Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
RCRR Volume II
Tales of The Rocket City Rescue Rangers: Volume II from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.
the return of The RCRR.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
EPISODE I: THE FIRST ACT
The Last Actor: Episode I: The First Act from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.
Senior thesis project of Dan Stebbins and Greg Gaskins at The Rochester Institute of Technology School of Film and Animation.
The pilot episode of a comedy web series taking place a few years in the near future where CG Animation has become photo-realistic.
Shot mostly in Rochester, NY. Shot mostly on Kodak 16mm Film.
Written and Directed by Daniel Alexander Stebbins
Editing and Compositing by Greg Gaskins
Cinematography by Drew Ganyer
Produced by Lindsey Timko
Monday, November 8, 2010
NYC Marathon
Was down in NYC over the weekend and saw 43,000 people run down the road. Was at the 9mile marker in Brooklyn.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Island of Rhodes
So for the past three weeks I've been in our nations smallest state crewing on a feature. Here are some pics...
Saturday, October 16, 2010
SportsZone: Do Stuff 4 Stuff Challenge
Check out this super segment for SportsZone last year about the Ultimate Do Stuff 4 Stuff Challenge at RIT. I shot the confessional interviews.
SportsZone: Do Stuff 4 Stuff Challenge from Justin Cady on Vimeo.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Last Actor: Hamilton Street Riot
Hamilton Street Riot from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.
For the intro sequence of my thesis The Last Actor we shot a riot out in front of my house.
This is the only take we did because we broke most of the props and people were pretty tired and bruised afterwards. Plus we had to rush to get back to campus to meet the bus for our Hockey team the RIT Tigers which made it to the Frozen Four for the first time.
Had tremendous fun filming it.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Review: Hard Boiled
Finally watched this 1992 Hong Kong action film by John Woo last night. John Woo is a maestro of mayhem and it shows to full effect and then some in Hard Boiled. Known by many people as one of the best action films ever made I can assure you that I am now among that collective. The film stars two of Hong Kong's biggest superstars; Chow Yun Fat who's been in Pirates 3 and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Tony Leung Chiu Wai who was in the Infernal Affairs trilogy which inspired The Departed.
The story takes place in Hong Kong in the early 90's, and what does that mean? The mutha fuckin Triads are out running the streets that's what, and they be up to no good shenanigans of course. These Triads are especially nasty weapons smugglers who just don't give a fart and will kill anyone in their way innocent or not. Hot on their tail from killing his partner in the first scene is clarinet playing police Officer "Tequila" Yuen played by Chow Yun-Fat. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai plays the other main character Alan who is an undercover cop deep within the Triad gang Tequila is tracking down. Thus....complications/oodles of bullets and explosions.
The two hours of havoc that unfolds on screen is some of the best captured on celluloid. With a body count of 307 I'm pretty positive more bullets were fired here than in Operation Desert Storm. What really ups the ante in the shootout scenes is the acrobatics by the main characters who are constantly jumping, sliding, ducking, weaving, dodging, and maneuvering through the given location. The physical locations are used like jungle gyms. It's over the top but in a realistic "people could actually do this shit" kind of way. There aren't matrix style stuff or even some of the extreme things Jackie Chan has been known to do. The level of reality to the stunts was kept consistent throughout which kept the film grounded and the suspension of disbelief not far to hold on to. I really enjoy this level of stunt work as a early twenty something viewer cuz in my mind I'm like "yeah, I could totally do that if I was in that situation, jump over that bar, shoot around the corner then run and slide across the floor while dual wielding shooting two dudes in opposite directions, totally, yeah!".
The other high point represented by the action is the beautiful use of practical effects; fiery explosions, squibs, gun shots and breaking glass. Everything used here looks a million times better than the CGI-filled action extravaganzas of today (lookin at you Stallone). The stuff that goes down is really a sight to be seen as it really is incredible how they filmed it. Numerous times actors are inches away from the fire of explosions or in many cases hit by the shrapnel of exploding walls and set pieces. The infamous hospital hallway shot is just fantastic. It's a 3 and a half minute single take of our two hero's blasting bad guys and dodging live explosions the whole way and interrupted in the middle by a clever elevator ride. The sense of danger is thick and tangible from the beginning tea house shoot out to the chaotic climax at the hospital.
