Happy Birthday, Zero Hour!

Today, it's one year ago that I finished something that'll be with me my entire life: Zero Hour. Two years in the making, and much criticized because of its "Micael-Bay-ish" style of scripting and tempo, Zero Hour has been praised and acclaimed for its "breathtaking visual effects for a student movie" and by my friend & fellow blogger/filmmaker/writer/Transformers-the-score fanatic Chris Knight, for being "defined by its own cinematography" and its "number of great special effects." because of its epic trailer, it won the price for the most original act on the 2007 VLC Talenthunt, and received many good feedback from fellow students & friends. 

Now, it's one year after the mayhem of making this movie ended. And today, it feels so funny to think that I was working aroun

d the clock trying to finish Zero Hour last year... (and that I'm doing that 

now to get F=NV2 in production) until this day. 

And it has been a friggin long journey for me. From its origin in 2005, till

 the day we filmed with 30 degrees Celcius on the roof, till the last shooting day I've spent with Ralph in the airduct (which was shot on July 7, 2007 - the original release date).  

And I can't honor Zero Hour without looking back at the scene in the vent on July 7. 

I've never been so desperate to find 

a location to shoot, seriously. We first wanted to build it up in the gym, but that hall was unavailable a the time so we went on searching, finally ending up in the Science classroom, where Mrs. Cohen offered Ralph and me a bag of crisps while we were laying in (let's name it) uncomfortable positions in the foam-built airduct. We shot the scene, wapped principal photography and went back into the edit suite, where I spent 6 days to fine tune, edit and complete Zero Hour. 

Earlier that year, in June (don't know the exact date anymore) we were honored to be granted the opportunity to shoot on the roof of the school. And 

that will go down as the coolest location I've ever shot on. Stan

ding there, two stories high on the roof of my school... Damn, not much kids get that opportunity in their life. 

But I'll never do something like Zero Hour again, no. I felt like making an action movie when I was in my freshman year, and continued w

ith it in my 2nd year. Now, with F=NV2 (with thanks to Stefan van Vliet I know now that it means Fosfor=Nitrogen+ divanadium) I've found my turn. My favorite genres and styles: Thriller, Drama & comedy. Though Zero Hour had some dark humor in the part of the vent, not much funny and lauughable parts came by on screen. I can tell you, in my original *final* draft, (written two days before 7 July - the day principal photography wrapped) that was totally different. But seen the nature of the movie (action) I didn't wanted to turn it into some sort of weirdish Mr. Bean movie and decided to cut it all out. Which I now consider the best thing I did on the edit table.  But, one thing that MUST be noted: without the help of the many fantastic young actors, this project would've been nothing. They're the ones who did it. They're the ones you should be praising.

 And I don't know any better way to end this tribute with the following line and clip:

"Congrats, ZH, I've had a wonderful time making & watching you"