Burly Buff NEWS

BurlyBuff 2.0 Launching Soon

2007-10-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

Keep your eyes open, the new face of burlybuff is just around the corner... stay tuned...

...and thanks, as always for checking in!

WOW....it's been a WHILE

2006-05-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Nick here, reporting from Burly Central, where it looks like things may be dissolving like so much dissolving tiny production companies. Sure we never made a penny, sure we haven't worked in months, but we stuck it out as long as we could, but that's about all we got.

If once we find a way to pay the rent that allows some free time to get back in the swing of video work, we'll be back. Otherwise, thank ya'll for your interest and support.

You can still contact us any time at burlybuff@hotmail.com

Friends of BurlyBuff

2005-11-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we at BurlyBuff just wanted to share our thanks for those friends who have become part of our lives, whether because of their film work, correspondence, kind words, or just finery as people, here's a few friends of ours who you might want to befriend as well!

David Badgerow
Albert Birney
James Buyayo
Rory Campbell
C.J. Cenizal
Thomas Chavez
Paul DeBoer
Roberto Donati
Sean G
Matthew Goldman
Stefano Mutolo
Crystal Page
Zach Phillips
Steph Simpson
Joshua To
Colin Worley

...and many others who I've forgotten to put on here.

THANKS!

Drop us an email and become a friend!

Word from Virginia

2005-11-13T09:58:00.000-08:00

There's a new video in the experiments section of N~pickle Productions:

http://www.burlybuff.com/npickle/experiments

Also, a few images of a miniature 8x5 lightbox that Nick built, as part of an effort to create some animation in his free time:

http://www.burlybuff.com/studentfilm/lightbox.html

Check back for more news soon!
And, as always, share your thoughts at burlybuff@hotmail.com.

The Lull

2005-10-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Everything has hit a little low point in productivity. Between fulltime jobs, school, and the adventures of every day life, new film projects will have to remain theoretical. But not to fear! The cogs of BurlyBuff continue to turn (slowly)...

Step 1) We've gone transcontinental. With a Burly team member on each coast, we're here to do our thing, collaborate on any projects, right any wrong, drink many beverages, dream the impossible dream, and take a nap like there's no tomorrow.

The next endeavor is to create a semi-permanent green screen room. The space is aprox. 20x12, and armed with the leftover length of green nylon fabric from Lost Springs, a couple of lights, some aluminum foil and a box of thumbtacks, I plan to test out various methods of compositing and motion capture. Have we hit an alltime low in production value? YOU BET!

If this goes well, a room devoted to miniature model building, and possibly stop motion sets may be the next exploration in wasting time and money.

Any helpful hints or suggestions? Send em to burlybuff@hotmail.com (we dig talking shop, and respond to every message!)

Wait...new content?...yeah right.

2005-08-31T00:53:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been long enough since new content was uploaded. Just because we don't have anything substantial, it doesn't mean we can't kill our available web space most expertly.

http://npickle.burlybuff.com

Featuring new video experiments from this summer, and hopefully the home to upcoming projects from western Virgnia.

Upcoming Changes

2005-08-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

It's the end of Summer '05 and it looks like some changes are going to be taking place for the BurlyBuff crew. Here's what's been happening:

Nick finished his camp job with iD tech, 7 short videos by 7 different groups of 13-17 year-olds. He came away with some more knowledge of Final Cut and After Effects, a clearer idea of what to do (and what not to do) when it comes to video storytelling, and respect for the upcoming videographers. Again, you can check out the kids videos at http://users.design.ucla.edu/~npickle/iDvideos. With some web and video projects (see below) coming to a close, Nick is looking forward to a change of place, relocating to the south west region of Virginia, in search of quiet and inspiration. He will miss the Southern California area where he grew up, leaving behind the rest of the BurlyBuff crew, his dearest compadres. Rest assured, video projects will continue (hopefully more than have been finished in the last year) through the magic of the internet.

Jacob is single-handedly controlling the technology that runs Cal State San Marcos' new Communication and media labs. On top of this full-time possition he is completing his degree in Business, and minor in Film. As the mind behind many of BurlyBuff's unusual concepts, he is sure to continue developing ideas. Look forward to such intriguing titles as Paradiso, Zoom Pilot Zoom, and Xebrah Falls as we all hold our breath for funding (or creative cutting-corners).

