Rolling Stone called 1999’s Fruit of the Vine—the first film from filmmaker duo Rick Charnoski and Coan Buddy Nichols, aka Six Stair —“a seminal work of scraped knees, bruised elbows, and big air.” The filmmaking duo made the visceral, exciting Fruit of the Vine in homage to the world of pool skating, and the authenticity and spontaneity of skateboard culture finds itself infecting every frame of Six Stair’s work. The acclaim of Fruit of the Vine, however, led Six Stair to opportunities outside skating, and Charnoski and Nichols have found themselves shooting everything from personal work to commercials, music videos, and more, including an extensive Pearl Jam documentary. Six Stair haven’t neglected the skate genre either with their recent crown-jewel films Deathbowl to Downtown and Blood Shed (for which they’re already planning a sequel).

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Naturally, Six Stair’s raw, honest cinematic aesthetic and Los Angeles home base made them the perfect choice to visually capture the essence of Kalifornia through their gritty and scrappy lens in K is for Kalifornia (above top) their first of 3 striking pieces that kicks-off the new K-Swiss video series paying homage to the iconic brand’s Classic heritage. To that end, Six Stair created a series of short, impressionistic, imagistic films that embody Cali’s iconic iconoclasm as a home for sports and creativity.

Recently, KSPACE spoke to Rick and Buddy about the making of “K is for Kalifornia” and what drives their vision as filmmakers, skaters and creators.

Kspace: How did you guys come together as Six Stair? What was the mission?

Rick Charnoski: The mission of Six Stair was to take all our gear, all our boxes of hard drives and random film ephemera, and put it under one roof, where we could produce random creative projects on our own terms.

Coan Buddy Nichols: Six Stair is actually our new company—we were together as NCPfilms for about seven years before we decided to start Six Stair. We made a film together in 1999 called Fruit of the Vine; it did pretty well, and we got some other jobs. I guess we figured we had to have a production company name, even though we were editing in Rick’s bedroom…

Kspace: What was the experience of making your first film, Fruit of the Vine? What did you learn? What fun did you have?

Buddy: Making Fruit of the Vine was super fun, organic and natural. When we made Fruit of the Vine, I had been skating for years and knew almost nothing about the scene. I don’t think we talked about how to do it or made any plans—we just threw ourselves into the mix and shot what was happening. I always thought the underground aspect of skating pools was super cool—I had wanted to skate backyard pools since I was a kid. The film was sort of a scheme to skate tons of pools because its hard to find them, and almost as hard to get people to take you to the ones they have found.

Rick: It was a total learning experience, and the best excuse to take a road trip with your friends and make something out of it. We didn’t know what would come of it.

Kspace: You’re known for your use of Super 8 film—an almost obsolete film stock in this digital era. What is it that drew you to Super 8?

Buddy: Everyone is so excited by Hi-Def, but I think it’s kind of boring. I love film because its real and looks so cool, and Super 8 was the only kind of film that was affordable—the cameras are super cheap, and if you have to, you can transfer the footage using a video camera and a projector. I also love the way it creates a trippy, dreamlike aspect to whatever is being filmed; also, not everyone is using super 8 so that makes it kind of cool, too…

Rick: I like scrappy-looking things. The footage always comes out pre-edited, so your story becomes pretty clear when you get your film back.

Kspace: Six Stair’s point of view comes out of skateboarding. What is it about that world that appealed to you?

Rick: Skating is a magic carpet ride into the weird zones, which is what we try to show in our films. I’ve always liked all things related to skateboarding—punk rock, D.I.Y. graphics on t-shirts, homemade ‘zines, travelling.

Buddy: Being skaters, it was the world we grew up in. We both still skate, and have since we were super young, so it’s what we know.

Kspace: Spike Jonze being the obvious example, why is it that so many filmmakers that come out of the skate culture prove so innovative?

Buddy: I think skating attracts kids who are into the D.I.Y. trip—kids who don’t want to be told what to do by a coach after school, and don’t jive with all the silly rules of most team sports, but still have tons of energy to get out. And in skating, kids make all the rules.

Kspace: Six Stair’s aesthetic is raw—shot off black and white TVs, out of focus, jumpy camera, old film stock. What is that aesthetic trying to communicate?

