Happy New Year! Here's to a Great 2009...

Jon here...

Very quick 2008 Recap… We promised a short every other week and we delivered! We made some great little flicks and even got more Steve the Vampire shorts in the bag, Betty and Me still makes me laugh, we’ve been shooting Josh and Todd… And the crew got even mightier…
And even more important than anything else four babies were born, and born to awesome parents and healthy. Tricky Pete and Elmwood Alumni Dave the Beautiful Man both had kids in the early part of the year (OK, Mrs. Tricky and Bella the Beautiful Wife actually had the kids). So Welcome to Earth Hailey, Emily, and Hanna Lucco, and Tiago Pereira!
And let's not forget that THIS really happened, hahahahaha...

What to look forward to in 2009… Well, of course Josh and Todd, and more Steve the Vampire and a whole bunch of madness from all our crew! you'll be seeing puppets doing even more crazy stuff, and some grown adults doing even crazier stuff!

It’s been a great couple of years…

This isn’t a short, but a photo gallery of the goons who are (or have been) Elmwood Productions since 2002. These are not necessarily the most flattering pictures of us, I just wanted to pat the crew on the back and say thanks for all the hard work…
Wow. 2002… Six years.
Six years ago I moved back to Connecticut from an 18 month vacation in Florida. Six years ago I got Russ, Jim, and Tricky to give this a shot with me.
Six years ago I had hair.
Six years ago…
A lot has happened for so many of the crew of Elmwood, and for that matter this whole crazy world we all live in every day. I can only speak (or type) for myself…

I love you cats.

All of you. And damn, thank you so much. You are making my dreams come true. Let's raise a toast to 2008 and a second bigger one to 2009!
Enjoy! -JB

And if you don’t see a pic of you… Sorry! I tried to get at least one picture of everyone but I’m sure there are a few I forgot or just didn’t have a picture of at the time I made this…




RHCP!!!

This Weeks Short: Josh And Todd Teaser Trailer

Happy New Year!

Have a Blast Tonite As We say Hello to 2009!

Don't Drink and Drive !

Josh And Todd

The Story of A Man And His Puppet

Coming in 2009 From Elmwood Productions

This Weeks Short

Happy Holidays from Elmwood Productions!

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Bad Monster

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster visits the set of "Josh And Todd: The Story of A Man And His Puppet"

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

This Weeks Short

With 2009 coming up quick, Mr. Universe and Don attempt to come up with a new slogan for Elmwood Productions...

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Happy Birthday Russ!

Yup, today is the day Russ arrived on Earth...

And we haven't figured out how to send him back to where he came from!

Happy Birthday Mr. Sexypants!

Russ: A Man With Big Equipment

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things,

and reminds you what you can eat on Thanksgiving!

Every year around the holidays all the favorite TV specials start popping back up in a rerun... So click here for our re-run of

"A Happy Plinksgiving"

This Weeks Short: Fire In The Hole!

Jon Here-
Back in 2006 Tricky came up to me and said “I have an idea… I wanna attach a puppet to a model rocket” or something like that, followed by: “Can we make a short film about that?” I said “Sure, but you have to write and direct it.” And he did. And what is posted here now is not that flick. It didn’t turn out quite like we planned… But what we’re putting here is a making of Russ and I put together with the footage and footage from a little handheld camera I carried around all day while we shot. This was never originally intended to be seen in public, but what the heck, why not. I did shorten it up a bit (don’t worry nothing good is missing!) None of the scenes with the puppets ended up on this making of, but I hope you enjoy this piece of silliness anyway… Blame Russ for the spelling mistakes and me for not knowing how to read when I proof read it all…

But we did get a ton of fun footage and we almost killed Tricky Pete!
So here it is...

FIRE IN THE HOLE:

A TRUE TALE OF DOUCHE-BAGGERY

"We Lost The Rocket?"
A Short Conversation on Making Rocket Time by Jon Bristol and Pete Lucco.

Jon: '"Man, we went out there with a half baked script, an awesome idea, two fantastic puppets, a model rocket, and a shitload of gumption. Labor Day was never so much fun before. Unfortunately the footage we got in-between the shots was better than the shots for the film. We tried, but sometimes the bread just doesn't rise. Maybe we'll try again someday."
Pete: "The day started out great, we shot the first scene with ease. Our confidence was high and we moved on to our next location, outside on a public street. We had to shoot a couple different times to get the best angle but things went well. Full of confidence we headed to the local park to shoot our final shots. Since this was "my" short film I did all the research for it (none), I just wanted to launch a model rocket off with a puppet attached to it. Needless to say I should have tested this idea before filming it. To sum it up I almost died!"

Jon: "That made the whole day worth it. I wish I was more sober for it."
Pete: "I wish I was as drunk as you had been the night before, kill some of the pain and embarrassment."

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Happy Birthday Jim!

