How to Animate a LEGO Movie

Set up your set and characters. This will involve constructing the tiny set out of LEGO pieces and arranging your LEGO characters in their starting positions. Position the characters as they will be in the very first shot of your movie.

Screw your digital camera onto a tripod and position it so that it's facing the scene you wish to film. You do not use a camcorder for stop motion animation, unless it has a digital still feature.

Take a snapshot of your scene. This will serve as the very first frame of the animated movie.

Move your characters very slightly relative to the movement you wish to perceive. For example, move your LEGO character's right leg forward if you want to make it look like he's about to walk.

Take another snapshot with the camera in the exact same position.

Repeat Step 4, except move the LEGO character's leg a little further this time. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 with every motion. This is a very tenuous process, but it is necessary to create the illusion of movement on screen.

Transfer all the pictures from your scene to a computer and import them into a basic video editing program, such as Windows Movie Maker, which comes free with most Windows operating systems.

Set the pictures to play one after another. You are basically creating slideshow. Set the duration of each slide at around one-twenty-fourth of a second, if possible, to create a cinematic feel.

Export the "slideshow" as a movie file. You have now created one scene of your animated LEGO movie.