Batman LEGO Fan Film
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The Batman LEGO Fan Film (or Batman Brickfilm) has been gaining popularity among Batman and LEGO fans since the debut of the official Batman LEGO product line in spring of 2006, though custom the MOC (My Own Creation) and films were around prior to the LEGO line's debut. They are non-commercial fan adaptations of the Dark Knight using the popular LEGO bricks, often produced within the stop-motion animation technique and of the short film variety. What makes the Batman LEGO Fan Film unique is that because of its growing popularity it is slowly reversing its status as an "unconventional approach" to fan film making. Director Jonathan Markiewitz, who Fan Films Quarterly named as a founder of LEGO fan film entertainment, quoted, "making a fan film with LEGOs allows a director to make a visually intense film without a large budget." This quote may explain why it is emerging as a much more common method of fan filmmaking.
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[edit] Batman LEGO Films as an Emerging Genre
With the growing popularity of LEGO animation compositing Batman fan films, the movies already produced and the upcoming features are growing into almost a genre of their own within the larger 'Batman Fan Film' community. They don't necessarily follow story lines sequentially, nor is there any evidence that the individual directors coordinate filming or have "crossover" characters. The parental ratings as well don't follow a strict linear code, as evident by Batman: Revenge that holds a "G" rating, Batman: New Times that holds a "PG-13" rating, and the upcoming Batman: Unforgivable that is projected to have an "M15+" rating. The story and rating differences diversify their individualism and creativity which delivers a wide range of creative approaches to the artform.
[edit] Established Batman LEGO Films
[edit] Batman: Revenge
The first Batman LEGO film to garner mass-internet attention in fan film mainstream and world wide distribution was 2003's Batman: Revenge, directed by independent filmmaker Jonathan Markiewitz, which premiered nearly three years before LEGO debuted their official product line. Batman: Revenge earned mass notability early on as the film that brought Batman fan films into the art of stop-motion animation and connected Batman and LEGO fans together in that particular format. BatmanFanFilms, Comics2Film, and TheForce.Net among others officialized its notability as the first Batman LEGO film, and the first Batman fan film of its kind. Its download number reached the multiple thousands within only a short period and soon found itself displayed among such notable films as Batman: Dead End and Grayson in multiple fan film discussion boards and promotional outlets. The film sparked a MOC (My Own Creation) phenomenon among Batman and LEGO fans throughout following years, although the director of Batman: Revenge has not been directly involved with any other Batman LEGO production. As stated at the community boards at BatmanFanFilms.Com Batman: Revenge continues to serve as an influential production for Batman LEGO fan film directors, and as the noted crossover link between fans of Lego and fans of Batman alike.
[edit] Batman: New Times
Although utilizing the popular minimates construction bricks, Batman: New Times is often considered by much of the Internet community as a Batman LEGO fan film, though not pure LEGO in nature. Nevertheless, the 2005 film by the DAVE School remains a classic in computer animation and production values. Because minimates construction bricks are so similar in style to LEGO bricks, it is rightfully considered by some to be in the same vein as LEGO films, although it is often a debatable issue. With such recognizable voice talent as Adam West and Mark Hamill behind the voices of Batman and the Joker, the film gained much hype and recognition early in its media promotion. The film was also intended to help sales of the minimates toy line.
[edit] Upcoming Batman LEGO Films
[edit] Batman: The Killing Joke
Reportedly, this production is not based on Batman: The Killing Joke. It is projected for a 2007 release. The film will tell the origin of the Joker. We will see how Jack Napier becomes the Red Hood and see how he falls into the jar of chemicals. The movie will have the "dark look" of the dark knight, like in Batman Begins. The movie's first release was Christmas 2006 but due to some unexpected delays, the release was set to 2007. It is written and directed by Thomas Missault and stars Scott Fitzpatrick as The Joker.
[edit] Batman: Unforgivable
An upcoming 2007 Batman lego project from director and writer Scott Fitzpatrick set in Tim Burton's Bat-universe. Gotham City celebrates New Years when a spree of horrible murders sweep it's streets. What plans does this madman have for Gotham's underworld and even his own step father? Bruce Wayne must also live with the guilt that he may have been responsible for his own parents deaths as a red diary reveals all. A Gothic substitute for a third Batman film, Batman: Unforgivable provides new twists on old legends. The film will be one in a three part series and aims to bring the iconic characters of Riddler, Two-face and Robin to Tim Burton's Bat-universe.
[edit] Batman Lego: No Man's Land
Intended to be a LEGO fan adaptation of the popular Batman: No Man's Land graphic novel, this film is set for a 2007 release. The film has already been garnering much attention as it incorporates many voices of people involved with other Batman fan films, therefore establishing another link between the "conventional" and "unconventional" films.
Gotham City was all but levelled by a vast earthquake. Abandoned by the United States government, sealed off from the outside world, the devastated Gotham City becomes a wasteland left to be claimed by the criminals and madmen who escape Arkham Asylum.
The last fragment of hope is lost, when Batman (Steven Shanahan) seemingly abandons the City. Even with the help of Batgirl, Robin (Tommy M), Nightwing (Thomas Pugliese), Oracle and Catwoman (Niki Notarile), order restoration, seems miles away - especially when Joker (Eric Smigiel) and Bane cause chaos in Gotham. Hope lies in the Dark Knightâs return...
[edit] The Reign of Two-Face
Brickfilms reports this upcoming film and currently it's in pre-production for an unknown release date. The film is to feature a rather large cast of characters including Batman, Robin, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Firefly, among others.
[edit] Unrealised Projects
As reported from BatmanFanFilms.Com, there have been a few interesting unrealised Batman LEGO projects that didn't make it past pre-production.
[edit] Batman Vs. Spiderman
It was believed in 2004 that the director of Batman: Revenge was intending to make a LEGO production entitled Batman vs. Spiderman, which would have utilized official Spiderman legos as well as new custom Batman designs. There has been no confirmation about this from Markiewitz Film, but when photos of new custom Batman designs were released, speculation of a sequel to Batman: Revenge did start among fans.
[edit] Batman: 1950
The studio responsible for Batman: Revenge did confirm that at one point test scenes were filmed for a Batman LEGO film that had the working title, Batman: 1950, though no known trailer or film was ever cut. The film was going to be shot in black and white color with heavy focus on lighting and dramtic effect. The Batman LEGO minifig in the film was reportedly to have utilized the comic book grey/black batsuit rather than the all black suit used in Batman: Revenge. No knowledge of the plot, running time, or film rating is known. The antogonist of the story is not known and there is very little information about the film that never was.
[edit] Batman: Foul Play
In 2005, a Batman LEGO web-series was set for production from director Scott Fitzpatrick entitled Batman: Foul Play, but the project was shelved not too long after its initial announcement. The series was intended to be 10 installments ranging from 2-5 minutes each and including most of the mainstream Batman villains and heroes. Sets were apparently built for the first episode before the project was cancelled.
[edit] Batman LEGO Fan Films
2003
2005
[edit] Batman LEGO Comedic Short Fan Films
2005
2006
