Get in the buildin' spirit out on the LEGO homestead with this cowpoke and farmboy MOC-constructin' team!
About this creation
Client: LEGO
Release Date: April 5, 2011
"Country Buildin'" (aka "I Love Buildin'") is a music video we made here at Paganomation for the LEGO Club Show in early 2011. It was the fourth music video we produced for the show, and the only one for season 2 (episodes 7-10).
This was project was, by far, the most fun we've had working on a commissioned animation!
Before I go any further, I might as well just direct you to the two-part behind-the-scenes video we produced about the making of this music video...
As with all of the music videos we've done for TLG, we received the song and a brief on the video first. Apart from the overall concept (two characters building) and a few gags (the 2x4/4x2 thing is classic), we were given pretty much free reign to proceed with the entire video as we saw fit.
Since the song described characters building with LEGO bricks, we knew that using minifigures wouldn't be nearly as effective as building larger, more expressive characters to animate with. Expression was a big part of it, too -- the vocals of the song are just so catchy and full of energy, and to really have fun with that, we knew we'd have to use figures that were a little more robust.
My creative inspiration frequently leads me back to the Muppets, and in this case I took a look at the various Muppet jug bands to get a sense of the kind of tone I thought this video should have. I also drew some sketches while listening to the song on repeat -- I don't draw terribly frequently, but I'm trying to do it more as a way to mix up my creative output.
The cowpoke and farmboy were updated versions of the rigs from "Playback". I had created instructions for an updated figure already, which had been featured in BrickJournal issue #14. To speed along the process, I dressed up that figure design in southern garb and had our cowpoke pretty quickly!
The main update from the "Playback"-style rigs was the addition of mouth shapes for lip sync; something I felt was very important to attempt for the next iteration of this character style.
My associate animator on the video was the very talented Jeff Wallenhorst, whom I had previously collaborated with on a few of the LEGO Toy Story shorts. He has a great all-around animation sense, and the enviable ability to take simple ideas and run with them to all sorts of great creative destinations. Jeff was also cool enough to be game for the video reference we shot (as seen in behind-the-scenes part 2, above).
Overall, I couldn't be happier with the results of our hard work, and I can't wait for the next project that lets us exercise our creativity in such a fun way! I'd also like to figure out what's next for these figures...
Through the local LEGO Users Group, I LUG NY, we were afforded the opportunity to have our characters on display at the Rockefeller Center LEGO Store for a short engagement! You can find more about I LUG NY (and join if you live in the area!) at ILUGNY.org.
And, as always, a few more production photos:
Writer: Roger Cameron Design: David Pagano Animation: David Pagano and Jeff Wallenhorst Vocals: Roger Cameron and Scott Decoteau
Wow ... As mentioned in another of your builds ... Gives one a lot of inspiration .... Very well made, lovely animations and cute music to go along with ... Whenever i get the time, i definately have to get the kids involved in some animation .... We got all these ideas, but which to choose ... :) ... I loved this animation is what im trying to say ;)
This was played at Brickfair 2011 which is where I first found out about your incredible talent for LEGO videos. This is my absolute favorite LEGO SMA video in existence currently. Thank you for inspiring me.
