Calais duo wins Burton 'poaching' video contest
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At his home in Maple Corner, Brian Burns poses with the helmet and homemade snurfer that he used in his winning Burton snowboard poaching video. Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/Times Argus |
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By Daphne Larkin Times Argus Staff - Published: March 20, 2008
CALAIS — Most people probably don't know that American revolutionaries won the historic Bennington Battle because General John Stark invented the "snurfboard" to get around in the snow.
That would be because most people probably have not viewed "The Hawk," a satirical tribute to fictional forebears made by Brian Burns and Dave Raizman, both of Calais. Best of all, the video was chosen Wednesday as the winner of Burton's video poaching contest — securing the two a $6,250 prize they will split.
In the film, Burns plays John "The Hawk" Stark, whose grandfather-six-times-removed invented the snurfboard that helped the Americans defeat the British.
"If he hadn't built this board, you know, we could all be speaking British right now," cracks The Hawk.
Burns, 32, a furniture and cabinet-maker, executes his deadpan humor with the audacity of a pro, and plays out the story of conquering the mountain that supposedly took the life of his father.
In reality, Burns has never snowboarded, and the videographer, documentary filmmaker Raizman, 45, filmed the video while Telemark skiing.
The contest was a call to snowboarders to make a video of riders poaching the remaining resorts forbidden to the sport — Mad River Glen, Deer Valley in Park City, Utah and Alta in Salt Lake City, Utah - for a $5,000 cash prize for winners from each resort. A contribution from a corporate sponsor increased the prize purse to $6,250.
Two other winners were chosen for videos made at the other two ski areas.
"Poaching isn't simply a peaceful form of protest, it is truly your patriotic duty," says Jake Burton in his original poaching video.
Burns said the contest, which ended March 1, got his creative juices flowing.
"I thought it was one of those ideas I would never do anything about," he said. But when he started asking around for a digital video camera, a mutual friend connected Burns with Raizman.
"He was totally into it," said Raizman, who added that the video concept was collaborative.
Raizman said much of the dialogue was ad-libbed by Burns.
"That whole riff about the British and General Stark on the snurfboard, the scene of the helmet, and the whole thing about the truck he just ad-libbed," Raizman said.
Burns, who grew up in Connecticut snurfing, decided to make his video by riding a homemade "snurfboard," the actual predecessor to and inspiration behind Burton's snowboard.
"I've been really into snurfing this winter, and I just thought it would be funny to enter on a snurfer," said Burns, "I thought it might have some sort of sentimental thing for Burton because that's how he started out. But I didn't really think (the video) really had a chance because it wasn't a Burton product. I was glad it wasn't really a product placement thing and they liked it."
Burns' snurfboard, made of very thin wood, is shaped like a skateboard but it has a rope attached to the toe that Burns holds while riding. The exact function of the rope is unclear, except possibly to keep the nose of the board from digging into the snow. Also there are no bindings.
The snurfboard is the inspiration behind today's snowboard, and Burns has made several of his own as gifts for friends.
Burns and Raizman spent three days shooting the video and Raizman spent a week editing the hour of recording down to the required five minutes.
Raizman is a fulltime documentary filmmaker who has made about a dozen films about serious topics like health care and adoption. He said this project was an opportunity to do something funny and to practice making videos for the internet.
The irony of taping a "mockumentary" was not lost on Raizman.
Raizman, who used his new $7,000 digital video camera to make the poaching video, said he felt dubious about skiing while filming.
"I thought, boy, you know, this is really not the greatest way to break in a camera," he said. "It was (challenging) in some ways (to film but) you can't actually turn a snurfer or stop it without wiping out, so he was never able to get too far without crashing."
When the contest began on Dec. 1, Taos, N.M., still banned snowboarding, but the resort announced a change in rules a couple weeks after the announcement of the contest. Burton marketing representative Nate Bosshard said the company does not take credit for compelling the resort to allow snowboarding, calling the announcement "serendipitous."
Serendipitously, Taos opened the mountain to snowboarders Wednesday, the same day Burton announced video winners, one from each resort.
There were 30 video entries, with a proportionate majority coming from Mad River Glen, and Bosshard said that of the five top Mad River videos, The Hawk" won "hands down."
"His video is such a … like … it's just so Vermont, from his farmhouse to General Stark," Bosshard said. "I just thought it was really well done."
The video entries were judged by all 300 Burton employees, including Jake Burton, and were posted on the company's web site for comment, as well, according to Bosshard.
Winners for the other two resorts are Andrew Bradon of Park City, Utah, who won the prize at his hometown ski area of Deer Valley, for drilling ski bindings into his snowboard and "poaching" the mountain on a "monoski."
Sid Ruhland and the Shin Diggers of Kelwona, British Columbia, were awarded the $6,250 bounty for driving 16 hours to Alta, in Alta, Utah.
Contact Daphne Larkin at (802) 479-0191 ext.1171 or daphne.larkin@timesargus.com.