Rise of the Planet of the Apes premiers tonight, and modern citizens of the Internet, being the appropriation fanatics that they are, have already remixed scenes taken from the trailer with other footage.
Brad Hasse, a NY film-maker and director, has gone back in time to 1968 to remix the original Planet of the Apes movie — but with a modern raver twist.
In Hasse’s “Planet of the Apes Party Fun Time” remix, Charlton Heston is on a quest to join a dance party contest, but the only one he finds is one for apes. Less than three minutes long, and combining songs from Benny Benassi, Hasse’s remix borders on a work of art.
His connections to EP Vision, a motion graphics and production shop, certainly helped.
Hasse explained over the phone that it is a “coincidence that Rise of the Planet of the Apes came out” right when he was finishing his “passion project.”
Hasse originally got the idea for the remix when he was writing a treatment for the group Far East Movement’s song “Go Ape” but it was “not possible to get the rights for all this footage” so the idea was scrapped.
Hasse couldn’t forget about it though, and has been working on his remix bit by bit, sometimes two hours at a time – “like when I was on a flight somewhere.”
Since posting his remix, Boing Boing, Buzzfeed, CBS News, New York Magazine and Laughing Squid have linked to Hasse’s video. The feedback has “been really fantastic”, and Hasse’s favorite comment comes from a Boing Boinger, which he saved and read to me over the phone.
“The absolute best combination of stupid and clever. I love it.”
Hasse is also excited that his remix has “attracted younger audiences to the movie, I got comments saying ‘I’m going to go back and watch the original now’ and I hope they do because it’s a great movie.”
The reception to Hasse’s work has inspired him to do more Party Fun Times, though he admits “I will probably revisit the classics” because the older movies were full of “longer cuts with beautiful composition, actors had more space and time on screen, …the aspect ratio alone, everything is so well composed and well thought out, rather than a modern movie where there is already a cut every one or two seconds.”
“I think a lot of modern day, whether it’s film or music, misses those elements — like take the classic horror movies with one takes that will last a couple of minutes, that would slowly push in from a wide shot, and you’re scared by what’s on screen. But now, by jump cutting everything and going crazy with the music, with one second cuts in that very MTV style, you’re scaring people just by changing the camera angle.”
Hasse is, of course, excited to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes, saying because it is a prequel, “I think it can be really cool, and it is an interesting concept, adding something new to the [Planet of the Apes] story.”
He doesn’t anticipate any dancing though.