I am frequently asked about making stop-motion films with Lego products. Questions like "How long does it take to film," "what application do you use," or "how do you edit the footage?" Hopefully this post can shed some light on my approach and what I recommend for beginners.
A Lego stop-motion can take as little or as much time as you are willing to invest. I usually shoot at 5-7 frames per second, and a one minute film can take an hour or two to record at that level. For longer films with different angles and various minifigures, like the Lego Ninja Warrior videos or the Lego Bachelor parody, those take several hours of filming each. If you wanted to shoot at a higher frame rate it will naturally take more time to get all the shots.
There are undoubtedly a horde of free or fairly cheap programs and applications that can film stop-motion. I have always used the free app Stop Motion Studio which is available on Android and iOS. It is a very straight-forward interface - Open a new film clip, take some photos, delete any you don't want, then email or upload the clip to a laptop or desktop. Once you have finished all the clips you want for your movie, upload them all and get ready to edit.
Again, there are many programs to choose from for your editing phase. I have used the old Windows Movie Maker for years, so I usually just use that. But I have toyed with a few others, including YouTube's video editor (which is decent for simple projects). Newer ones will definitely come with better features than the old one I use, but utilize whatever you are comfortable with. I edit out unnecessary footage, add an intro, outro and credits, add background music, sound effects, and voiceover, and once I feel good about all of those individual steps, I save and upload to YouTube. The part about editing that has been the toughest for me is lining up the audio with the visual. That can take some time, depending on the project and how much audio variation I add on. When I record voiceover, I just use the recording apps that most iPhones and Android phones come with.
If you have a YouTube channel, it is insanely easy to upload a video. The speed of the upload is based entirely on the file size, so it could take seconds or I've seen it take as long as 15 minutes. Add your description to the video, a title, any associated search words, and you can also link it to social media accounts. Right after I finish the upload, I edit the video on YouTube's channel manager so that I can add an end screen template (which adds links to other videos within the video) and I monetize the video with adds. That pretty much wraps up the process. Some videos have taken just an hour or two to complete, others have been as high as 20-25 hours for everything. After the completed project is posted, I sit back and pray that the video finds an audience :)
A Lego stop-motion can take as little or as much time as you are willing to invest. I usually shoot at 5-7 frames per second, and a one minute film can take an hour or two to record at that level. For longer films with different angles and various minifigures, like the Lego Ninja Warrior videos or the Lego Bachelor parody, those take several hours of filming each. If you wanted to shoot at a higher frame rate it will naturally take more time to get all the shots.
There are undoubtedly a horde of free or fairly cheap programs and applications that can film stop-motion. I have always used the free app Stop Motion Studio which is available on Android and iOS. It is a very straight-forward interface - Open a new film clip, take some photos, delete any you don't want, then email or upload the clip to a laptop or desktop. Once you have finished all the clips you want for your movie, upload them all and get ready to edit.
Again, there are many programs to choose from for your editing phase. I have used the old Windows Movie Maker for years, so I usually just use that. But I have toyed with a few others, including YouTube's video editor (which is decent for simple projects). Newer ones will definitely come with better features than the old one I use, but utilize whatever you are comfortable with. I edit out unnecessary footage, add an intro, outro and credits, add background music, sound effects, and voiceover, and once I feel good about all of those individual steps, I save and upload to YouTube. The part about editing that has been the toughest for me is lining up the audio with the visual. That can take some time, depending on the project and how much audio variation I add on. When I record voiceover, I just use the recording apps that most iPhones and Android phones come with.
If you have a YouTube channel, it is insanely easy to upload a video. The speed of the upload is based entirely on the file size, so it could take seconds or I've seen it take as long as 15 minutes. Add your description to the video, a title, any associated search words, and you can also link it to social media accounts. Right after I finish the upload, I edit the video on YouTube's channel manager so that I can add an end screen template (which adds links to other videos within the video) and I monetize the video with adds. That pretty much wraps up the process. Some videos have taken just an hour or two to complete, others have been as high as 20-25 hours for everything. After the completed project is posted, I sit back and pray that the video finds an audience :)
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