Buddy:: I never really thought about it. I think both of us see the world through our own filter: we just make stuff that looks cool to us, and that’s how it comes out.  When we released Fruit of the Vine, I was really surprised that so many other people were into it, actually.

Rick: It’s not an aesthetic that we created consciously; it came out of wanting to tell a story and get a film out there without much money. Besides that, life isn’t always clean and perfect visually—sometimes there’s a bug in your eye, or rain or the window, so that’s how the film’s get shot.

Inside Rick and Buddy’s Six Stair lab

Kspace: How did you move that aesthetic from skate films to the music videos, commercials, fashion pieces, shorts and other things that you do? What’s the common thread, if any? How is each different?

Buddy:  Hmmmmm… I guess other people like to see the world as a trippy, dream like place too?

Rick: It’s always the same as the skate films. We just jump in and try to catch the vibe of whatever scene we’re in.

Kspace: How did you get involved with K-Swiss ? What appealed to you about the campaign?

Buddy: We were able to put together a screening in Amsterdam at their K-SPACE interactive Gallery showroom space there and it went off really well. Over a year later, they called and asked if we would be down to create some films, and it sounded like we would be able to do what we wanted.

Rick: The appeal is the challenge of taking someone’s ideas and translating them into a film. Every project is a new little adventure—it gets you out there.

Kspace: How did you devise the visual language for your K for Kalifornia spot? How did it evolve? What were you trying to capture?

Rick: It’s basically California through our lens.

Buddy: That piece came out of years of shooting random stuff around Los Angeles. That’s another bonus of Super 8 film: the cameras are really small, so we almost always have one with us. We were just capturing the trippy stuff you randomly see when you go outside.

Kspace: What is classically classic about California? What is Cali’s appeal to both a visual artist and an athlete?

Buddy: Some places are just classic because they are. As a kid growing up skateboarding on the East Coast and in the Northwest, I always dreamed of being in Southern California because it’s the epicenter. The sun and weather are so awesome, and as an outsider, it always seemed like things were different in there, just like things are different in New York City.

Rick: California has it all and provides a great place to do almost any sport in the world. it’s pretty amazing—I can’t believe this place is broke. How did that happen?

Kspace: You’ve worked with some incredible athletes and individual personalities—Germ, Andy Kessler, Tony Alva, Ray Barbee, Mike Watt, Pearl Jam. What were some memorable moments?

Buddy: A lot of times I will be somewhere filming, and I will turn to Rick and just trip out that we are there. Like, how did this happen? Are we really getting paid to do this? I think most of the good stuff is captured on film! Our website has over five hours of clips up there—lots of the memorable moments.

Rick Charnoski: I trip out every time I find myself in a weird situation with some legend or famous person. I like creative, influential characters that are out there doing crazy shit in the world. That’s why I make films—we try to make a cool film to eternalize the experience.

Kspace: From the editing to the camera moves, Six Stair’s work has a rhythm evocative of music; as well, your soundtracks tend to be interesting, unexpected choices? How does music inspire what you do, and what music in particular?

Buddy: We have always been into editing to music. It’s so fun to start cutting and watch the process change and evolve because of the music the piece is set to. Lots of times, the music almost dictates whole parts of a story or how the story is told.

Rick: For me, music is visual and conjures up ideas. Most of our music comes from people we know, or we make it ourselves. One of our closest collaborators is George Draguns aka Flying Sutra from Philadelphia—we have used his music for every film we’ve made so far, including the K for Kalifornia piece.

Kspace: Lastly, what’s in store for the future of Six Stair?

Buddy: Shooting films and making movies…

Rick: We’re working on a Cameron Crowe film about Pearl Jam for Pearl Jam’s twentieth anniversary. We’re also trying to get funding for a collection of lost and found Super 8 surf/travel films from the ‘70s. Then maybe some more narrative films—we’ll see…

Stay tuned for the next two Six Stair vids Don’t Forget to Look Up (inspired by the upcoming LA Marathon with its new 2010 makeover) and Greg Lutzka and Al Partanen a highly original piece on two generations of skaters who continue to inspire each other.

Check out a whole lot more of Six Stair