Puppeteer, actor, director, and long time Elmwooder,

Jim,

is older, again...

Happy Birthday Man!

He's Jim Williams, and you're not

thanks, Chris, for the Jesters pics!

This Weeks Short

"No Strings Attached"

Here's Episode Two: Nudity Required.

Part One


Part Two


Part Three


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And if that wasn't enough Betty and Me, here's a little bit more... This song is called "Harold's Love" by Jorge Gonzalez

Election Day

Good afternoon, everybody. While we here at Elmwood Productions don't officially support any candidate, our local political junkie Johnnie Sojive wanted to remind you all of the following:

So, Happy Election Day,

exercise your right if you're old enough, a citizen of the US and registered.

TRICK OR TREAT!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This Weeks Short

This week we have "Betty and Me".

Every now and then we leave the puppets in their boxes... It's in two parts... Enjoy!

Part One...


Part Two...



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A Puppet A Day

Our own Jon Bristol has set up a new blog. It's an interesting challenge, and we're looking forward to seeing what happens...

It's called A Puppet A Day. It began on October 20, and what he has set out to do is post a puppet every single day. Starting with the puppets he has already made and going for as long as possible without missing a day (for atleast a year). This will be fun for Elmwood Productions, because we can see some old friends pop up, and from an artistic standpoint it'll be fun to see the evolution of Jon as a puppet builder. He says that they are going up in the order of "whatever", which we think means he's posting whatever one fancies him that day. As of now we've gotten to see Plink, Otis and a newbie called Joanie... According to Jon when the time comes he misses a day that means he's "run out" and it will kinda stop. At that time he'll continue to post new puppets as they are made, but he will also use it to showcase puppets he has collected and images of puppets from around the world...
Good Luck Jon! We look forward to seeing the madness!

So go and check it out... A Puppet A Day!

Saturday was...

Liz's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Liz!!!

This Weeks Short

And now a commercial interruption...




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This Weeks Short (Yes, It's Early)

Yup, it's early... Or late, since we missed the last one... But we're making it up with this one: A music video for

Simon's Lament

by Simon Sinister






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Jesters...

Jon Here....

For two years in a row Elmwood Productions was invited to screen films at Jestercon.
Jestercon is a yearly meeting, game day, and awards night for a troupe of role players (the gaming kind, not the kinky kind... OK, maybe some of both) who play the game Dark Ages: Vampire.

A few members of the Elmwood crew are regulars at this game and got me a hook up so we could show our flicks. So we were invited in 2006 to show the first Steve The Vampire flick, and we were invited back a year later to show that and the next three also, and some of the Jesters were even in one of the flicks, thanks for the help!

This year was slow in the land of Steve the Vampire and the work we've done doesn't really fit into the mold of there celebration, but since they have been nice to us and let us pimp out our films for two years I wanna say thanks...
So... THANKS!

Also last year Steve and his mom made an appearance and got to harass the gamers. We had a blast being there, and maybe next time around in 2009 we'll be back to bite their heads off with even more Steve stuff!!! I must say I had a blast both years. The first time I was suffering from some strange illness that stole my voice, so I let Jim do the speaking, and the second time we got Steve in on the action of presenting awards. Really great time, really great people! I've gotten to know a few of them over the past couple years, and I can say I always have a blast with them!

Here are some pictures for the 2007 event!









Although we won't be there this year the event is this coming weekend and I hope fun is had by all!!!

And for the record: Yes, I did steal these pics from the Jesters site!

with love-

JB

Behind the Scenes

In Late August we shot a music video for Simon Sinster's song Simon's Lament...

The video will be done and appearing here and several other websites very soon... In the meantime here are some behind the scenes pictures from the shooting of the video.

Photos by Chris Lemanski and Jon Bristol

Good-bye lovely fluffy friend...

Jon here...

I just got some very sad news...

One of our extended family members suddenly passed away today...

Wicket the Cat.

Wicket spent his days living in Russ and Liz's house making sure they were good to each other and keeping them happy and fed. It makes us all sad to say good-bye to such an important family member.

I'll miss that cat. He used always manage to sit in whatever chair I was in whenever I got up to get a coffee whenever Russ and I were editing.

Say "Hi" to Phantom for me, man!

JB

This Weeks Short

This week Mr. Universe and his buddy Don discuss the need for two different movie versions of "Dune"

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Support the MDA

This Labor Day weekend join Jerry Lewis when you can over the Sunday nite and Monday time frame and support the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

So we hear cures for many of the forms of Muscular Dystrophy are just around a few more corners, and every little bit helps.

We've been giving you free short films to laugh at since January...

Now it's time to pay up, by making a donation to the MDA...

Thanks,

Jon and the crew

UPDATE: 9/2/08... Thanks for a record breaking year! Click the link for more info; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26501270/

This Weeks Short

This week we've got some more "Elmwood Classic" for ya! We jumped in the time machine to find this one, it's one of the very first things we ever shot as a group...

