Brian Manzullo

Detroit Free Press

For Jared Jacobs, attention to detail is important when creating a LEGO stop-motion video.

That includes one of his latest creations: An animation of Michigan State's miracle at the Big House from last October.

"I wanted to make it really detailed, even down to the bricks in the background," said Jacobs, 38. "It took awhile to accumulate that much LEGO."

Factor in an estimated 40-50 hours of LEGO-building, photo-shooting and animation, and you get this video posted by Jacobs on his Instagram account last week that's now making waves across the Internet.

Jacobs, who lives in Boise, Idaho with his wife and three children, had never created a football LEGO animation of this size before. He started constructing LEGO projects about four years ago -- "they were terrible," he said -- and began recreating scenes from "Breaking Bad," a popular, Emmy-winning television drama.

Once "Breaking Bad" actor Daniel Moncada started sharing some of Jacobs' work on social media, Jacobs began building a cult following. He moved on to other projects, including a LEGO video for golfer Tiger Woods that even made it on ESPN's "SportsCenter."

"It was a crazy couple of days," Jacobs recalled following the Woods video, saying he started receiving interest from other sports outlets after that.

That included the Big Ten Network, which approached Jacobs about recreating the famous Michigan-MSU play from last season, when the Spartans' Jalen Watts-Jackson recovered a botched punt snap by U-M's Blake O'Neill, resulting in MSU's stunning 27-23 win over the Wolverines at Michigan Stadium.

Even in those early talks -- they later fell through with LEGO due to licensing issues -- Jacobs knew that was the first football play he wanted to recreate with LEGO.

"That was such an iconic moment that stuck with me, watching the game as it happened, and I didn't even have any stake in that game," said Jacobs, who's a Boise State fan. "Just as a college football fan, it was an amazing game."

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Jacobs finished the video a few weeks ago, he said. He has since recreated another famous football play -- BYU's last-second Hail Mary to stun Nebraska in Lincoln.

It takes longer than usual to recreate football scenes, Jacobs said, because of all the details he has to get right. While a golf stop-motion video usually involves just one or two golfers, a football scene will involve the 22 players on the field, the coaches and sideline personnel, plus the fans in the stands.

Jacobs even recreated the U-M fan who put his hands on his head in disbelief -- the "surrender cobra," as they call it -- and the two MSU fans cheering amid a sea of maize, both of which were captured during the original ESPN television broadcast.

Imagine having to replace all the LEGO heads for each of these characters for each stop-motion capture.

"I do it all in LEGO; I don't do any of it in (Adobe) After Effects," Jacobs said. "Even with switching faces, that's just switching different LEGO heads and taking a picture. So everything kind of lines up.

"The lighting, I always seem to have some issues with that. But it's just trying to stay consistent with the details."

For now, this is a side hobby for Jacobs; he works as a marketing specialist for a building materials company. Could he see it turning into something more? Perhaps. In the meantime, LEGO has taken over his home, with more blocks than he can count, he said.

At least his children love it. They've even given Jacobs ideas for LEGO videos over the years.

"I just accumulated more and more (LEGO) over time," Jacobs said. "(My sets) are taking up our kitchen table now. So now my wife is like, 'When are you done making these?' Because we're eating dinner on our deck now."

Check out more of Jacobs' work on his Instagram page, @GoldYeller. Follow him on Twitter at @GoldYeller.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.

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