The Avant-Garde Contest was a brickfilming contest hosted by Philip Heinrich between 2009 and 2010. It was the second major official Bricks in Motion contest following the Space, Time and Reality Contest. It was followed by the Tales of Yore Contest, which started later in 2010. With a running time of close to eleven months, it is the second-longest ever successful brickfilming contest, after Masterpieces of Brickfilming.
History
The contest was announced on September 7, 2009, less than a month since the results of the Space, Time and Reality Contest had been released, with a deadline of July 25, 2010.[1] The very long running time of the contest was intended to allow entrants as much time as might be needed to perfect their entries. The contest had three sponsors, BrickLink seller Cincinnati Bricks, brick printing and engraving service CJB Graphics and animation software company Dragon Stop Motion.
The theme of the contest was intended to encourage innovative brickfilms, without specifying a particular genre of film. The announcement stated:
"The central idea is to create something that is innovative and pushes the boundaries of what has been done before. We want you to reconsider the standard conventions of brickfilming as it is now and create a film that is unique and, on some level, does things that haven't been done in a brickfilm before. Your film can be experimental and surreal, or simply use new techniques and kinds of storytelling that we probably have not seen before."
- Avant-Garde Contest Announcement
The minimum time limit for entries was 30 seconds of animation. There was no maximum time limit. Films were not permitted to include any unauthorised copyrighted content. The contest received 34 qualifying entries.[2]
List of all entries:
Judging and prizes
The contest entries were judged by a panel in the categories of Concept and Presentation, with their final score being an average of the two categories.[2] The judging panel consisted of Randy Yard, "Night Owl" and Philip Heinrich. The results were announced on August 13, 2010, first in IRC and then on the forum.[3]
Each of the top three would receive a LEGO trophy with their name, provided by CJB Graphics as well as store credit for CJB Graphics, $20, $15 and $10 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They would also receive store credit for Cincinnati Bricks, $125 for 1st, $75 for 2nd and $50 for 3rd. Finally, the first place winner would receive a copy of Dragon Stop Motion 2.0 (known today as Dragonframe) and a Blue Snowball microphone.
Results
Top 20
| Place | Film Name | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Zombie: Genesis | Jonathan Vaughan |
| 2. | Mr. Bad Frame | Loïc Fontaine-Boivin |
| 3. | No Title 17 | "A." |
| 4. | Odd Jobs | David Clark |
| 5. | Ye Giants of Olde | "Ancient Bricks" |
| 6. | The Magician | Zach Macias |
| 7. | Crime Stories | David Boddy |
| 8. | Metamorphosis | David Pickett |
| 9. | Amnesia | Tom Gudde and Stijn Heirstrate |
| 10. | Colour | Jon Rolph |
| 11. | Studless Freedom | Timothy Ratner |
| 12. | The After Life Experience | Sean Willets |
| 13. | Brick Battle | John Eggers and Daniel Eggers |
| 14. | New Friendly | Brenden "brenden17" Moore |
| 15. | Sdrawkcab | Kristóf Fekete-Kovács |
| 16. | Just me and myself | Calen "ct45211" Coates |
| 17. | It's a Pleasure to Meet You | Devin "NiceGuy1130" Walsh |
| 18. | The Hero | Jonni Phillips |
| 19. | The Quest of the Bricks | Nathan "nate13545" Jarrett |
| 20. | Home for Supper | Matthew "KinzCove" Tierney |
| Brick World | Brian "Peanut" Ambrose | |
| After Twenty Years | Chandler "jogopoco" Versluis |
Trailer Contest
A trailer contest was held to accompany the main Avant-Garde contest shortly before the end of the contest.[4] The prize was a Bricks in Motion t-shirt. Seven trailers were submitted, which were judged by public vote.[5] The winner was Sean Willets, with The After-Life Experience Trailer trailer.[6]