Beyond all the action there are actually characters and pretty decent ones to boot. Both Tequila and Alan are quite charismatic and interesting to watch especially together. It's fun to watch Tequila go from thinking he's one of the bad guys, to being totally confused to eventually trusting him and working together. The supporting cast are all cop movie archetypes that transcend cultures and time. The mob boss who doesn't give a fuck, the hard ass police chief, and the innocent girl friend who wants her cop boy friend to settle down and retire from all the danger. They do their job fine and don't detract from the action and story. The only character I had a major problem with was the Bartender played by the Director John Woo. It was a lame attempt at putting in some philosophy and getting Tequila to talk about his feelings. I've grown to dislike the use of directors in cameo roles more and more in films, especially like here when they are the "voice of reason" or explain some essential aspect to the plot (also looking at you Shamylamy). I know you want to be "involved in the whole process of filmmaking" or whatever but common, just cast someone else. It's pretty simple, craigslist it if you need to. (Yes I admit I'm being hypocritical since I acted in my last film but that is something I'm definitely not going to do for a long time.)
Is this all gratuitous violence you ask? Maybe, maybe not. I've never been to Hong Kong though its on my list of places to go (very gorgeous setting with the glass towers next to the mountains surrounded by the sea, kind of like an Asian Rio de Janeiro...but i digress). This could very well be a true to life depiction of how conflicts roll over there between the Police and Triad. Why else would everyone learn martial arts? Tis a dangerous place and the only logical explanation. But beyond my silliness is all the violence in this film for the sake of being violent? Well lets just take into fact the incredibly high body count of 307. Now that's 307 confirmed kills from the good people over at Movie Body Counts dot com. In order to make it to that list you gotta be confirmed to be waiting for your toe tag not just a punch in the face. Thus many more people simply come away with flesh wounds and broken arms and such leading to about 200 more or so. One might say this is quite a lot, and that one would be perfectly justifiable in saying that but the point I'm trying to make is that Hong Kong had a population of 5.8 million people at the time of 1992 and one of the largest networks of gangs if not the highest at that particular time in the entire world THUS there would be A LOT of people involved in any big conflict between cops and the Triad. If this movie was set in backwoods Wyoming yeah it would be ridiculous, but here in Hong Kong it makes sense. Nevertheless is this gratuitous though? Without a doubt. Did all these people have to get mowed down in this film? No of course not. But with that, it would have been a very different film. I was going to say boring but retracted because with the same story with the two cops, one seeking revenge and the other deep undercover they could have crafted a nice little tale with lots of intricate tension. The bottom line is this film knows what it is and does gratuitous action and violence the best I've ever seen and asks for no apologies. It is what it is. And it is awesome.
I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of action films and over the top cinema. Definitely do not watch if you dislike violence/blood/subtitles.
The story takes place in Hong Kong in the early 90's, and what does that mean? The mutha fuckin Triads are out running the streets that's what, and they be up to no good shenanigans of course. These Triads are especially nasty weapons smugglers who just don't give a fart and will kill anyone in their way innocent or not. Hot on their tail from killing his partner in the first scene is clarinet playing police Officer "Tequila" Yuen played by Chow Yun-Fat. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai plays the other main character Alan who is an undercover cop deep within the Triad gang Tequila is tracking down. Thus....complications/oodles of bullets and explosions.
