Bill Hark
EF5
I recently purchased Jim Edds' "Journey to Tacloban" blu-ray (also available as a DVD or on demand) and really enjoyed this sad and powerful storm chase documentary. Jim Edds is a well-known hurricane chaser who traveled to Tacloban to chase Typhoon Haiyan aka Yolanda. He arrives in the area approximately 24 hours before impact and has a chance to do some filming before the destruction. He then awaits landfall at a resort and documents some of the most extreme winds that I have ever seen on a storm chase video. At one point, he uses the hotel swimming pool as protection. After the storm, he wanders around the area documenting the horrible destruction and loss of life while trying to find a way out the impact zone. This video is more like a travelog than the typical storm chase video as there is substantial time devoted to before and after the storm and to the human element along with the challenges of the chase. This helps the viewer gain a better understanding of tragic events surrounding the storm than from random news reports and YouTube clips. The video quality and sound is very good with decent narration. Despite being totally filmed by one chaser, he does provide a nice variety of camera angles including of himself talking or reacting to the storm. The only downside is that his video only shows the strong winds and not the storm surge during the typhoon. This is likely due to safety concerns and the limitation of only having one hurricane chaser for the production. There are some disturbing images during the aftermath of the storm. I highly recommend purchasing this chaser video.
http://www.extremestorms.com/
Bill Hark
http://www.extremestorms.com/
Bill Hark
