheriff ||
 * 2002 || Jedi De-Fence || Directed by Bethany Wells
 * 2003? || Technic Trouble ||
 * 2003 || A Matter of Life and Death ||
 * 2003 || Inside the Lab ||
 * 2004 || There Is No Spoon ||
 * 2004 || The Adventures of Captain Swagger || Directed by Bethany Wells
 * 2006 || Material Possessions ||Ten Lines Contest entry
 * 2006 || Stoic || Founding film of the Dictionary Series
 * 2006 || Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Montage Clip ||
 * 2006 || pwnd ||
 * 2006 || Beast ||Fame, Infamy and Glory Contest second place winner
 * 2006 || The Phantom Of The Opera Montage Clip ||
 * 2006 || Spoilerz! ||
 * 2006 || Feel Great || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2006 || Slapstick ||
 * 2006 || w00t! ||
 * 2006 || A Very Merry Christmas Special with Alex and Derrick and Alice!  ||
 * 2007 || Powershot ||
 * 2007 || The Future is Calling || Insanely Great Tees iPhone Ad Contest entry
 * 2007 || The Day Brickfilms.com Crashed || Community project coordinated by Nathan Wells
 * 2007 || Driven || Nadine and Charlie 2007 Music Video Competition special prize winner
 * 2007 || Infinity Squared || Inventions, Discoveries and Extraordinary Achievements Contest entry
 * 2007 || Flashbacks || Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 3 third place winner
 * 2007 || Unsound || Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 4 first place winner
 * 2007 || Diatribe/Malapropos || Co-Production with Zach Macias
 * 2008 || e-Learning and You! ||
 * 2008 || 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure ||Commissioned by The LEGO Group
 * 2013 || Derricking Ball ||
 * 2014 || The Meek and the Bold || Late Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 11 film
 * 2014 || Alex and Derrick: Five Years Later ||
 * 2014 || Birdie || EASTER Contest 2014 third place winner
 * 2014 || Nyan Unikitty ||
 * 2014 || Blinders || Brickfilm Rapidly All Week Long Contest 2014 first place winner
 * 2016 || Bricks in Motion: The Documentary || Producer and stop-motion animator
 * 2016 || Gingerbread House Down ||
 * 2017 || Super Frenemies || LEGO Batman Movie Brick Films contest entry
 * 2018 || The Cleaners || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2019 || The Sentinel || Co-production with Zach Macias and Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 16 first place winner
 * 2020 || Sunflower || EASTER 2020 second place winner
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 1: "A Fistful of Toilet Paper" || Associate Producer
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 2: "We Were Troopers" || Associate Producer Animator for "Robots on Parade" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 3: "I Saw The Sasquatch" || Associate Producer Animator for "Beast Deleted Scenes" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 4: "Stand-Up Comedy Night" || Associate Producer Animator for "Five Weeks Into Quarantine", "P O N G", and "Malloy" segments
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 5: "Social Distancing with Spider-Man!" || Associate Producer Animator for "Spider-Man On a Bike" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 6: "The Diagnoses of Dr. Dakota" || Associate Producer Animator for "Project: Divinity", "Schaudenfreude", and "Night of the Living Dead Montage Clip" segments
 * 2020 || Epic Rap Battles of History: Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker || Set Design Directed by Forrest Whaley Commissioned by ERB
 * 2021 || How 24 Different Types of People Would React to Being Stranded on a Desert Island || Co-production with Zach Macias Made for Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest XVIII
 * 2021 || C is for Cleaners || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 ||  BAH RAM YOU - Sea of Thieves  || Official music video Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 || Drift || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Rocket Around the Christmas Tree || Commissioned by The LEGO Group via Bricks in Motion
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2008 || e-Learning and You! ||
 * 2008 || 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure ||Commissioned by The LEGO Group
 * 2013 || Derricking Ball ||
 * 2014 || The Meek and the Bold || Late Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 11 film
 * 2014 || Alex and Derrick: Five Years Later ||
 * 2014 || Birdie || EASTER Contest 2014 third place winner
 * 2014 || Nyan Unikitty ||
 * 2014 || Blinders || Brickfilm Rapidly All Week Long Contest 2014 first place winner
 * 2016 || Bricks in Motion: The Documentary || Producer and stop-motion animator
 * 2016 || Gingerbread House Down ||
 * 2017 || Super Frenemies || LEGO Batman Movie Brick Films contest entry
 * 2018 || The Cleaners || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2019 || The Sentinel || Co-production with Zach Macias and Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest 16 first place winner
 * 2020 || Sunflower || EASTER 2020 second place winner
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 1: "A Fistful of Toilet Paper" || Associate Producer
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 2: "We Were Troopers" || Associate Producer Animator for "Robots on Parade" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 3: "I Saw The Sasquatch" || Associate Producer Animator for "Beast Deleted Scenes" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 4: "Stand-Up Comedy Night" || Associate Producer Animator for "Five Weeks Into Quarantine", "P O N G", and "Malloy" segments
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 5: "Social Distancing with Spider-Man!" || Associate Producer Animator for "Spider-Man On a Bike" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 6: "The Diagnoses of Dr. Dakota" || Associate Producer Animator for "Project: Divinity", "Schaudenfreude", and "Night of the Living Dead Montage Clip" segments
 * 2020 || Epic Rap Battles of History: Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker || Set Design Directed by Forrest Whaley Commissioned by ERB
 * 2021 || How 24 Different Types of People Would React to Being Stranded on a Desert Island || Co-production with Zach Macias Made for Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest XVIII
 * 2021 || C is for Cleaners || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 ||  BAH RAM YOU - Sea of Thieves  || Official music video Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 || Drift || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Rocket Around the Christmas Tree || Commissioned by The LEGO Group via Bricks in Motion
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2020 || Sunflower || EASTER 2020 second place winner
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 1: "A Fistful of Toilet Paper" || Associate Producer
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 2: "We Were Troopers" || Associate Producer Animator for "Robots on Parade" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 3: "I Saw The Sasquatch" || Associate Producer Animator for "Beast Deleted Scenes" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 4: "Stand-Up Comedy Night" || Associate Producer Animator for "Five Weeks Into Quarantine", "P O N G", and "Malloy" segments
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 5: "Social Distancing with Spider-Man!" || Associate Producer Animator for "Spider-Man On a Bike" segment
 * 2020 || Quarantine Daze - Episode 6: "The Diagnoses of Dr. Dakota" || Associate Producer Animator for "Project: Divinity", "Schaudenfreude", and "Night of the Living Dead Montage Clip" segments
 * 2020 || Epic Rap Battles of History: Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker || Set Design Directed by Forrest Whaley Commissioned by ERB
 * 2021 || How 24 Different Types of People Would React to Being Stranded on a Desert Island || Co-production with Zach Macias Made for Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest XVIII
 * 2021 || C is for Cleaners || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 ||  BAH RAM YOU - Sea of Thieves  || Official music video Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 || Drift || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Rocket Around the Christmas Tree || Commissioned by The LEGO Group via Bricks in Motion
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2020 || Epic Rap Battles of History: Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker || Set Design Directed by Forrest Whaley Commissioned by ERB
 * 2021 || How 24 Different Types of People Would React to Being Stranded on a Desert Island || Co-production with Zach Macias Made for Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest XVIII
 * 2021 || C is for Cleaners || Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 ||  BAH RAM YOU - Sea of Thieves  || Official music video Co-production with Zach Macias
 * 2021 || Drift || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Rocket Around the Christmas Tree || Commissioned by The LEGO Group via Bricks in Motion
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Drift || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Rocket Around the Christmas Tree || Commissioned by The LEGO Group via Bricks in Motion
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2021 || Rocket Around the Christmas Tree || Commissioned by The LEGO Group via Bricks in Motion
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner
 * 2022 || Lightswitch || Bricks in Motion Animation Challenge winner

