The Morning Watch: Deconstructing 'The LEGO Movie', 'Black Mirror' VFX Breakdown & More

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.

In this edition, Phil Lord & Chris Miller break down a "lost clip" from The LEGO Movie for a screenwriting lecture. Plus, a visual effects reel highlights the digital work that went into an episode of Black Mirror, and Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan recalls some of his most iconic characters from film and television.

First up, despite some technical difficulties, screenwriters Phil Lord & Chris Miller talk about an abandoned story idea for The LEGO Movie as an example of how important it is to review and rewrite in order to figure out the best approach to your story. In this lecture from BAFTA, find out how one of their ideas ended up changing completely because it ran counter to the core theme of the story.

Next, visual effects company DNEG provided a breakdown of their BAFTA TV Craft Award-winning work on the "Metalhead" episode of Black Mirror. They were responsible for creating a photo-realistic quadruped robot, designed as a technology that could conceivably exist in the near future, and as you can see, there's even more work than just the robot itself.

Finally, Kyle MacLachlan can currently be see in The House with a Clock in Its Walls, but his career includes iconic roles such as aul Atreides in Dune, Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet, Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks, and Dr. Trey MacDougal in Sex and the City. He runs through all those and more in this video from GQ.