The two hours of havoc that unfolds on screen is some of the best captured on celluloid. With a body count of 307 I'm pretty positive more bullets were fired here than in Operation Desert Storm. What really ups the ante in the shootout scenes is the acrobatics by the main characters who are constantly jumping, sliding, ducking, weaving, dodging, and maneuvering through the given location. The physical locations are used like jungle gyms. It's over the top but in a realistic "people could actually do this shit" kind of way. There aren't matrix style stuff or even some of the extreme things Jackie Chan has been known to do. The level of reality to the stunts was kept consistent throughout which kept the film grounded and the suspension of disbelief not far to hold on to. I really enjoy this level of stunt work as a early twenty something viewer cuz in my mind I'm like "yeah, I could totally do that if I was in that situation, jump over that bar, shoot around the corner then run and slide across the floor while dual wielding shooting two dudes in opposite directions, totally, yeah!".
The other high point represented by the action is the beautiful use of practical effects; fiery explosions, squibs, gun shots and breaking glass. Everything used here looks a million times better than the CGI-filled action extravaganzas of today (lookin at you Stallone). The stuff that goes down is really a sight to be seen as it really is incredible how they filmed it. Numerous times actors are inches away from the fire of explosions or in many cases hit by the shrapnel of exploding walls and set pieces. The infamous hospital hallway shot is just fantastic. It's a 3 and a half minute single take of our two hero's blasting bad guys and dodging live explosions the whole way and interrupted in the middle by a clever elevator ride. The sense of danger is thick and tangible from the beginning tea house shoot out to the chaotic climax at the hospital.
Beyond all the action there are actually characters and pretty decent ones to boot. Both Tequila and Alan are quite charismatic and interesting to watch especially together. It's fun to watch Tequila go from thinking he's one of the bad guys, to being totally confused to eventually trusting him and working together. The supporting cast are all cop movie archetypes that transcend cultures and time. The mob boss who doesn't give a fuck, the hard ass police chief, and the innocent girl friend who wants her cop boy friend to settle down and retire from all the danger. They do their job fine and don't detract from the action and story. The only character I had a major problem with was the Bartender played by the Director John Woo. It was a lame attempt at putting in some philosophy and getting Tequila to talk about his feelings. I've grown to dislike the use of directors in cameo roles more and more in films, especially like here when they are the "voice of reason" or explain some essential aspect to the plot (also looking at you Shamylamy). I know you want to be "involved in the whole process of filmmaking" or whatever but common, just cast someone else. It's pretty simple, craigslist it if you need to. (Yes I admit I'm being hypocritical since I acted in my last film but that is something I'm definitely not going to do for a long time.)
Is this all gratuitous violence you ask? Maybe, maybe not. I've never been to Hong Kong though its on my list of places to go (very gorgeous setting with the glass towers next to the mountains surrounded by the sea, kind of like an Asian Rio de Janeiro...but i digress). This could very well be a true to life depiction of how conflicts roll over there between the Police and Triad. Why else would everyone learn martial arts? Tis a dangerous place and the only logical explanation. But beyond my silliness is all the violence in this film for the sake of being violent? Well lets just take into fact the incredibly high body count of 307. Now that's 307 confirmed kills from the good people over at Movie Body Counts dot com. In order to make it to that list you gotta be confirmed to be waiting for your toe tag not just a punch in the face. Thus many more people simply come away with flesh wounds and broken arms and such leading to about 200 more or so. One might say this is quite a lot, and that one would be perfectly justifiable in saying that but the point I'm trying to make is that Hong Kong had a population of 5.8 million people at the time of 1992 and one of the largest networks of gangs if not the highest at that particular time in the entire world THUS there would be A LOT of people involved in any big conflict between cops and the Triad. If this movie was set in backwoods Wyoming yeah it would be ridiculous, but here in Hong Kong it makes sense. Nevertheless is this gratuitous though? Without a doubt. Did all these people have to get mowed down in this film? No of course not. But with that, it would have been a very different film. I was going to say boring but retracted because with the same story with the two cops, one seeking revenge and the other deep undercover they could have crafted a nice little tale with lots of intricate tension. The bottom line is this film knows what it is and does gratuitous action and violence the best I've ever seen and asks for no apologies. It is what it is. And it is awesome.
