About
About Us
EARTH MOVERS
EARTH MOVERS author, Dean Head ACS, is a very lucky person.
His dad worked for MGM and Associated British Pictures in the UK in the 1950s on some famous movies and TV series. Together, making home movies on 8mm film when Dean was 9 or 10, he taught Dean many ‘in-camera’ tricks which he still uses today.
Perhaps this gave Dean the film making bug?
At the age of 15 Dean knew what he wanted to do. At 16 he was doing it. He started work as a trainee cameraman with The National Nine Television Network, one of Australia’s largest commercial TV networks. After working up to joint acting-senior cameraman he received a call from the Chairman of Market Force, at the time Australia’s largest independent ad agency, who offered Dean a position in Editel, their TV commercial production unit. This was in the late 80s.
From there, Dean was offered a position in Hong Kong working for a TV production company who became Asia’s first ever digital satellite broadcaster. This began a 30 year journey of filming all around China and Asia.
It also led to the Hollywood blockbuster movies Dean was lucky enough to work on.
Using this experience, Dean wrote EARTH MOVERS with the pace & energy of a blockbuster. Right from the get-go you’re taken on a journey of excitement and discovery.
A great review by Outback Australia’s Allan Whiting
EARTH MOVERS Paperback & eBook
Amazon Paperback & eBook:
Editel was contracted to cover the America’s Cup yacht races for the American ABC News by their Asian Managing Director who in turn offered Dean a position in his newly created production company in Hong Kong. That started more than 30 wonderful years of filming in Hong Kong, all over China and luckily the rest of the world too.
In 1990 Dean won admission into the Maine International Film & Television School in the USA. Then in 1994, he was awarded the right to use the letters ACS after his name in recognition of his work. This honour was bestowed upon him by his mentors on the board of the Australian Cinematographers Society.
Throughout his career Dean has been incredibly lucky with the kindness and help from people in the business he’s met including Oscar winning cameramen such as the great Sir Freddy Young OBE BSC, Sir Ossie Morris OBE BSC, Bob Huke SOC and others who generously follow the unwritten cameraman law of happily passing on “the knowledge”, thus keeping it alive forever in the next generation of filmmakers.
Dean began directing in the early 90s on TV commercials, high-end promotional films, documentaries and TV shows.
Hollywood came knocking during this time and as cameraman Dean was brought in to help with and film the Hong Kong scenes of several blockbuster movies.
Dean was also writing during this time and helping proof read & correct scripts for other people’s productions as well as his own.
Dean has launched EARTH MOVERS in the hope of helping educate our next generation, our children, into being better people who, hopefully, will be excited and intrigued when meeting peoples from other countries and cultures and fuelled with alacrity to learn more about them, to mutually learn and understand each others lives and make new friends, to bring the world closer together just like EARTH MOVERS is bringing families together.
To learn more about Dean you may find his TEDx talk interesting, here:
Dean's international directing awards;
- Questar - Grand Winner - Chicago
- Questar - Gold Award - Chicago
- Questar - Silver Award - Chicago
- Questar - Bronze Award - Chicago
Dean's international cinematography awards
- Golden Tripod Award. Australian Cinematographers Society.
- Two Gold ACS Awards. Australian Cinematographers Society.
- Two Silver ACS Awards. Australian Cinematographers Society.
- Two Highly Commended Certificates. Australian Cinematographers Society.
- Silver Screen Award. US International Film & Video Awards, Chicago.
- Two Certificates for Creative Excellence. US International Film Awards, Chicago.
- Questar Award. Questar Film Festival, New York.
- Highly Commended Certificate. US International Film & Video Awards, Chicago
- Distinction Award for Cinematography. Australian Cinematographers Society.
Dean's feature film credits in HK are
- Transformers 4 - VFX DP.
- Batman - The Dark Knight - background producer.
- Tomb Raider II (Angelina Jolie) 2nd Unit DP & operator (HK)
- Spy Game (Tony Scott - Director) 2nd unit & Spacecam aerial DP (HK)
- Rush Hour II (Jackie Chan) 2nd unit DP (HK).
- Night Watch. (Pierce Brosnan) Additional photography unit DP, HK & Macau.
- Double Impact. (Jean Claude Van Damme) 2nd unit operator Hong Kong.
- Thunderstorm. (Wong Ho Yi) 1st unit operator, 2nd unit DP. Good-bye Hong Kong. (David Yip) 1st unit operator & 2nd unit DP.
- Bamboo in Winter. (Crystal Kwok) 2nd unit operator.