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John Simpson,
CYBRFRK, 11/13/2004
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Dan Chosich: Friend, fan and editor!
Many of you are familiar with his work. Some of you have had the
privilege to meet him at E3, fan fest parties, or LAN events. If
you have not, then perhaps you are familiar with his contributions to
the community? If not -- shame on you!
| Although Dan is a mild-mannered, quiet and
polite young man, he just as equally teeming with enthusiasm and
talent. When his first movie, "Framework", was released,
the response was nothing short of spectacular. Instead of just
telling you about what happened, I interviewed Dan in hopes of
letting his own words explain the significance of what he did
and how it has had a tremendous impact on his life. Dan...in
his own words. |
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| Did you know? |
| Dan has produced over
16 different movies hosted and linked
through HBO and partner sites? He also has his own
production site that he utilizes
for his
own work showcase. Some of it he even gets paid for. Not
too bad for someone who just graduated from high
school. |
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1. How did you become involved in the Bungie fan community?
I became involved by being a regular forum "goer", except I didn't post
at all. I had seen this game Halo on the back of my Voodoo 5500 box and
I just thought it was so bad ass. I didn't have broadband at the time so
I would go into my high school library and watch these videos; the
Gamestock one, Macworld - everything I could find. I was hooked. I know
a lot of people say, Halo does a lot of things well - and it does. Yet,
it also has this totally unique style to it, you can see it in the
architecture and presentation - it's just outstanding.
2. How about some demographics? (age, schooling, location...)
I'm 18 years old and I'm in college in New Jersey. This is usually where
the (job) interview ends. "We'll get back to you." I'm trying to
do something with video editing/design/sound/film-making (trying to see
which one I like best) but I'm getting my liberal arts courses out of
the way first and taking motion graphics/design classes on the side.
3. What inspired you to make the leap from fan to Bungie contributor?
Randy Glass's Warthog Jump film. I never made a movie before that
and I had one out on HBO a couple weeks after his. He edited that well
and it became incredibly popular, I'm a big fan. I also had all the
equipment because I was working for a constable (state officer who takes
money or anything of value from people who don't pay debts) and the job
paid well, so I could buy all the stuff I needed to make movies. I lost
that job editing a movie for the Halo 50K guys. (I stopped wearing my 18
pieces of flair.)
That's pretty much how I got involved. I owe it to Randy Glass and
Claude Errera. The earlier stuff I've made is absolute crap and Claude
was always posting it up on HBO and hosting it. That was definitely cool
of him. I'm sure if he had said, "this is crap - stop mailing me." I
would have stopped. So I thank/owe Claude a whole lot.
4. You recently achieved something that every Bungie fan wants -- can
you tell me what it is?
Every fan wanted to play the game early - I suppose I achieved that.
I doubt every fan would want to edit something or watch the process
everyday. Most fans would want that instant gratification of just
hitting a button and watching it all unfold, it's not that simple. I
doubt people would have been envious if they saw the state the game was
in. A lot of the light maps were broken most of the time, some of the
builds had no texture or bump-maps, there was no music and the only
cinematic was the Gas Giant opening cinematic. The fact that I was
capturing footage/playing the game definitely sounds cooler in your head
than what the reality of it was. Multiplayer looked good, but the
documentary is about single player so it didn't matter all that much.
Some thing's worked and a lot more didn't. Seeing how Bungie pulled this
game off is the greatest kick in the ass that the documentary throws at
you.
So what did I get to do? James McQuillian, Producer at Film Oasis
offered me an internship for almost 2 1/2 months this summer. I lived in
LA for about a month and a half and I worked at home for 26 days. I also
got credited as an Editor and Production Assistant in the DVD, I didn't
expect to get anything - just being out there was enough.
I edited and captured all the footage for the featurette Halo 2: First
Look. The featurette was done in a day and it got approved the next day
by Pete Parsons. It is pretty incredible that it was approved by them
and Jim liked it in the first pass. That was the last thing I did and
I'm proud of it because I didn't expect or think I could get it done.
I edited the Halo Origins featurette, but I didn't edit the final thing.
I did what is called the Rough Cut so that Bungie could approve the
direction the featurette was being taken.
I did a lot with the art seen in the DVD. I made movies of all the art
so that Bungie could talk about what they were seeing and make the
necessary commentary tracks.
