A LEGO Brickumentary Page #2

the challenge, if you will.

Then it's those constraints

that are interesting

to find how do we make it work.

You have to think about

how kids play with LEGO,

which is something that

we always have in our minds.

If you're five years old,

it's a lot harder to build

with smaller bricks than it is

for an eight-year-old.

At the core of the design process

is one guiding principal.

The design process really starts

with an idea of a story in a universe.

We really take a starting point

in who these characters are,

where they're living,

what they're doing.

Story provides context

for what you're doing.

It gives you

and kids especially a meaning.

It sort of helps to unlock

their imagination in new ways.

We were just trying to put together

color combinations we haven't done before.

Jamie Berard is one

of the company's design stars.

He's the creative lead

for the expert building series.

Today he's showing his boss

his new Parisian cafe model

which will be revealed

to the public soon.

What I really hope to highlight

at BrickCon is the storytelling.

For example,

the gentleman on the balcony

has actually got

a little bit of a surprise,

and he's got this ring in his hand.

That will help him hopefully

marry his girlfriend.

The job, it's amazing.

I don't want to oversell it

that, you know,

there's rivers of chocolate milk

and massages on Tuesdays.

You know, it's a job.

But it's an amazing job.

You almost wonder, like,

how long can this last?

Is this for real?

Another coveted job at the LEGO company

is that of master builder.

Like the designers,

master builders are, well,

masters at building with LEGO bricks.

But they get to think outside the box.

So as a master builder, we get to do

everything it takes to make our models,

we design models,

we do a pretty good mixture.

We do everything

from little tiny models,

all the way up to human beings.

It's always going to be different.

Every model poses its own challenge.

Sometimes it's

the sheer size of the models.

Ultimately, at the end of the day,

it's really just pushing the bounds

of what you can do with LEGO,

being creative and being artistic

and all these amazing things.

Today the master builders

are working on a huge project

that'll be seen all over the world:

the setting for The LEGO Movie.

The nicest thing about

working for LEGO is that

we have all of the pieces we need.

It's something that most

people would just dream of.

For this particular city,

I got to sit down and

order whatever I wanted.

As far as the plot of the movie,

I really don't know a lot about it.

Um, there's a lot more than just this

that's going to be in this movie,

that we're all working on

at the same time.

And it's a monumental undertaking.

Weeks later, their LEGO city arrives

and is reassembled by Paul's team

on a soundstage in Los Angeles.

It serves as the setting

for the live action sequences

in Will Ferrell's basement.

Okay, clearing guys, please.

Action.

Yeah, it's been kind of crazy,

we've had, uh,

we're shooting for five days

of live action

and the movie's mostly animated.

And we've built this ridiculous

LEGO model back there.

We built it ourselves.

Personally, with our bare hands.

Actually, we had a team

of super master builders.

And it turned out pretty awesome.

It's pretty ridiculous.

These guys have been working on it

in Connecticut for, like, three months.

And then, of course,

the first thing we do is go,

okay, we're going to smash all of this.

So there's a city,

there's sort of a castle world

that we're calling Middle Zealand.

There's a pirate ship.

Some classic space stuff from '79.

We heard we would get some free LEGOs.

Yeah! I'm literally doing this

for one classic space ship.

Hey, Phil, have your

people call my people,

we'll hook you up.

Maybe we can do lunch?

So, this movie set is pretty impressive.

But the master builders

in the Czech Republic

are working on even bigger things.

In Kladno, we produce big models

for LEGOLAND parks and for LEGO markets.

There's a lot of different stuff

we can do.

What people don't know

is we have computer programs

where model builders see the layers.

There is not visible every single brick.

There is steel construction inside.

We are looking forward

to the biggest project we've ever built.

It's secret.

Nobody should know about the project.

So there, this is the interface.

Working with Jaromir on the secret build

is American project manager Dale Chasse.

Okay, so we'll convert all this stuff

from millimeters to inches.

I have the most interesting project

on my plate right now,

than I've had in the whole 21 years

that I've been with the LEGO company.

We're secretly designing and building

an X-Wing fighter, life size.

But what's really cool

about this project is

we're copying one of our sets

that you can actually buy in store.

It's actually the item number, 9493.

And you can build this set at home.

But what we've done is

we've built it 42 times bigger than this.

This is going to be the biggest

LEGO model ever built.

Even we can't believe

this will be a reality.

We have a big team here.

There is a designer,

there is technical developer,

and there is team of model builders

and mechanics.

The beginning of our process is design.

Then in technical development,

it's about designing

internal steel construction.

We have a lot of challenges

in front of us.

We don't have much time

for every single step.

There will be eight tons of bricks used.

So they have to produce the bricks for us

for a couple weeks in Billund.

It's crazy.

The X-Wing is 44 feet

from wing tip to wing tip.

It's 45 feet from bow to stern.

It's 11 feet tall.

It weighs 44,000 pounds.

And took 17,000 hours to build.

Finally the X-Wing model is

ready to cross the Atlantic,

where its adventure will continue.

But we'll get back to that later.

I'm gonna pick up the pieces

And build a LEGO house

If things go wrong

we can knock it down

LEGO was definitely part

of my childhood, it was, uh...

Me and my brother had a big box

filled with everything,

um, just passed down from my parents.

But it was more of the blocks

rather than the sets.

And any time we'd get a set,

it would be like one of the small ones.

And you'd always look at the big kits

in the shops and be like,

"Oh, I want that."

And as soon as

I came into money, I was like,

"What should I buy?

House? Nah. Car? Nah. LEGO."

My album went gold in a week,

and I wanted a way to celebrate.

The first thing that I bought

was the Death Star.

The main thing that it does is it,

it brings out a bit of your childhood.

Which is important

not to forget as well.

You know, it's good not

to take life too seriously.

Growing up, LEGOs

was more like this to me.

It was more, you know, the bin of chaos.

I was like, "Oh, no, who would...

Why would you get LEGOs

to be told how to put them together?"

Like, I always thought

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