So another year has gone by and for this first day in January 2012 I have decided to reflect back on all that I managed to accomplish this most wonderful of years 2011.
Well at the beginning of this year was right after I had my premiere for Gas Guzzlers at Towson University. At this point I was putting up my 15 minute clips from the film up on youtube. After that I was trying to think of something new to do video wise and while I was able to come up with something pretty awesome it was beyond my level of budget big time so I have to sit on it for a while. I then started putting up newly edited versions of my True Docs series including the Heroin Addiction, Fishing, and Graduation story videos. Almost all of these videos got ads put on them which was yet again an achievement of this past year.
Not too much longer from here was when we finally worked on Spiritus which to this day is still a crowning achievement for all the videos I have worked on (at least from the ones I have seen). This film was done in only 72 Hours for the Towson 72 Hour Film Festival. It was a pain and it isn't perfect but for the time we had I am very proud of it. We won both Audience Choice and Best Film of the Fest (my first ever award winning film!). It was definetely the highlight of my year so far.
Next up was the 48 Hour Film Festival which we mad Nina as a result of. This film is my biggest reminder of what not to do when making a short film. Make the beginning terrible...which is exactly the biggest draw back of this film. The beginning is unnecessary it doesn't really do anything except make the film slow and campy (not in a good way). At the time we all accepted it because we couldn't come up with anything better to do for the film so we went with it. On set the footage seemed funny but after editing it not so much anymore. In the end the meat and end were both excellent but that terrible intro killed us. However again I am proud of it for what it is.
After this is when big changes came for this year. Me and my close friend Hector stopped being friends since I "changed," apparently. Team Open Aperture was forever lost even after all the vein attempts to get it back together. So for the first time I was an island...lost at sea not knowing where to go and then I caught a break. An ad on craigslist looking for a videographer to do football games. I was hesitant at first and wasn't sure then they offered $250 a game and steady work for a whole season. I was ready to go! In only 3 months I made $3,950 plus what the $10.25 I was making an hour at work. I was in heaven, even though the payment got all messed up a few times I still got the money and it helped out a lot this year. I may have been alone but I was making money for the first time like ever.
The next step was working with people outside of my close friends and that opportunity came thanks to the 48 Hour and becoming friends with the winner Everett Glovier who I saw needed to crew for a film he was working on The Cat which I did so completely free. It was worth it though I learned so much from those guys and being on set was so much fun. It couldn't have gone any better and for the first time since the summer I felt like I wasn't on an island anymore and that I had video buddies again. I still feel that way and hope to work with Everett and Zach more in this coming year. Time will tell.
This year I may be able to be a crew member on my first feature length film if all goes well with the interview and in addition I may be pitching a full length film to a studio for the first time. We will see and if this year is better than last year well then it doesn't get much better than that.
Best wishes to all in the New Year,
Daniel Hess
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