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Building Brickfilms with Blunty! Article by Joe Evangelista |  |
He’s a sarcastic, quick-witted Australian who can find more uses for the word ‘funny’ than are even available in the dictionary! Meet Nathan “Blunty” Burr – brickfilmer, animator, and wise-guy extraordinaire! If you think that animating little pieces of plastic won’t get you much notice, then you haven’t seen the following that Nathan has online – he even has his winning animation from a Warner Bros. contest available for download on iTunes. If that doesn’t say success, I don’t know what does!
What spurred the idea to get involved in making little pieces of plastic move on the screen?
I got into brickfilming around six years ago, I rediscovered LEGO through the new Bionicle line, thought they looked cool brought a few sets and in putting them together remembered why, in my youth, I’d loved LEGO. My collection started to grow.
Many years ago I used to produce comic books with a friend, it was my creative outlet, animating was an outgrowth of that love of telling a story in a visual medium, I’m always looking for a challenge and to learn something new. Stop motion animation gave me all these things, challenge, visual storytelling and a creative outlet.
Throughout the progression of your work you have steadily improved in both the technical aspects of the film and the storytelling side – to the point where a number of fans will rush to download the latest Steve & Dave film. Do you see yourself turning this love of filmmaking into a profession one day?
When I first started it was just a creative outlet, I had no hopes or plans to turn it into a profession. At the time it was before sites like YouTube (www.youtube.com) were even dreamed up. I first started using YouTube as an alternative way to distribute my films in a convenient easy way without having to worry about ensuring my viewers had the right media player or codecs on their computer - and without the increasing bandwidth costs my website was racking up.
But YouTube also allowed me to reach a new, wider audience - the “general public” not just my peers, fellow animators and LEGO fans. My fan base grew, and along with the non-brickfilm related content on my YouTube account my profile and viewership grew.
My animated music video “circle circle dot dot” won a competition run by Warner Bros. That film clip is now availiable on iTunes and is being played nationwide on music television across the USA. It’s racked up many millions of views on my YouTube account alone.
The exposure that gave me has now brought me to a point where I’ve been able to sell an animated series to a show called Good Game, produced by a national TV station here in Australia, ABC2 - my show “MeatSpace” can be seen as part of the video game show called Good Game. Also, production companies and ad agencies have contacted me interested in using me and my work. It’s been a funny path, but I can now put “professional animator” on my resume.
So how long does it take for you to make a film, and have you learned anything along the way that helps to cut down the time?
Yeah, over the years I’ve developed a workflow that works pretty well for me, my basic process breaks down like this: Idea, script, script editing, record dialog, lay the dialog down in video timeline, build sets and character design (if needed), animation, polish editing, sound design, video effects (if any - I like to do as much effects work in-camera as I can ) and render high-quality video, check product - fix anything I missed, render out again and relax.
Working as a one man band for so long, my workflow has become second nature to me now, it’s almost an automatic process, there’s not a lot of standing around thinking “uuh what’s next?” And I work surprisingly quickly too - for an uncomplicated animation I can push out a few minutes worth in a day or two of solid work. When I get in “the zone” time can really just float away from me and a day can disappear without me realizing it. I’ve had many a day where I’ve simply forgotten to take a break and actually eat something, heh.
Why do you think most AFOLs are reluctant to give it a shot?
I suspect that most AFOLs are more interested in the actual toy rather than what I think is the true focus of Brickfilming, and that’s telling a story. Brickfilming in my opinion is more about filmmaking than it is purely about LEGO. We use LEGO because we love it, bit it’s a tool for us, not an end point, and that’s a distinction that separates a lot of brickfilmers from those who call themselves AFOLs.
Your movies usually have a lot of wit in the dialogue, where do you get your inspiration for writing these very funny stories?
As for my inspiration - I don’t know if any writer or comedian can actually answer that question honestly - we simply don’t know. It’s just a function of how our brains work (or malfunction) I think.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from all of the films you’ve made?
I really don’t know if I’ve learned any “lessons” per-se by making my films - I’ve certainly learned more about the craft of visual story telling, film making and the like, and that’s something I’m always hungry for, new experiences, new skills. We should all be striving to learn new things constantly.
How do you handle being compared to other filmmakers, and (in general) dealing with the brickfilming community? Have you run into any troubles?
I really haven’t been directly compared to other filmmakers, or even other brickfilmers. too often, and in general the brickfilming community at www.brickfilms.com is a good place for anyone wanting to learn more about brickfilming, it’s a pretty good mix of kids and the older group. The only real troubles I’ve had with them are the same thing you find in any internet community.
Are there any pieces that you wish LEGO would make that would make brickfilming easier?
I can’t really think off the top of my head of any specific pieces I wish LEGO would make - but I’d like to see less big one-piece pieces, I feel they limit creativity as usually they’re so specifically built it’s hard to use them for anything else. If anything, I’d like to see LEGO bring someone like me on board to help them relaunch the LEGO studios line, this time with a camera that doesn’t suck, software that is more flexible, and a “web 2.0” way to build into the strong but mostly “underground” community that’s been built. I’d like to see a product that’s more rewarding and versatile then the first attempt. With the explosion of user created video on the web, thanks to sites like YouTube, I think now’s the right time to try again with LEGO Studios and do it better than before.
Is there any other advice you would like to give to fellow brickfilmers, aspiring artists, and the AFOL community in general?
Do I have any advice? Have fun! That’s what LEGO is for. Play well ;)
For more information on Nathan Burr, check out his website at http://www.bluntmation.com
Nathan's YouTube films can be found here (Warning: Strong language)
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