I started to do the biographies for the Gameographies section but it was
scrapped and Frank O'Connor did the biographical work on that. The only
thing that remains, in relation to the Gameographies, is that I took out
the pictures that are used for the employees. This was done by watching
multiple interviews and taking out a frame where they laugh or look
happy. It helped me learn a lot about the team.
I captured many many hours of footage. I haven't seen the final thing so
I can't say what's in and what isn't, but I know one or two clips from
the Attract Reel is footage of me playing. That's pretty cool for me.
I go into greater detail on my website:
http://www.the-junkyard.net/users/wiredfilms/Halo2/
5. Have you had other successes, as a fan in the community?
I've made a lot of fan movies. Finishing something I start is a success
for me. Heh, that sounds like an Ed Wood quote. I take that back. I
spend a lot of time on the work I create and it's easy to start
something and just forget about it. Following through and doing the
monotonous stuff that I hate doing is where I find success because
usually it pays off. Sometimes people, myself including, can measure
success by the amount of responses they get from something. People who
know me understand that I don't make the movies to have people like me,
I do it because I enjoy seeing the outcome and I want to learn more. I
have had success but if I am content with it I will have no desire to
make something better.
6. How has your achievement been received by those closest to you?
Can you explain a few and who they are?
My parents wouldn't have paid a couple thousand dollars to send me to LA
if they didn't believe what I was doing was worthwhile. My girlfriend is
very supportive, but besides my family and my girlfriend, I don't talk
about it much. My brother thought it was amazing that Jim offered me
this. I would call him up sometimes and put the phone to the TV in the
office and shoot the SMG or Shotgun, laugh at him and hang up. I thought
it was a classy move.
7. Who, is your greatest source of strength when making difficult
decisions?
Myself? I don't edit with other people, normally. I occasionally
have other people look at things after I edit them but rarely do they
say what to change. Some people say, "This would look cool" and they
explain what they are thinking and I try to take that and make that
happen.
This was one of James McQuillan's concerns, that I wouldn't work well
with others and take direction because everything I've done has been out
of my head. I didn't, at all, perceive it to be an issue when I was out
there. It just took a little while for me to understand what Jim wanted
and what not to do. I've worked for many people (my birth certificate
says I was born 3 years before I actually was, I've had more jobs than
most people my age) so I believe I did take direction well and did what
I was told to.
I obviously still have a lot to learn and I'm doing my best with the
knowledge/assets I have.
8. What do you consider to be your greatest individual quality?
I'm humble. As I write this, I think it's kind of weird that I am. Jim
practically lived in the office. One of the editors, Taka, worked
80-100+ hours a week consistently. I only worked a 100 hours a week once
out there (and 90 another). Obviously, it's not like laying brick but
not sleeping takes its toll on you. I was just a guest in this world. I
truly don't have an answer to why I was out there. I am not the best
editor, I'm not the best designer - I don't know how it happened or why
it did. I just know that I'm blessed to be apart of it. Jim gave me an
incredible learning experience. I'm forever thankful to him for giving
me this opportunity.
9. Any advice for other fans out there who, after gaining full
understanding, will want to walk in your shoes?
Think ahead and plan what you want to do. It saves you a lot of
time. If you want to do this as a your life long job: Think if this is
truly what you want to do, because if it is, you have to live it and
breathe it and it's not the easiest life. I would suggest having another
skill to fall back on. In that business it's more about who you know
than what you know, if you can't kiss ass and compromise your time you
aren't going to make it. Or you could always go into porn.
10. This is your soapbox questions...anything additional you want to
say?
I just want to say thank you for going through the trouble and doing
this (interview) for me John. I'm pretty sure I don't deserve this. I
was happy to help out and do what I could for Film Oasis. I truly had
the time of my life. I hope people love what Film Oasis did with the
documentary. Thanks again.
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| Did you know? |
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Film Oasis
is an independent film studio that has also
produced other videos for Microsoft such as "The
X Factor: Inside Microsoft's XBox." If
you have not seen this movie, you are missing an
inside look into how this gaming factory makes
the magic it does. |
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Some may read this and think that I'm merely taking the fan-boy
approach to an interview. Am I a fan of this work?
Absolutely! More than anything, I admire what he has done,
how he has driven himself from OUR fan base into something more.
Dan will live forever credited as an editor on the video
disk sold with the worlds best selling game. He
give hope to all that tinker and play with aspirations of actually
making a life at it.
- CYBR |
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