Interview with Keshen8 (Custard productions)

I'm a great fan of Custard productions' great lego fighting scenes, so I thought it would be great to ask them a few questions about how they make their films. AND THEY REPLIED! So here's the interview:

Q1) How long on average does it take you make a film?
A) It really depends. My second “Dark Knight Trailer in Lego” only took one day, I actually released it the same day as the actual trailer came out, so if I really push myself then I can get things done really quickly. My sets also don’t take that long to make, I usually use cardboard because of a lack of building blocks, I seem to have a surplus of mini-figures though, I don’t know how that happened. The Lego Ultimatum on the other hand took a long time, I’ve had a few people saying how easy it is doing a shot for shot remake of a scene, but when it comes to something like Bourne it’s quite time consuming: getting the shot set up, moving/rebuilding the set to fit the frame, moving the Lego men just right to fit the one or two second shot, converting human martial arts into rigid Lego movement, and all the while physically moving your camera and set frame by frame to get the handheld effect. I can’t really say how long it all takes, because there are so many factors that come into play.

Q2) Where do you get your inspiration from?
A) I’m inspired by many people, mostly those who contribute to something that I feel is fresh and unique, skilful, or thought provoking and truthful. If I had to name a few people I would say Yuen Wo Ping, The Wachowski and Coen Brothers and Jackie Chan. There aren’t any “Brickfilmers” who inspire me, (except Lindsay Fleay, who created "The Magic Portal" over 20 years ago) but I guess Lego itself would have to be an inspiration to me.

Q3) What, in your opinion, is your best brickfilm?
A) In my opinion my best Brickfilm would have to be the one I’m working on now, but before that one, definitely The Lego Ultimatum. I’ve always wanted to see a decent Lego fight scene, I’m proud to have made one (even if it is a remake). It was also filmed on top of a cardboard box in a garage with an old camera, so I'm also kind of surprised how well it turned out considering.

Q4) Are you working on any brickfilms at the moment, or looking to do some more in the near future?
A) I am working on a Brickfilm right now, “Will and Ted”. I’ve fully completed about seven minutes of it and I’m not half way yet so it will be a few weeks before it comes out. I also have a few scripts and visual ideas for other animations that I would like to do in Lego.

Thanks to Custard productions for letting us interview them. Hope you enjoyed that, and if you want to see more of their movies, click here to go to their YouTube channel.




-Luke, editor