Burnie Burns

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Michael "Burnie" Burns (born 1973) is an independent filmmaker living in Texas. His most notable contributions have been in machinima, although he has also worked with live-action. In April 2003, Burns, along with several of his friends, created the Internet machinima series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, filmed using the Xbox video games Halo and Halo 2. Red vs. Blue was quickly acclaimed for its humor and originality, eventually elevating Burns to the status of an Internet celebrity, visibility that allowed him to create one of the few successful machinima film-houses in the industry, Rooster Teeth Productions. Burns even attracted the attention of video game giant Electronic Arts, who asked him to create a promotional series using their new game, The Sims 2. The result, The Strangerhood, has received mixed reviews. Burns also premiered P.A.N.I.C.S., a new mini-series that utilizes the F.E.A.R. game engine. He has appeared at several film festivals, including Sundance. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and two sons.

[edit] The beginnings of Red vs. Blue

In 2003, Burns joined the staff of a website called "drunkgamers". Hosted by Texans Geoff Fink and Gustavo Sorola, drunkgamers brought Burns into contact with what would become his future team for Red vs. Blue.

Burns began to add daily videos of his favorite game, Halo on the Xbox, to the drunkgamers site. As the videos progressed, Burns began adding voiceovers to make the videos more entertaining. While playing Halo with Ramsey and Sorola, the three began wondering why a certain in-game vehicle was named the Warthog, sparking the idea for what would later become the machinima series (a version of the conversation would become the plot of episode 2). He also credits the birth of the series to being "extremely bored". In early 2003, Computer Gaming World asked the owners of drunkgamers for permission to use an Apple Macintosh commercial parody featured on the site, which by this time had shut down. This was an opportunity Burns saw to attract viewers to a possible new project. A trailer of The Blood Gulch Chronicles was made. A few months later, Burns rallied the entire staff of drunkgamers, as well as friends Matt Hullum and Joel Heyman, and created the first episode of The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The episode began an Internet phenomenon that is still continuing today. Burnie Burns officially announced to the public at on April 1, 2007 (the four-year anniversary of Red vs. Blue) on Roosterteeth.com that Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles would end on its 100th episode, which it did on June 28, 2007.

[edit] Rooster Teeth Productions

Main article: Rooster Teeth Productions

After the first season of Red vs. Blue, Burns, voicing the character of Church, became an instant celebrity in the machinima community. As the director, writer, and lead actor of the series, Burns is sharing the fame of being the star of Red vs. Blue, but is also the driving force behind the series. His series earned three awards at the 2003 Machinima Film Festival — Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Independent Machinima Film — and was nominated for three others.^[1] The series completed its 100-episode run on June 28, 2007.

Burns regularly attends conventions featuring Red vs. Blue and has made several appearances on G4techTV. He also appeared on the Discovery Channel mini-series "Rise of the Videogame" along with Gus Sorola.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

1. ^ Machinima Awards 2003 Results. Machinima.com. Machinima, Inc (2003-10-26). Retrieved on 2006-04-15.

[edit] External links

• Rooster Teeth Productions
• Rooster Teeth History
• Burnie Burns at the Internet Movie Database