Patrick was last heard from, blasting across the asphalt channels that traverse the country, in search of the American Dream, a recipe for tuna salad, and...love? Stay tuned for his exciting tales of highway bandits, bar room brauls, and one magical night milking cows by the light of the moon...

The corporate video for American Sterling has about wrapped on filming, with 8 hours of video to sift through it should be an post-production adventure. The Roadster Productions website has been launched at http://www.roadsterprods.com, a BurlyBuff website design, along with a site for some fellow Vista High School grads at http://users.design.ucla.edu/~npickle/adresse. We've been in communication with a very cool filmmaker, Zach Phillips, about possibly working on a unique project about birds. Hope things come together on it, cause it sounds awesome! Like always, drop an email if you have questions, comments, ideas to share, or want feedback on something, burlybuff@hotmail.com, we always enjoy emails.

how about an update?

2005-07-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so over a month and no news, huh? Here's the rundown:

Xebrah Falls is still floundering in the face of costs, so lets not get our hopes up on that.

Our hope is that we can be of some help in getting the special effects classic "The Wizard of Speed and Time" on DVD and producing some income for its creator, star, and legend Mike Jittlov. Drop an email to us if you have any ideas, helpful hints, or thoughts on how to achieve this goal!

Nick is working right now at a camp on UCLA campus, teaching video, cinematography, and special effects. You can check out the current student projects so far here.

Jacob has a sweet tech job at CSUSM campus, keeping their multimedia and IT systems running smoothly, as well as summer school and another job.

Patrick is sailing his scooner round the Cape of Good Hope, to bring spices and rum the likes of which have never been tasted. The voyage promises adventure and certain death.

That's about it. But if you drop an email we will certainly reply with kind words and rich and frothy cheer... burlybuff@hotmail.com

Go Team Xebruh!

2005-06-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

After a number of devastating defeats in recent video projects, we've dusted ourselves off and are preparing to rock the face off every man, woman, and child. Prepare yourself for...XEBRUH FALLS

If we pull it off, it will be our piece de resistance: a blend of irreverant, absurd, and just plain stupid humor that makes us giggle to no end. Will you giggle? Will your grandmother chuckle? What about a smirk from your Uncle Wally?...these questions and more will be answered in the ensuing days, months and years. More to come, soon!

student filmmaking links

2005-05-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

To our kind site visitors we offer a number of filmmaking links and downloads free of charge. It's just a little thing we do. We're great that way:

Student Filmmaking Links

...sigh...

OK, so nobody cares right now. That's where YOU come in! We always welcome cool and informative links to useful sites. If you know of some site or download that has made your life in film a little easier, please drop an email burlybuff@hotmail.com and help us build a resource for everyone.

THANKS!

streaming video problems...

2005-05-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hey all, sorry about problems with the video links for Lost Springs. We were using StudentFilms.com to host the videos, but I guess they wised up. The video links should work now. Also, if this problems happens again, feel free to stream from the following link, as our most popular video is hosted by Undergroundfilm.com:

http://www.undergroundfilm.org/films/detail.tcl?wid=1017210

UndergroundFilm Award

2005-05-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

The Shorttakes festival was very cool, Jacob and Nick managed to make the trek to LA to check it out. And even cooler, to our surprise, Lost Springs received the Undergroundfilm Edge Award, "given to the film which most pushes the creative edge in terms of style and content." Thanks to everyone involved with the festival, and to Undergroundfilm.org for the recognition!

We've decided that, despite a series of failures, it's time to get back on the horse and try to produce something new. Check back for developments.

What are the odds?

2005-05-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Lost Springs has found its way into the 2005 Shorttakes Festival at UCLA. Not quite sure how, or why its in the "animation" catagory, but we're grateful for the recognition nonetheless. If you're in the LA area May 26th, be sure to drop by Ackerman Grand Ball Room in the center of UCLA. I've attended the festival for the last 3 years and its always a cool eclectic collection of Southern California student work.

Velvet Lace comes to a close...for now...

2005-05-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

Since the last post, whatever footage that ended up in the final "movie" was filmed. The swordfight went well on the antique bridge that spans a valley near our hometown. We'll call it a success. The project has been submitted for credit, and at least for now, the "movie" is done. That's the good news.

The downside is...there is no Velvet Lace.

