Filming LEGO Friends Jungle TV spots

   Behind-the-scenes look at the creation and filming of the LEGO Friends Jungle Rescue sets TV spots reveals the secret to smooth helicopter rotor blade rotation.
   Recently LEGO Club posted details and images on their "Inside Scoop" section about the making of these commercials.  We're sharing it here, so you won't miss it! (Plus, it provides great ideas for making your own brick films.)

   "Hi, Nina here! I’ve joined the Heartlake City girls ‘on set’ to find out how a LEGO® Friends TV commercial is made."

   “It’s a busy day at the jungle base. Emma and Stephanie have just saved a baby panda from drowning. They return him to base, where Andrea treats it. Suddenly the alarm sounds! Olivia and Matthew, who are in the watchtower, have spotted a bear cub on a bridge that has collapsed...“

(Look at all those Pandas!)

   It all starts out with a STORYLINE like this. Usually it’s a very short story with a beginning, middle and end. It also has to include whatever LEGO sets that need to be featured.
    Then the director will create a STORYBOARD with the team. This is a kind of mini-comic to show the camera crew what scenes they need to film. The story has extra details, such as what the girls are holding, but it’s told very quickly and isn’t always in full sentences!
   Finally, there is a SCRIPT that has all the talking – the dialogue and voice-overs – written down.

New 2014 LEGO Friends brick separator!

Apparently it's "knock-off Fool's Day" as this isn't a LEGO brick separator after all ... it's a shame some marketplace seller placed it in a photo with legitimate LEGO-licensed products.

:-(

Those of us who have broken many finger nails trying to remove bricks from 'clutching' each other, in order to re-build another creation, always have a brick separator nearby.  The first ones were green, and the most recent are orange with an added technic axle shape at the end to push those pieces out when they are stuck.
Now LEGO Friends has a unique brick separator that is somewhat dolphin-shaped and is yellow, with a lovely printed wispy wing design on the side. [Edit: this is not a LEGO product]

It was first spotted in this product photograph (below) of the "1,000 Brick ZipBin Toybox" by Neat-Oh!  (Which is a certified LEGO-licensed product.)  The brick separator, Friends bricks and a small set do not come with this storage product; although it can hold 1,000 bricks, unzips for build area with backdrop scenes, then zips back up with velcro secure lid and handles for easy transport.  That is really cool!

I hope this cute and ergonomically shaped brick separator ends up in Friends brick set boxes soon!
Take a look at the additional new 2014 storage items for LEGO Friends.

Thanks to Diane Farrell (co-owner of Neat-Oh!) for informing us the brick separator does not come with their products.
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FriendsBricks.com

Jungle Bench

 Just like all LEGO themes, Friends offers fun and clever alternate building ideas for the bricks that come in their sets.  Recently Maya noticed an alternate build for the First Aid Jungle Bike.  Then when I received my Club magazine with the Friends Special Edition I saw the instructions for a cute Jungle Bench and realized it's the same build that Maya found online. Since not every fan has access to Club magazines, here are the images for the building steps. [Click images to enlarge for better viewing.]

Even if you don't have an Orangutan, it's easy to use another animal and even substitute other colors.

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FriendsBricks.com

Review: Beach Hammock promo polybag

 

Beach Hammock  Set # 5002113 Year of Release: 2014 29 pieces

This is a promotional set that I found on ebay the other day. I don't know what event this polybag set will be distributed at, so I went ahead and bought it while it's available. I paid about $6 including shipping. So, here's the content of the set.

Building Challenge: Pop of Pink

Building Challenge: Pop of Pink

With your Friends bricks, elements, mini-dolls ~ Build a creation for this challenge to help make the color pink POP.
Save use of this color for some very special feature, item or action in your MOC.
Use any shade of pink from the Friends spectrum; juxtapose it against any other color in the Friends array.

- MOCs must be 'new' never before posted.
- Must consist of 'real' LEGO Friends parts, no clones.
- Any style: vignette, structure, place, setting, room, activity, landscape, etc.
- Post one image in this entry thread on Flickr, or on our Forum.
- Make your creation title so that viewers need to see it for the pink to pop in front of their eyes.
- Get your pink popping until July 31st!
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   *Feast your eyes on these final entries for this challenge!

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Friends Bricks