Trenton Father And Sons Team Creates Amazing Stop-Motion Lego Videos

By George Fox – @GeorgeJFox

Being a parent has its perks including playing with toys while getting credit for being a good dad. That's how Josh Wheeler of Trenton, Michigan and his boys build their relationship.

Wheeler and his sons Caleb and Elliott spent six hours creating an amazing stop-motion video assembling a Lego Yellow Submarine model. He admits that the boys came and went during the process which was "longer than I'd like to admit," said Wheeler in an email.

Using his iPhone, they created movie magic stringing together thousands of photos to animate the bricks as well as John, Paul, George and Ringo figurines.

Stooping over a table for that long did take a physical toll. Wheeler described it as, "Very bad on my back and my eyes trying to focus on a tiny iPhone screen for so long, but something we enjoyed doing." He adds that he used to make stop motion with a VHS camera when he was younger and new technology has made it easier.

Wheeler included several subliminal messages paying homage to The Beatles urban legends. The messages include "I buried Paul", "Turn me on dead man", "LMW 28IF" and on a personal note, "Buy dad more Legos".

Teaming Up With Youngsters

"It's always fun to work on something with my boys. They'd help enthusiastically for a while, then just want to trigger the camera or find pieces for me, then drift off to go do something else from time to time," said Wheeler.

Musical Family

For a fitting soundtrack, Wheeler played a one-take cover of The Beatles "Yellow Submarine" with backup vocals from his boys. Wheeler is involved in three local bands including The Bruised Reed, The Tourist and plays guitar for The Paper Sound. "My youngest is an enthusiastic tambourine player, as you can hear, so i think he enjoyed recording the soundtrack the most," added Wheeler.

Last Christmas they made a similar video putting together the Lego Millennium Falcom from "Star Wars". Which according to Wheeler his boys ended up playing with and constantly breaking. A dad's "work" is never done.