A schoolboy has spent three weeks recreating some of cinema's most unforgettable scenes using hundreds of pieces of LEGO.Morgan Spence, 15, created the two-minute video by crafting the little coloured bricks into clips from dozens of Hollywood classics.Backed by music from the films themselves, the film includes the most iconic scenes from Dirty Dancing and the Sound of Music, as well as instantly-recognisable snippets from films such as Dracula, ET and Pulp Fiction. Morgan Spence spent three weeks creating a LEGO film of cinema's most unforgettable scenes, including this scene from Life of Pi The 15-year-old has created a miniature version of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio standing on the bow of the Titanic for the two-minute video He also recreated the scene from the Sound Of Music in which Julie Andrews dances and sing on a floral hillside in Austria Each clip - including this one from The Shining - is backed by famous songs and compositions used in the well-known films Cinema fans can also see miniature versions of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio standing on the bow of the Titanic, Audrey Hepburn enjoying a cigarette in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Morgan's favourite recreation, a scene from Singing in the Rain.Morgan, of Kilbarchan
, Renfrewshire, made the video for a project by LEGO masterbuilder Warren Elsmore, who has released a book featuring scenes from 60 cult movies, made with LEGO, called Brick Flicks. Masterbuilders are the highly-trained builders who design all of the official LEGO sets.Using characters created by specialist website minifigs.me, Morgan made short videos to match the iconic scenes, keeping as close to the originals as possible.He said: 'He had seen some of my work before and asked if I wanted to create a montage of that. The only thing I had was the characters and none of the backgrounds.'It was a judgement of what we could do and would be most effective on camera initially. I suppose the trickiest thing was keeping it as accurate as possible and making sure it was instantly recognisable. It was mostly pretty straightforward. It was more the set design and making it look good on camera.' Morgan, from Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, pictured left with his designs and right at the launch of the LEGO exhibition, made the video as part of a project led by LEGO masterbuilder Warren Elsmore
Morgan's favourite scene - and the first to feature on the film - is from Singing in the Rain. He loves this scene because it is so recognisable, he said Morgan said: 'I suppose the trickiest thing was keeping it as accurate as possible and making sure it was instantly recognisable'. Pictured: A scene from Pulp Fiction Honey Ryder, left, and James Bond, right, from the James Bond film Dr No, were recreated for the clip. The figures were created by specialist website minifigs.me Each scene - lasting just a few seconds at a time - took anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours to film. Pictured: A scene from ET Other iconic scenes - which Morgan tried to keep as close to the original as possible - include this scene of 'the lift' from Dirty Dancing LEGO-loving Morgan used his bedroom for his films, having set up a small studio. Pictured: A LEGO scene from Wayne's World It took Morgan three weeks to put the two-minute video together, which by stop-motion standards is 'a quick turnaround', he said.
He added: 'I'm quite proud of the results. My favourite one was Singing in the Rain because it's such an iconic film scene and it's so recognisable.'Each scene - lasting just a few seconds at a time - took between 15 minutes to two hours to film. He created the scenes from his bedroom, where he set up a small studio for the project.He said: 'It does require quite a bit of patience.' Morgan became interested in stop-motion movie-making in 2011, after creating a film for a school project. Pictured: A scene from Laurel and Hardy The teenager focussed on Hollywood classics and scenes which would be easy to recognise, including this from Laurel and Hardy Morgan also put together a scene from Dracula for the film. He said he likes using LEGO because it 'lets the imagination run free' Another scene he created was from The Wizard of Oz, featuring all of the main characters and the famous Yellow Brick Road Morgan has already achieved fame by creating a music video for superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold
He has his sights set on film-making as a future career, with plans to study the subject once he finishes school. Pictured: Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany'sMorgan first became interested in stop-motion film-making in 2011, after creating a film for a Second World War project at school.He said: 'I thought I could maybe do something different. I animated Airfix planes in a Battle of Britain dog fight. It went down well at school so I thought I might as well combine this with my hobby - LEGO. Then I branched into commercial work.'Morgan has already achieved fame having created a music video last year for superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold. The artist asked Morgan to direct the video for his single, Who Do You Love, using LEGO.And, unsurprisingly, Morgan has his sights set on film-making as a future career. He plans to study the subject once he finishes school. He said: 'I'd like to continue doing stop motion and move into live action. I really do enjoy the animation. I'm a big fan of LEGO - it lets my imagination run free.'
