This was the challenge MikeTeevee faced when hired to create the Everything Is Awesome: Dance Together music video, which was to coincide with the release of the brand new The LEGO Movie 2: Awesomer Together Film.
Naturally, the video had to include LEGO products, but the focus of the piece is to make branded entertainment.
This was quite the production and required an immense amount of detail to execute correctly. Mike Teevee engaged David Wilson, a director whose skillset includes live action & animation.
One of the many challenges we had to overcome was ensuring the settings felt like the The LEGO Movie 2 universe without using actual film’s settings, which were confidential and could not be used. We were granted the very rare opportunity to work with the actual character assets used in the Feature Film however, we had to create our own LEGO universe which felt like the original films’ settings.
With David’s direction and by engaging post-production studio, Ghost, we designed and created a new CGI universe in which characters could dance to the well-known music track.
What is so impressive is that all of the universes and products in the video can be built with actual LEGO bricks, meaning everything had to be made brick accurate. In theory, you should be able to build the entire music video in real life using LEGO bricks.
Now that we had the universe designed, the second challenge presented itself. This was the complex structure of how to make an awesome music video with dancers…. made out of LEGO bricks.
This is where David’s skills as a music video director were invaluable. He broke the video down into several parts: close-ups of heroes, product shots, transitions shots for each universe, a buildup of tension before the song to establish a story, and a choreographed dance.
The trickiest part of the video was the choreographed dance because the dance routine combined with action or journey from the characters had a huge practical limitations.
We hired choreographer, Chester Hayes, to create a carefully well-orchestrated popular dance. The dance was initially performed by people, videotaped and used as a reference for Ghost to animate the characters, all while sticking to The LEGO Group’s brief. And, you guessed it – everything had to be brick accurate!
Careful planning and mindfulness of the brand allowed The LEGO Group to create a fun music video that allowed viewers to see more of their favorite characters, while also showcasing a new line of LEGO products. The end result was almost 4 million views on YouTube and a happy client.