“The Messenger”
Director | Jared Hogan
Cinematography | Bernardo Marentes
VFX | Preston Stack
Script | Jared Hogan
Color | Steven Lester
Editor | Jared Hogan
This started out as an idea that we weren’t sure we could pull off. There were a lot of elements that had to fall in place for this thing to work. We had to find someone with a horse who was willing to let us use it all day. We had to find someone who could ride a horse and look the part. We had to find a location that was fitting. We had to find a costume that actually worked. Not to mention, just pulling off a period piece is difficult. Then we had to capture it.
As things often do, things began to fall into place. As a matter of fact, the person who let us borrow the horse was also the rider and actor in the piece. Sometimes you just get lucky. He goes to Elevation and volunteered his time and his horse. In addition, the land we filmed on we filmed on for free. He just wanted to bless us too. And wouldn’t you guess it, we found a costume that didn’t look like it was from Party City. Always a plus when shooting a period piece.
Then came actually pulling off the shoot.
I had a personal goal going in to this shoot. As far as I can remember, I’ve shot everything I’ve directed. It’s just how I learned. In film school, you don’t always have a team waiting around to help you pull off projects. So you learn how to do everything. At least I tried to.
What happens, though, is that you don’t get to do anything with excellence. Instead, you do everything pretty well, if you’re lucky. There’s only so much you can pull off yourself.
So my goal was this: Don’t touch the camera.
I have an amazing DP on my team now. I love to shoot, and will continue to, but now I have the luxury to focus on directing when the project calls for it. So that’s what I did. Bernardo [the DP] and I talked through every shot of every scene, determining how, or if, it was moving the story forward. Once we were on set, we plotted out where we could capture the different scenes. It’s always a plus to location scout before arriving, but we didn’t have that luxury this time.
We shot chronologically, marking off the script as we went. It was very much out of my comfort zone not seeing anything we were shooting, but I trusted Bernardo to capture what we had decided on and discussed before. We shot all day, because I wanted the journey to feel more expansive than just an afternoon.
I have this condition on almost any substantial project I work on: I want to quit. My mind turns into mush and I can’t think straight. All I want to do is curl up on my couch and be left alone. It’s this hump that I always have to push through. This shoot was no exception. I got tired, discouraged and just wanted to hide. But I know now to push through. The other side is always worth the struggle. It seems like a simple principle, but it’s worth repeating: if you’re not being challenged, you’re not growing. Try something you’re not sure you can pull off. Failing is painful, but fruitful. Thankfully, the fruit of failure is real success.
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“The Messenger”
- Jared
