First, try to imagine what astonishing feats could be accomplished with 2,000 combined hours of labor from eight talented artists with $100,000 in resources. The mind boils with possibilities. Then try to imagine all of that time, money, work, and skill going into a five-minute, stop-motion Lego remake of Ghostbusters. It may seem ridiculously picayune, but Digital Wizards Studio’s blocky reimagining of the 1984 classic is still something to behold. Lego has a whole Ghostbusters line of build-it-yourself toys, including an insanely detailed firehouse, an Ecto-1 vehicle, and numerous figurines, both human and ghost alike, so the stop-motion filmmakers had plenty to work with. But the Digital Wizards guys didn’t stop there. Not hardly. “Lego Ghostbusters” is more like the Crisis On Infinite Earths of licensed toys, featuring cameos by characters from The Simpsons, Star Wars, Scooby-Doo, Doctor Who, and both DC and Marvel Comics. They all must unite to battle the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, as played by an animator’s 10-year-old daughter in a decidedly non-Lego costume. Even with all that cross-promotion, there’s still time for a few Lego-based penis jokes. An example, as provided by a wee, plastic Peter Venkman: “It’s true. This man has no bricks.” Money and time well spent, gentlemen.
For a project like this, the mind-boggling statistics behind its creation are nearly as interesting as the results. Digital Wizards promises that a complete behind-the-scenes video is coming soon. In the meantime, the video’s YouTube description contains some valuable nuggets of information. “The opening shot,” it says, “took 12 hours to set up and six hours to animate.” Said shot, by the way, lasts all of seven seconds and features a few Lego vehicles zooming around New York before the Ecto-1, with headlights blazing, exits the firehouse garage. That’s 18 hours right there, people. Hope everyone appreciated the hell out of it.
[via Laughing Squid]