The definitive LEGO Star Wars trailer

Quite a few people have tried their hand at re-creating the teaser trailer for “The Force Awakens” using LEGO bricks. But one of these re-creations stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Zach Macias (MindGame Studios) and Philip Heinrich (SmeagolStudios) joined forces to create the most impressive LEGO version of the Star Wars teaser trailer.

A couple things that set this one apart from the others is the amount of effort put into LEGO-fying the trailer (note the brick-built smoke trails behind the landspeeder & X-Wings) and the careful mimicking of the camera movements (in particular in the shot in the woods with the cloaked figure). Also noteworthy is their use of digital effects to match the facial expressions. To better appreciate their work, watch this side-by-side comparison with the original.

That doesn’t mean the dozen other LEGO versions of the Star Wars trailer are without merit. One of the great pleasures in watching them is seeing the various way different builders adapted the trailer into LEGO. I particularly like seeing the various solutions that people came up with for the astromech droid with a spherical body.

Screen Shot 2015-01-01 at 3.15.52 PMPlacid Sulfuric took the time to put 12 of these LEGO trailers side by side, which is a great way to quickly compare the techniques.

All that being said, Snooperking definitely deserves his nearly 4 million views for not only being one of the first people to do this, but also for having the most charming version. I love that he used actual LEGO pieces for the 3-way lightsaber rather than digital effects. Let this be a lesson to brickfilmers who chase pop culture trends that timeliness is paramount and that brick-built solutions can have mass appeal.

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Dave Pickett is a lifelong LEGO fan and pop culture enthusiast. He runs the YouTube channel BRICK 101 where he shares his LEGO animations, custom LEGO creations, LEGO set reviews and other fun videos. Dave is co-author of The LEGO Animation Book. Dave is a self-taught animator with no formal training, but that hasn’t stopped him from making award-winning brickfilms like Nightly News at Nine, Metamorphosis, and Choose Your Own Storyline: The Fight for Paradise Hills. When he's not building with LEGO bricks, Dave enjoys playing video games, reading comic books, watching nerdy TV shows, playing board games, and exploring Chicago with his husband Bert and their dog Sophie.

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