Balderdash Films: For the last 20 years we have been bringing your stories to life
What We Do
We are creative storytellers delivering high-quality video production services based in Sydney, producing commercials, documentary-style films, brand films and for-purpose work.
Headed up by Luke Banfield (Director and Cinematographer) with over 20 years of experience in TV, video production and film. Having worked extensively as a director, producer, camera operator, editor, motion graphics designer and colourist in London, UK and Sydney, Australia as well as on international projects far and wide.
We offer a range of Film, TV and Video production services from animation, brand films, commercials, drone footage, events, explainer videos and content for social media.
The team comprises highly experienced producers, camera operators, editors, motion graphics designers and colourists. They bring a broad knowledge base and a love of problem-solving to all projects making your project come to life effortlessly and seamlessly.
We pride ourselves not only in producing high-quality films but also in our ethics, integrity, communication, efficiency and our transparency. We are fast and efficient with our quoting process, our team caters for all sizes and budgets.
We are based in Sydney but have local teams based all across Australia.
Our Process
We offer a full range of video production services from start to finish, you can rest assured we will be with you every step of the way.
Reliable - Stress-Free - Expertise - Professional
“Specialising in bringing your ideas to life through captivating
visuals and compelling storytelling.”
MORE ABOUT BALDERDASH:
Unlike hogwash or, for example, flapdoodle, the noun balderdash is a word of “uncertain” (some authorities even say of “unknown”) origin. However, what is “known” about it is probably sufficient for questioning the disparaging epithets.
As often in such cases, it remains unclear whether the word under discussion is native or borrowed. The difficulty with balderdash is that its earliest recorded senses are “froth” and “mixture of drinks.” “Nonsense” and “vile, insulting language” are seemingly later developments because it is more natural for a word denoting “froth” to acquire figurative meanings (“cheap drink,” “trash,” “nonsense”) than for a word meaning “nonsense” to be applied to a drink. Not that such a change is impossible (puzzling semantic leaps occur all the time); it is only less probable. Compound nouns fit the names of drinks, especially mixed drinks: think of scumgullion and shandygaff. (When the form of a word “corresponds” to its meaning, linguists speak of iconicity. A compound word for a compound drink is the very triumph of iconicity.) Scumgullion is not only tea or coffee made thin but also a kind of stew. Perhaps balderdash too had a wider application one day.
Quite naturally, words for “nonsense” tend to be expressive; funny, partly meaningless compounds, native and borrowed, like claptrap, poppycock, and codswallop are cast ideally for this role. But how was balderdash coined? The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology says: “Various continental forms f[or] balder– expressing loud noise or clatter are not relevant in sense.” This verdict may be too harsh. The element –dash, which everybody identifies with the verb dash, suggests that producing the mixture was associated with a vigorous, abrupt, or hasty movement: one threw, rather than poured, the ingredients into a bowl, and conceivably did it with some noise, amplified in the word’s form by humour.
Balderdash seems to be a compound of the same type as slapdash or slapjack, or puffball, except that Engl. balder “knock, bang, crash, pop” has not been attested Continental words resembling balder– and meaning “bawl; talk nonsense” are numerous: Norwegian dialectal bjaldra, Dutch balderen ~ German poltern, and so forth. All of them are evidently onomatopoeic.
By Anatoly Liberman, the author of Word Origins & Oxford Etymologist Blog.
Watch our explainer video below to see our process and how we work.