And now a commercial interruption... Do your eyes stink?

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Jon says... "Personally I love watching these old clips... No way are they anywhere near as good as 'Steve The Vampire" or our other shorts, but it brings back some awesome memories. I had no idea how to make puppets (I'm sure you can tell by looking at them) and we as a group had no idea how to shoot them too! But it all came out pretty good, and funny. And that's all I really wanted to do; make people laugh."

This Labor Day weekend join Jerry Lewis when you can over the Sunday nite and Monday time frame and support the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
So we hear cures for many of the forms of Muscular Dystrophy are just around a few more corners, and every little bit helps.
We've been giving you free short films to laugh at since January...
Now it's time to pay up, by making a donation to the MDA...

Thanks,
Jon and the crew

This Weeks Short

This week we give you a little preview of things to come...

First some bloopers and fun stuff from the making of "Betty and Me", a short we filmed earlier this year that we'll be showing here soon. Then a preview of "Secrets And Other Things"

And also, if you've been checking out website and noticed a lack of updates there - We're having some technical difficulties that will be fixed ASAP... So in the mean time keep checking here every other Friday for the new short!

Four Letter Word Warning on This One!

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Butt

The Butt Of Russ

Happy Birthday Tricky!

Elmwood's Tricky Pete is a year older! So that means he is STILL older than Jon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG DADDY!

This Weeks Short

Back in 2006 our very own Pete "Tricky" Lucco decided to audtion for "Deal or No Deal". As part of the audtion they wanted to hear from your friends, and have them say why you should be on the show... Well Pete's only friends are our puppets!

Since they didn't pick him for the show, and since his birthday is next week we figured it's time to embarass him with this... And keep in mind this was never meant to bee seen publicly, so there's all kinds of mistakes, goofs, etc... Enjoy our failure! Hahaha!

So here it is:

Pete's Game Show Audition, or as we call it:

NO DEAL!

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Happy Birthday Gabe!

Yup, Gabe is older... But not wiser!

This Weeks Short

This Week The Doc takes questions from our fans

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A Little Update...

Here's some things going on in the Land of Elmwood...

There's the Art Show at the Farmington Public Library featurning art by Brie McDonald, and Jon Bristol

- More info HERE

There is going to be a Elmwood sponsered tag sale in Plainville, CT on July 27, 2008- More info coming soon!!!

A whole bunch of new merchandise is now available HERE

And keep a look out for this weeks short on Friday!

Here's Some of the new crap you can buy!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAIME!!!

Well, it's that time...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAIME!!!

The crew at Elmwood Productions hopes it's the best birthday yet! And here's to many ,many more!

Thanks for always being so awesome!!!

Cheers!!!

Elmwood Puppets On Exhibit

PICTURES & POLYFOAM:

An Exhibit of Paintings and Puppets

at the

Farmington Public Library

for July 1, 2008 - July 31, 2008

Featured in the show:

Paintings by Brie McDonald

and Puppets by Jon Bristol

Opening Reception Date and Time To Be Announced Soon, But Go Check it Out Now If You Want To!

Now's your chance to come and see Mr. Universe and Don... In Person!

DIRECTIONS TO THE FARMINGTON LIBRARY
The Farmington Library is located off Rt. 4 in Farmington, in a complex containing the Library, Town Hall and Farmington High School.
From I-84: Take Exit 39, Rt. 4 West to Farmington. Follow Rt. 4 to the traffic light at the intersection of Rt. 4 and Monteith Drive, approximately 4.5 miles. Turn right onto Monteith Drive. Turn left into the library parking lot

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

One of the newbies to Elmwood is getting old!!!

Here's Josh!!!

Happy Birthday Old Man!!!

Thanks to Chris for the pic!

This Weeks Short

Happy Independence Day From The Elmwood Puppets!

Yeah, we know the video is a little dark, sorry!

Be safe this weekend and have a BLAST!

And here's a little more for ya!

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Mr. Travel Returns

Thanks to everyone who voted and flipped and gave 5 Stars to Mr. Travel - The Travel Genie, on Flip For Budget.
We had a whole lot of fun making it, and here's some of the proof!

This Weeks Short

GET WELL BOB!!!

Last week we asked yo to "Flip For Budget" and vote for our flick on thier website. Thanks to all the people who watched it and voted for Mr. Travel! In case you missed it, here it is as this weeks short... plus a little something else at the end!

Thanks to Kelly and Jaime for coming up with the idea for entering the contest, Josh for helping shoot it, and to Mark and Kelly for the awesome puppetry skills - Jon

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VOTE FOR THE ELMWOOD PUPPETS AND MR. TRAVEL!

Check out

"Flip For Budget"

and vote for the clip "Mr. Travel", and don't forget to "DIGG" it too!

