Holy LEGO Blocks, Batman!

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "Students at the Digital Animation and Visual Effects (DAVE) School are working on a film that will bring everyone's favorite caped crusader to life through the magic of computer-generated LEGO blocks. 'Batman: New Times' features Adam West as the voice of Batman, Mark Hammil as the Joker, Dick Van Dyke as Commissioner Gordon, and Courtney Thorne-Smith as Catwoman. A rather impressive trailer is available now."

Comments

was

[Dr_Banzai]

correction: the trailer WAS available.

Direct link to movie

[Anonymous Coward]

ftp://ftp.newtek.com/multimedia/movies/Batman_Net. mov

Legos?

[TomHandy]

It's odd, they keep mentioning LEGOs, but these are using the C3 Construction Blocks (they even have a banner link to them). I know "LEGO" as a term has probably gone the way of kleenex and xerox as brand names that are now used to refer to just about anything that is at all like them, but it seems like since they are actually utilizing a specific company's products and model kits here, they would not refer to them as LEGOs.

Re:Legos?

[slim]

"Lego" or "Lego Bricks": Not "Legos".
See the rec.toys.lego FAQ:

Dear Parents and Children
The word LEGO(R) is a brand name and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you!

Susan Williams
Consumer Services (Susan's name is a pseudonym for the service dptmt.)

Re:Legos?

[Anm]

Pictures prove the grandparent's argument:
http://www.toymania.com/toyshows/tf2004/full/tf04p layalong34.shtml
http://www.toymania.com/toyshows/tf2004/playalong4 .shtml

This had nothing to do with legos proper.

Re:Legos?

[BobTheJanitor]

Actually, C3 blocks (made by PlayAlong) and the Minimates are quite different from their Lego counterparts. I know this because I just wasted money on the C3 Batcave (incorporated into the animated movie), hoping they would integrate easily with my other stuff. They don't at all. The plastic feels much cheaper, and the pieces, while harder to connect to each other, tend to pop apart when even slightly disturbed. Building the set was largely an exercise in frustration, and I'm hesitant to move it much as it has a tendency to spontaneously fall apart.

The Minimate figs aren't 'custom made on the generic LEGO character body' at all. They're almost twice as tall and aren't interchangeable at all with Lego minifigs. They're interesting as they have a lot of points of articulation, but they're far more delicate, and are made of soft rubber.

Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to like this set. I've enjoyed Lego sets for years, and have long hoped for a Batman franchise. They even used Bruce Timm's Animated Series stylings for the minifigs. In the end, though, poor construction, misleading packaging, and almost indecipherable instructions all demonstrate that there's a gulf between Lego and the vastly inferior C3/Playalong.

Trailer Down Already?

[joel8x]

I can get the page to load, but the movie itself times out. Man that was quick. How many posts of "Make sure there is a mirror before putting a story on the front page" will it take before the editors get it?

Re:Trailer Down Already?

[X43B]

How many times will people have to post the FAQ before people stop asking that question?

White Stripes

[Savatte]

Check out the Fell In Love With A Girl video by The White Stripes. Pretty much the same idea, but guaranteed to have better music than this Batman project.

Re:White Stripes

[glimmy]

Or see the http://www.rathergood.com/punk_kittens/ version with cats

Forget the trailer

[FatBobSmith]

The movie is already done and it's quite good.

http://www.daveschool.com/BATMAN/index.html

Computer generated lego blocks?!

[Zangief]

Why not some old REAL lego blocks?

MIRROR

[ghoda_x]

http://www.daveschool.com.nyud.net:8090/projects/B ATMAN/assets/pages/DS_BATMANTRAILER.html

Pow! Blam! Thwock!

[Deep Fried Geekboy]

Holy slashdot effect, Batman!

Blam!

Re:Wikipedia and Legos

[yotto]

There's also one one Karma Whoring if anybody's curious to learn more.

Proofread please!

[hellfire]

I personally hate when someone misspells my own name, especially when my name is right in front of their friggin nose. I also hate when slashdot doesn't even proofread their own articles, when the correct spelling of other people's names is right in front of them.

