Built to Bloom is a stop-motion exploration of affection, playfully captured through the playground game 'Loves me, Loves me not'. Only we don't leave it up to chance - our protagonist joyfully declares 'Loves me!' and enjoys the bouquet magically blooming in their hand.
The core of the film is the stop-motion flower build. We animated the each flower in the Pretty Pink Bouquet "growing" frame-by-frame. Their varied styles dictated the animation decisions and allowed us to creatively enjoy the task - all while learning a lot about botany!
Sound is essential to bring the audience in and really feel the LEGO builds in their entirety. The familiar tactile "click" of LEGO bricks remained the star of the show.
We used Blender to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital, allowing us to add levels of intricacy and complex layers of animated elements.
Each flower was individually built in front of a blue-screen before we formed the bouquet. For stability and consistency we also filmed the hands against a green screen, allowing us to keep control and neatness despite the large number of LEGO flowers and their fiddly nature.
Below is the Storyboard which we remained very faithful to. As well as being useful for the client, it allowed us to have a clear idea of timings and positioning before starting the filming process.