I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of action films and over the top cinema. Definitely do not watch if you dislike violence/blood/subtitles.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Review: Flash Point (Dau Fo Sin)
Watched the Hong Kong martial arts film Flash Point today on Netflix instant watch. It stars Donnie Yen who's a super star in China for acting and stunt choreographing a slew of martial arts films as well as directing a hand full of them. The film takes place in Hong Kong during 1997 thus right before the handover to mainland China from British Authorities. If you were sleeping in History class this was a pretty big deal. What's important to note is that during this time there were a whole bunch of gangs doing gang things around Hong Kong. Keeping tried and true to the super cop genre of martial arts film our hero played by Donnie Yen is out to take down the bad guys while saving his partner in the process.
Here is the Americanized trailer with a really cheezey voice over:
Looks pretty sweet huh? Well ladies and gentlemen that would be the magic of movie trailers. Cut all the good stuff into a minute and a half. Nothing too cutting edge here. But lets break it down:
The Good: The highlight of this film is the seriously awesome fights. The choreography is the best you will see anywhere. As you can see in the trailer there are shots where Donnie really does punch dudes full contact in the face. Was that a camera trick or did he really just do that? I'm pretty sure he really did just do that, and that's what makes these fights sweet. I really enjoyed the realism conveyed instead of going the tired wire-fu route. When someone gets hit, you feel it. What's different about this martial arts films fights is the implementation of mixed martial arts by our hero. Here we see him fighting with elements of Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Wushu, and Taekwondo. This creates some fresh fights to those who may be tired of the same old same old. The 8 min final fight between Donnie and Collin Chou is brutal as hell and well worth checking out by itself. It's on YouTube under a couple different things I saw but both had crappy Nu Metal overlayed on it and crappy video quality.
The Bad: I sometimes find that foreign films can hide their bad acting through me just not being able to understand what they are saying. Here is not the case at all. How all of the characters deliver their dialog is pure cheese whiz. I don't know if it was just a bad translation for the subtitles but what they were actually saying was wicked lame. The story is silly and hard to follow for the first hour. Even beyond the cliche story and bad acting is that the fights are few and far between. All the good parts are crammed into the trailer. The rest is pretty boring.
I only recommend this to people who enjoy martial arts films. Other than the fights it has nothing cool/interesting/cinematically noteworthy to offer. Check it out on Netflix instant watch and just fast forward to them.
Here is the Americanized trailer with a really cheezey voice over:
Looks pretty sweet huh? Well ladies and gentlemen that would be the magic of movie trailers. Cut all the good stuff into a minute and a half. Nothing too cutting edge here. But lets break it down:
The Good: The highlight of this film is the seriously awesome fights. The choreography is the best you will see anywhere. As you can see in the trailer there are shots where Donnie really does punch dudes full contact in the face. Was that a camera trick or did he really just do that? I'm pretty sure he really did just do that, and that's what makes these fights sweet. I really enjoyed the realism conveyed instead of going the tired wire-fu route. When someone gets hit, you feel it. What's different about this martial arts films fights is the implementation of mixed martial arts by our hero. Here we see him fighting with elements of Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Wushu, and Taekwondo. This creates some fresh fights to those who may be tired of the same old same old. The 8 min final fight between Donnie and Collin Chou is brutal as hell and well worth checking out by itself. It's on YouTube under a couple different things I saw but both had crappy Nu Metal overlayed on it and crappy video quality.
The Bad: I sometimes find that foreign films can hide their bad acting through me just not being able to understand what they are saying. Here is not the case at all. How all of the characters deliver their dialog is pure cheese whiz. I don't know if it was just a bad translation for the subtitles but what they were actually saying was wicked lame. The story is silly and hard to follow for the first hour. Even beyond the cliche story and bad acting is that the fights are few and far between. All the good parts are crammed into the trailer. The rest is pretty boring.
I only recommend this to people who enjoy martial arts films. Other than the fights it has nothing cool/interesting/cinematically noteworthy to offer. Check it out on Netflix instant watch and just fast forward to them.
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