In its place is Crushed Velvet, a documentation of the failure of the original idea. We had so much material, from props to costumes, effects set-ups and tapes of footage. But it wasn't enough to balance the extreme scope of this small project. Problems in post (impossible composites and a lack of needed shots) has left us without enough substance to complete the film.

BUT, Crushed Velvet is a fun look at what worked and what didn't, our planning and inspiration, what went into the difficult shoots, and the results of our best intentions and efforts. Crushed Velvet is a humble appreciation of the lessons we learned from one of our first big failures, and while I'm sure it won't be our last, we enjoyed the process a lot more than the results.

What's next? Stay tuned.

The New Home of Velvet Lace

2005-04-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, at least one of us has our act together. Check out the new site for Velvet Lace http://www.burlybuff.com/1970/velvet.html created by Jacob, the mind behind V/L. And be sure to visit often as we post updates to the project.

Current stage: filming models for compositing, finishing costumes, and filming live action for composite.

Creative Commons and V/L update

2005-04-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

Because we certainly don't feel our we're in a possition to license our work, and in support of the current trend to share and use creative materials, some of our projects will be featuring a Creative Commons License. For information on this, check out http://creativecommons.org , but basically it's giving permission to the public to view and use our work as long as 1) Credit is given, 2) It's not for commercial use, and 3) it's not altered.

The costumes are nearing completion for Velvet Lace, the current goal is just 1 race seguence by May 9th, we have field footage captured and are begining to edit it, and will hopefully be filming the car models soon. Live action thereafter and then compositing. Fingers crossed on this one.

camera + pvc pipe + crane + field = ?

2005-03-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

Well, our first live action shoot is done. Between the hours of 3:00 and 4:30 we filmed in the one vast field near our homes, one that will (hopefully) pass for jolly ol England. This would play the backdrop for the race, on top of which will be composited model cars tearing through the peaceful clearing, with live actors composited behind the wheel. Here was our setup:

1) Canon® GL1 with wide-angle lens attachment

2) Glidecam® Crane (8ft max height) with tripod and detachable dolly wheels.

3) homemade glide cam of pvc pipes put together 10 min before shoot from spare pvc from a failed crane with a 1/4" bolt, 2 nuts, some string to secure the camera, and a 3lb barbell weight.

25 min of footage, now to see if we can grab any clean shots from that for a 3 min sequence...

"velvet lace" progress . . . ?

2005-03-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

Amid school and other day to day time-wasters, the project must now kick into high gear.

Costumes continue to be a struggle, but we've got to the point where 3 male costumes are taking shape, and its time to buy more source materials. Tonight we test the ornamental system that hopefully will make the costumes come to life. If it fails, we're in a little worse position than when we began.

In order to get all the shots defined before shooting (to help in the later compositing), I've had to learn a 3d program. After fumbling with Maya for an evening, it's back to the old 3d Studio Max that I've had a little experience with. Once a sequence is created, we'll upload the rough 3d storyboard footage.

Oh, and the story has been scaled back significantly for the May deadline: one sequence, hopefully completed, in a little over a month. Wish us luck! More to come soon.....

project codename "velvet lace"

2005-03-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

The work continues on the new project. Costuming has run into a slight snag due to an uneven ratio of complex design to current skill level, but attempts continue. 70s suit jackets are getting lace and piping accents, fake fur and uphostry samples are making their way into traditional formal attire, and its all being held together with the bonds of hi-temp hot glue. But we dig the rough, hands-on side of filmmaking.

Next step: create a basic 3d environment to represent the locations, place cameras and storyboard the film via this animated 3d world. Shoot live action accordingly.

There are new additions to the video section ( n pickle productions ), some recent, more corporate video work "The Team" and "Pik-Me-Up Walkins".

updates begin today

2005-02-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

Seeing as BurlyBuff has been up, in one form or another, since June '04, I figured it was about time that we start posting current events in the life of this media group.

A new project is in the works, working title: Velvet & Lace (this will most likely change) with a hopeful completion deadline of June '05. In brief it will be an action/musical/period piece involving compositing, costuming, set builting, music, song, and who-knows-what-else. Future updates will go into more.

On a side note, the last finished work of Nick, Jacob, and Patrick, Lost Springs, won the college competition at the Muskegon Film Festival. We'd like to thank everyone involved with the show, the judges, and the audience for their support!