Hiatus and return
In 2008, after releasing 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure, Nathan left home for college and quietly stopped being involved in the brickfilms community. In 2013 Nathan returned and eventually released Derricking Ball and The Meek and the Bold before releasing Alex and Derrick: Five Years Later, considered to be his "official return."

Features in the media
Nathan Wells's work was featured in a 2007 ABC newsegment called I-CAUGHT. The segment featured several other brickfilmers including David Pagano, Joshua Leasure, and Billy Gribbin, and also featured the work of Jay Silver, Lewis Chen, Robinson Wood and others. Footage from Infinity Squared was featured extensively throughout the segment, and was used to demonstrate the concept of frames per second.

Collaborations with Zach Macias
Over the years Nathan Wells and Zach Macias have worked together on many projects, including four direct collaborations: Feel Great, Diatribe/Malapropos, The Cleaners, and The Sentinel, and two community projects: The Day Brickfilms.com Crashed and Quarantine Daze. They have also provided numerous voices for each others films, including Infinity Squared, Unsound, To Strive for Fame, Arthur's Legacy, and A Christmas Caper.

Nathan and Zach also worked together in relaunching and hosting the 2014 Bricks in Motion Awards, and worked with Philip Heinrich on the Bricks in Motion Documentary. All three of them appeared in the Bricks in Motion Documentary Kickstarter video, which marks the first time Nathan and Zach's sigfigs have ever spoken to each other (and the first time Nathan's sigfig has spoken at all).

Collaboration with The LEGO Group
In early 2008 a representative from the LEGO Group contacted Nathan asking if he wanted to make a short film, which eventually led to 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure. Nathan was paid $500 (which was mostly spent on LEGO sets that appear in the film) and sent a box of minifigure parts, which ended up being about 80-100 assembled minifigures (most of which are used in the minifigure pyramid near the end of the film). Nathan was given complete creative freedom, and called it "a great experience."