Thanks for hooking us up!!!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Steve's Mom Is Excited!!!

Why?

Well, it's Writer, director, and puppeteer Chris Lemanski's birthday tomorrow!

Let's all wish him a happy and drunken one!

This Weeks Short

Mr. Universe And Don discuss entering the afterlife

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This weeks short, Happy Memorial Day

Mr.Universe and Don do some grilling for the holiday.



'Tis the season, let me see your grill!

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This Weeks Short

Another oldie, we'll call it Elmwood Classic.

The first ever appearance of MR. UNIVERSE AND DON

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What's fun about this one is that it also has the original (ugly) Don puppet, and a different voice for him too!

This Weeks Short

Don attempts to find out Mr. Universe's real name... Four letter word warning on this one...

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webshort archive

This Weeks Short

Mr. Universe and Don spend some time in front of the T.V... Spice At Nite!

This Weeks Short...

And Now For A Word From Our Sponsers....

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National Day Of Puppetry

From The Connecticut Guild Of Puppetry

A Day of Puppetry
March 29, 2008

11:00 AM Family performance of "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Lionheart Puppets

at The Community School of the Arts, 3 Witryol Place, Storrs Mansfield, CT
Guild Meeting follows the performance as well as a break for lunch

2:00 PM MFA performance "Meet the Samsas"

at CRT Studio Theatre in the Drama/Music building, corner of Route 195 and Bolton Rd., unit 1127. Call The Jorgensen Box Office at: 860 486-1629 for info/860 486-4226 for tickets.
A Puppet Arts Production for adults, this original adaptation by Mary Gragen Rogers & S.B. Parks is based on Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, and promises to deliver the usual inventiveness and creativity for which the students of the Puppetry Arts program are known. This is a rare chance to experience a literary milestone in a completely new and theatrically unique way.
A special backstage viewing is extended to CT Puppetry Guild members only.

4:00PM Taking the Mystery out of Marionettes
Puppet Lab in the Puppet Arts Building, UConn Storrs Campus. (Take Weaver Rd. south off of Rt. 44 and follow signs to Puppet Arts Complex.)
Fee: (none)
A lecture/demonstration by Fred Thompson on the head & shoulder marionette
On the final day of the last Puppetry Conference at The O’Neill Theatre, a few CP Guild members were dazzled by an extemporaneous demo of Fred Thompson’s head and shoulder marionettes. Fred introduced us to several of his beautifully crafted and elegantly moving characters and then fielded question after question like the pro he is. On the spot, we asked him to be our feature this year for our Day of Puppetry, and we are delighted that he accepted.

During his extensive career in theatre as performer, craftsman and technical director, Fred also came up the puppet ranks with the best – the Roses, Roser, Syrotiak, Bixby, Brown & Stevens – he studied, toured or performed with ‘em all, and has been on the staff of the Puppetry Conference as resident craftsman since 1996. In his spare time he is the Editor of the P of A PLAYBOARD and head of P of A Membership Services. We look forward to a future production of his featuring many of the characters you will meet on our Day of Puppetry.

For more Day of Puppetry Events please visit Puppeteers of America

This Weeks Short!

This week we revisit an old friend, Mr. Universe!

For more Mr. Universe, click here!

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This Weeks Short

We've had a few requests for this one!

It's the very first in the Steve series, so by popular demand...

Steve The Vampire Who Lives With His Mom

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Welcome To Earth!!!

On Friday February 22, 2008 our very own Peter became a dad! Not once, not twice, but three times in three minutes!!!

Congratulations to Peter and his amazing wife, Michelle! We raise our glasses and shout "Cheers" to three healthy and happy baby girls!

Emily

Hailey

Hanna

This Weeks Short

And Now For A Word From Our Sponsers....

Here's the Perfect Valentine's Day Gift For Your Sweetheart...

Happy Valentine's Day from Elmwood Productions!

www.elmwoodproductions.com

This Week's Short

The Girl With The Afro

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Come Back Friday!!! New Short!!!

Get ready to meet "The Girl With The Afro" on Friday!!!

See ya then!

This Weeks Short

Steve The Vampire Whose Mom Finds Jesus

http://www.elmwoodproductions.com/

elmwoodproductions.com update

We're still working out the kinks with our new webserver, so the latest updates aren't showing up.. We'll figure it out!!!

But either way make sure to check back here on Friday Morning for the next short...

"Steve The Vampire Whose Mom Finds Jesus"

This Weeks Short

STEVE THE VAMPIRE WHO WORKS AT THE GROCERY STORE

Happy New Year!

We're off to a good start! The website has completely moved to our new server

www.elmwoodproductions.com

Stay tuned... And come back this Friday 1/4/08

We'll be unveiling the film

STEVE THE VAMPIRE WHO WORKS IN THE GROCERY STORE