Mark Hamill people...Hamill!! It's right there on the front page of the link! Lazy lazy lazy... sheesh.

Computer generated?

[sdo1]

through the magic of computer-generated LEGO blocks

Computer-generated?!?!? Hang on a second. That's CHEATING!

You're supposed to BUILD something (physical) with Lego's. Take a picture of it. REBUILD slightly. Repeat. String together pictures into movie.

Computer-generated LEGO's are for wusses!

-S

Doesn't say. How much?

[FreeLinux]

How much did it cost to produce this "little" student project?

3D computer graphics animation.
Professional sound and scoring.
Real life movie stars for voices.

All this stuff costs Disney millions of dollars for a 90 minute movie. How much did it cost for this little project?

Re:Doesn't say. How much?

[Jay Maynard]

The stars were recruited for the project, and the voices were all done specifically for it. Mark Hamill was, as I understand it, quite pleased to finally do the Joker opposite Adam West. I'm told the actors all had a good time. Adam West certainly left his usual toothmarks all over the (virtual) scenery...

Re:Doesn't say. How much?

[STrinity]

uh, I kind of assume that they just ripped soundbites from the stars and put them in the movie.

WTFV. Unless Van Dyke's been in a movie where he references Batman and Joker in the same sentence, it's original voice work.

Re:Doesn't say. How much?

[Jay Maynard]

You weren't paying attention, were you? The scoring is original (done by Sound-o-Rama specifically for this project), the voice acting is original for this project, and the scripting is original for this project.

The school worked with the designers of the LEGO-style blocks (I was told they were LEGO-compatible, but I'll take a previous poster's word that they're not), and it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that WB decided they liked it and decided to leave them alone.

Your paranoid ravings are just that.

Forget Lego...

[ShawnDoc]

Forget Lego's, I want to see a Batman movie made using nothing but Eggo's! Delicious.

Not a mirror, but here are some "stills shots"

[Nova Express]

Still shots from the film can be found here. Although, are they really "still shots" if they're not technically shots...

BitTorrent link

[TheSHAD0W]

http://degreez.net/Batman_Net.mov.torrent

Re:West? Hammil? Van Dyke?

[Jay Maynard]

William "Proton" Vaughn is, in addition to an instructor at the DAVE School, the official Lightwave Evangelist for Newtek. As such, he's been to Dick Van Dyke's house to teach him the finer points of using Lightwave, and became friends with him. He asked Van Dyke if he'd be interested in doing the project, and got an enthusiastic "yes!". After that, they just asked the other actors if they'd be interested, and they all signed on.

Legos! Legos! Legos!

[fm6]

When you work for a company, you have to insist that all your trademarks are adjectives, because there's a lot of silly case law that penalizes you if you don't. But the rest of us are free to use language that actually makes sense. Sure, you'll get letters reminding you that you're "misusing" the trademark. But that's just "due diligence" -- not even the person who wrote the letter takes it serious.

Re:Legos! Legos! Legos!

[KaptajnKold]

Originally, Lego = Lek Godt. That's Norwegian, directly translated "Play Well".

Actually LEGO is a danish acronym for "Leg godt". Which means the same thing. It's bad enough that the norwegian usurpers have stolen our North Sea oil. But they won't get away with stealing our beloved LEGO! As a dane a can only take so much from a former colony of ours.

Other Good Batman Fan Films

[JMPrice]

While we're on the subject, let me point out two other excellent fan films.

The first three minutes of Batman: Dead End capture the grittiness of Batman and Gotham better than any Warner Brothers film. After three minutes it goes nutso, but then it still looks really good.

Also, check out the "trailer" for Grayson. The guy spent $18,000 of his own money to produce the trailer. Maybe if he can convince the powers that be to finance the project, he could get a whole movie made.

Re:This is a

[neil313]

his name is Jeff Albertson
a quick search for 'Jeff Albertson' shows:
Jeff Albertson
"my name is Jeff Albertson, but everyone calls me Comic Book Guy"