Geraldo Rivera now actively begging for death Snapchat threatened to sell ads to NRA if gun safety group didn’t buy them first Why are there so many TV shows about time travel right now? Adam Pally still talks to his Happy Endings costars every day Last night, I paid $14 to see a 100-minute long commercial in 3D. I’m far from alone. So far, people across the country have paid more than $185 million for the same privilege, which has made The Lego Movie the most popular movie in America for the past three weeks. It has also received near universal critical acclaim. After I left the cinema it seemed funny to me that as the rise of native advertising in online media prompts more outcry at a dying industry supposedly selling its soul and misleading its readers to save its bottom line, the biggest movie of the year is an overtly branded vehicle made with no regard to the boundary between content creator and brand. The Lego Movie is not subtle in its embrace of the corporate spirit, but who cares?
It's native advertising for miniature blocks on an epic scale starting with the title. I assumed that, and a few dozen real world marketing tie-ins and product launches, would be the end of it. But the film is loaded with brand messages about the transformative power of Lego and the power of creativity. I won’t spoil the plot such as it is, but the ending breaks the fourth wall to directly spell out these brand themes in real life and show how Lego brings families closer together. It's an advertisement that plays out its plot at movie-length rather than 45 seconds. Some might defend the branded content piece of the equation by arguing that Warner Bros. execs decided on their own to make a Lego Movie and Lego, naturally, is simply playing along for commercial gain. Before the film’s release, Bloomberg profiled the exhaustive back and forth during the development of the movie between Dan Lin, producer, and Jill Wilfert, Lego’s VP for licensing and entertainment. Massaging Lego’s brand image was key to the entire endeavor.
“If we tell a great story, it can have a halo effect for your brand,” Lin recalls telling the Lego execs. Wilfert too speaks in fluent corporate-speak. “The focus is first and foremost on the brand and delivering quality content that is communicating our values,” she says. Lego and Warner Bros. debated everything from whether Lego characters could kiss to how edgy the jokes could be to make the movie more entertaining to an adult audience. Lin tells Bloomberg the Lego team was "very influential on story, script, every major casting decision, every director decision.” The rub is, it’s actually a fun film. I'm nearly 30 and it played off my own nostalgia for Lego, making good use of Lego’s dizzying array of product licenses to rope in characters like Batman, Superman, Shaquille O’Neal, and Abraham Lincoln into a silly, yet sharply written cultural pastiche. The creators of the Lego Movie worked with Lego to tell a story about its brand in the same way as every publication from the New York Times to Buzzfeed is working with their advertisers.
The result was executed on a much larger scale and stage and was something that people wanted to see and pay for. The key, is openness. No one was tricked or misled. There was no mystery this morning why I felt favorably toward the Lego corporation. Through being so open in its motivations the Lego Movie is less insidious than something like last year’s ‘Man of Steel,’ which pocketed $170 million from over 100 product tie ins or Heineken paying $45 million for James Bond to drink their beer instead of a Martini in ‘Skyfall.’ Not every brand has the deep roots into the lives of its audience that Lego has. No audience will warm to the Walmart or Taco Bell movie in similar fashion. Brand affinity gave the The Lego Movie leverage to be a $65 million seamlessly constructed native advertisement that made no bones about what it was. But it is so well made we’ve spent coming on a month now handing over money and clapping along. It proves, for better or worse, that we can drink content from the corporate fountain and enjoy it.