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Dunkirk

The Treachery of Expectations

Let’s start with the first expectation. You read the ominous title and saw the screen grab of Dunkirk, you might be expecting this to be a negative review of Christopher Nolan’s latest epic. Well it’s not. I took in a late screening on Sunday night of opening weekend.  Being that it was the day after […]
John P. Hess
camerainternal-1

When It’s Time to Look Beyond the DSLR

I started my career before you could capture video on DSLRs. Right out of business school, I started shooting local cable commercials first on a 1/3rd inch chip Sony PD150 at the tail end of the “DV revolution” before graduated to an HDV Sony Z100 and then making my way to full HD 1/2 inch […]
John P. Hess
George-Clooney-director_Clooney-behind-camera

Crafting a Director’s Visual Reference

This article was originally posted by Nick LaRovere on his blog, Storyteller. Do you want to be an effective director? Creating a visual reference for your film is a vital step for effective teamwork and good storytelling. As the decision-maker of the film, you must take the time to know what you want. By being ready […]
John P. Hess
psycho_primary

Never Ask for Artistic Permission

Nothing makes me cringe more when I see a question on a forum asking permission. “Is it okay to push the greens in my color grade?” “Is it okay to shoot shutter speed other than the 180?” Imagine if Alfred Hitchcock asked, “Is it okay to kill off my lead actress in the first act?” […]
John P. Hess
lade-runner-by-denis-villeneuve-blade-runner-1982-420477

Why the Movie Theater Still Matters

I’ll be honest – I always liked Blade Runner but I never thought it was a great movie. To me it was just okay, a somewhat muddy film that never felt like it delivered on its sci-fi promises. That was until I saw it on the big screen. Blade Runner was released the year I was […]
John P. Hess
the-many-stages-of-making-a-film-3

The Many Stages of Making a Film

It was summer 2017, things seemed simpler, the weather was hot and season five of Orphan Black was airing on Netflix. Lexy Anderson and I (Harvey Puttock) were discussing the lead actor, Tatiana Maslany and whether there was anything she couldn’t do. In Orphan Black she played several women, a trans man and different nationalities […]
John P. Hess

Filmmaker Quotes: Morgan Freeman, Anna Kendrick, Quentin Tarantino, Audrey Hepburn, David Cronenberg & Lauren Bacall

Some inspiring and thought provoking quotes from Morgan Freeman, Anna Kendrick, Quentin Tarantino, Audrey Hepburn, David Cronenberg and Lauren Bacall. You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you. Morgan Freeman Being well adjusted is probably fucking overrated. Anna Kendrick When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, […]
John P. Hess
Phone Number 555

555 – Everybody’s Favorite Telephone Exchange

Our story begins with the Telephone Exchange: a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network. In order to connect two telephones, you have to have an uninterrupted wired connection between two telephone sets. But you couldn’t exactly connect every phone with every other phone. So telephone subscribers would call a central office. The […]
John P. Hess
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