Hey film enthusiasts! At Barigord Studios, we love a number of things, including film, Lego, and reality television. Not just those things, but those things in particular have come together to inspire this video we’ve made of the Barigord Studios parade float! Here it is:
If you watch the TV show Lego Masters, specifically season 2, you’ll know that the contestants’ first challenge was to build a parade float that represented themselves and their Lego passions. Just as a side note, they have to have AFOLs (Adult Fans Of Lego) compete, because most kids would become overstimulated and spontaneously combust at the prospect of that many Legos to build with.
The contestants were not only judged on the visual quality of their float, but also on ‘movement’ within the piece. Not just rolling along the parade route, either. The winner was obvious. No spoilers here, but a simple interweb search will get you there.
We decided to take on the challenge as well, though we didn’t quite meet their deadline of the end of episode 1.
We created a float based on our film, ‘Head Case,’ which was created for the 72hr Horror Film Race. The film was a Top 15 Finalist and won Best VFX in the competition, so a parade float was clearly the thing to do about that. For the motion aspect of the float, we chose stop-motion!
For people who might be put off by Horror, we hear you. None of us like it either. But we like competing, and chose to do a Horror film our way, so that we’d all be comfortable watching it. Basically, a Muppet level of gore, a true crime angle rather than some scary monster, and generally trying to be clever rather than psychologically scarring.
The trailer, which is entirely unique material, and is referenced by the float, can be seen here.
If you haven’t seen the film, this following section contains a few spoilers.
The float is packed with references to us and the film. At the head of the float, we have the head of our Executive Producer, Ramiro Cuenca Sr., who appeared in the film as a disembodied head. He and several other members of our cast filmed themselves on homemade green screens in Mexico, and sent the footage to us during the competition!
In behind him are the laptop computer and microphone used in the True Crime Siblings Podcast, hosted by Kim and Paul Eddington. The Siblings themselves, as played by Charlene Happy and Andrew Wade, are just behind their podcast paraphernalia. Both are dressed like they were in the trailer, and each has a key prop from the film. Kim has her shovel, and Paul has the cane which was one of the contest elements.
In the middle of the float are DoP Ramiro Cuenca, dressed in his costume from the film as the Department Head, and myself, Josh Hallem as the head of the Highlands Executioner. In the film, the Executioner appears as a disembodied head reanimated by a strange machine, and we filmed it using a green screen, which is represented on the float.
On the raised dais at the rear of the float is the cabinet of heads collected by the Executioner, and the rest of our cast. They appear as they do in the film.
The float is festooned with a few other details that are nods to Barigord Studios, including the green foliage at the back representing our incredible tree out front. We also have trim in the red and grey colours of our building, and some round red flowers that are almost identical to the ones on our hummingbird feeder.
Our parade commentary was provide by Andrew Wade and myself. The video was shot and edited by Ramiro Cuenca. I built the Lego models with design consultation from Charlene Happy. Go team!
Thanks as always for checking us out! Check out our other film work on our Youtube Channel!
