LEGO Studios Movie Making Contest | |
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Host(s) |
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Start Date | Late 2000 |
End Date | March 31, 2001 |
Entries | More than 700 |
Winner(s) |
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Video competitions hosted by The LEGO Group | |
Previous | Next |
LEGO Maniac's Coolest Home Video Contest | National Movie-Competition at Singapore Polytechnic |
The LEGO Studios Movie Making Contest was a brickfilming competition hosted by The LEGO Group to tie in with the launch of LEGO Studios. It began in late 2000, making it the earliest known brickfilming competition. It also ties in with a brickfilm category in a German film festival, and there was also a very little-known UK edition of the contest.
Another contest that tied in with LEGO Studios was the National Movie-Competition at Singapore Polytechnic. This contest did not tie in with the LEGO Studios Movie Making Contest, but its winners were available to view on the LEGO Studios website alongside the winners of the other LEGO Studios contests.
Alhough the LEGO Studios Movie Making Contest is the earliest known brickfilm contest, it is the second known video contest hosted by LEGO. The LEGO Maniac's Coolest Home Video Contest took place earlier in 2000, and while it was not strictly for brickfilms, it did include brickfilms among its winners and other semi-finalists.
History
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The contest was launched around November and December 2000, roughly coinciding with the launch of the LEGO Studios line. The deadline for submission was March 31, 2001. Entry forms were first distributed in shops.[1] Entries were required to be submitted on VHS, CD-R/CD-RW or Zip Disk.[2] The contest was open to residents of the US and Canada (excluding Quebec) aged between 8 and 18. More than 700 submissions were received.[3]
Three semi-finalists were chosen in each of three age categories, 8-10, 11-13 and 14-18. These nine films were screened at the LEGO Studios Movie Making Award Ceremony, which took place in June 2001 in New York. Winners in each category were announced at this event. The three winners were then screened at the Backyard National Children's Film Festival in November 2001,[4] where they were supposed to compete for the LEGO Studios Global Movie Making Award against "finalists from the rest of the world". However, the only additional films at the Backyard screening were two German films that won a LEGO Studios-sponsored category in a German youth film festival.[5]
At least one other version of the LEGO Studios Movie Making Contest is known to have taken place in some form in the UK, though information on this is very scarce.
Judging and prizes
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The brick-built trophy awarded to the winners of each age bracket, designed by "Ik-Var"[6]
Preliminary judging was handled by D.L. Blair, Inc. which selected 10 films in each age category. These films were then judged by LEGO Systems, Inc to determine the three semi-finalists in each category.[2] The criteria used in these stages of the judging were original and imaginative story and presentation, weighted at 40%, technical execution (production, editing and audio), weighted at 30% and creative uses of LEGO elements, weighted at 30%.
Prizes were awarded to the winners of each age category. These included a trip to the Backyard National Children's Film Festival, where the winners would be screened, a tour of a major Hollywood film studio, an award constructed from LEGO bricks and the entire LEGO Studios 2001 product assortment. Additional prizes were to be awarded to the winners of the LEGO Studios Global Movie Making Award. These were a trip for four to a Hollywood movie premiere in 2002 and varying sums of money for each age category, $1000 for 8-10, $2000 for 11-13 and $5000 for 14-18.
Results
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Listed here are the winners of the main North American contest, along with the other semi-finalists in each age bracket.
Ages 8-10 | |
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Ages 11-13 | |
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Ages 14-18 | |
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The German youth film festival fast forward KINDER FILMen FESTIVAL 2001 included a category called LEGO Studios-Sonderpreises für den besten LEGO-Trickfilm ("LEGO Studios Special Prize for the Best LEGO Animated Film"). Two winners were listed; Die Zeit X by Jens Müller and Der Weg ins LEGOLAND X by Kirsten Brandmayer.[17] These films were added to the screening at the Backyard National Children's Film Festival in November 2001, both in the 11-13 age bracket. Der Weg ins Legoland was declared as the new winner of this category.[18] The other two age categories were won by default, as the only films screened were the North American winners.
There are also two known winners of the UK version of the contest: TBC News directed by Sam Roelich in the 14-18 age category,[19] and Heavenly Balls by Ben Roper and Richard Seaman in the 11-13 age category.[20] These winners are the only known information of the UK contest. As they were the only two winners listed on the LEGO Studios website, it can be assumed that there was no 8-10 age bracket.
References
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- ↑ Page from the November/December 2000 issue of LEGO Mania magazine, covering the contest
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Page on the contest from the January/February 2001 issue of LEGO Mania magazine, containing detailed contest rules and entry form
- ↑ Article about the LEGO Studios Movie Making Award Ceremony
- ↑ Article about the Backyard Festival, mentioning the contest
- ↑ fast forward KINDER FILMen FESTIVAL 2001 mentioning LEGO Studios
- ↑ Contest trophy in a Brickshelf folder
- ↑ Where Does All the LEGO Go? LEGO Studios page
- ↑ The Globe and Mail news article about Eli and Joseph Cull's win
- ↑ Jungle Joe LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Planet LEGO Attacks!!! LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Al, Alien Hunter! LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Riddle of the Sphinx LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Western Trouble LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Adventures in LEGO Land LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Haunted LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Maximillion and Truth LEGO Studios page
- ↑ fast forward KINDER FILMen FESTIVAL 2001 winners
- ↑ Focus.de article about German brickfilms
- ↑ TBC News LEGO Studios page
- ↑ Heavenly Balls LEGO Studios page