Arlington County Fair Day 3

So I got back a little while ago from the third day of photography at the Arlington County Fair. Today we got the most photos of any day and I finally nailed down the perfect strategy for taking photos, too bad it was on the last day but no fear I got about 30 different people today so plenty to choose from. It was my longest day working (12-5) and it was the day we had to break down all the tents and junk (clean up is my least favorite part). However it was my first official big gig as a photographer so I feel pretty proud of myself for turning something that was once a hobby into a fairly steady little gig.

Looking back at this week I have to say again I am extremely proud of myself. Monday I was able to take a trip to Virginia to finalize a photo contract, then come back to Maryland and finish the performance part of the Three Beers Later music video. Tuesday I was able to record foley for a ADR/Color correction project, then come back from Forest Hill, Md, go home, and like five minutes later head out to Baltimore City for a volunteer photography gig. Wednesday I picked out new glasses (so yay for that!). Thursday, I was out at Render Perfect doing some tape transfer to Final Cut Pro and learning FCP all over again for what will be either a freelance job or a part time job at that company (it is my choice, I will have to see). Then finally Friday-Sunday traveling down to Arlington from good old Edgemere to do more photography. This has to have been the busiest week ever for me and like I said before and proud of myself. To me this is the start of something great, and I am glad I am the one paving my path...I feel truly independent in the video/photo world which is amazing! I hope things keep up this way.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1986 animated film An American Tail, the opening scene of the ship's arrival in America (at Castle Garden) is based on a photograph in Christian Weekly magazine from March 28, 1874. On the barge is written, Einwanderer Beforderung, which means "Immigrant Transfer" in German.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Too Busy

So this weekend turned out to be pretty intense to say the least, I think in all four years of my college experience this week/weekend was my busiest in history. Friday I helped out a friend finish up his short film for a screening that night around 7pm, we got the film in during intermission. Then Saturday me and my friend worked on my film with color grading, picture lock, and adding effects in. Sunday I wrote my final paper for English class which ended up being 6.5 pages. Today I am going to foley and get all the sound effects and music score placed in my movie. Then tomorrow from the way things are sounding right now I am going to be on set for a feature film shooting here (preliminary information as far as right now). Then Wedenesday I could be doing a photoshoot for a friend of mine that I met while at Towson (or hanging with my girl...depends). Finally after all that I gotta start work on two separate music videos, a spec commercial, and a possible third music video.

Sorry to vent but that is how things are shaping up in my world right now. I hope life is easier for you guys out there and if not that isn't a bad thing you are busy, just means you are working hard. I hope to keep working hard and finally finish my film today. Wish me luck with everything!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Gearing Up

So I finally worked out things on my script and I have an official official final script done for Voicebox a film that I think can achieve greatness as long as it done well. I am very excited and watching the Oscars got me all thinking about the day that maybe I could go to the awards! That would be amazing. However I think they should totally have an award for best experimental film or short film at the Oscars but maybe that would make them too mainstream or something. I don't know.

Anyway I am very happy to have been featured in the Towerlight newspaper yesterday and it has been the first time since my first short film Abuse that I have had a story in the newspaper. So I have been having a lot of good fortune lately which I am very grateful for, I just hope it can keep going for a little bit.

Anything else...oh yeah I also sent the music video for Hello! to The Other Venice Film Festival out in California which has a category for judging music videos and I submitted it just for the hell of it. I think I may have mentioned it before but here it is again I guess. Otherwise things are just slowly building up to April when I hope to shoot the film.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

First Day of the Last Semester

So today is my first day back to school in what looks to be my final semester here at Towson University. It has been a fun ride and I hope this semester turns into a memorable one (I would say the last great semester was Fall of 2009). It has turned into more of a chore than anything coming to school especially when you know what you need to do in the real world and just want to get there. I am taking it easy on myself or so I say by taking 3 upper level English Courses, One Film Course (Experimental! Scweet!) and One Math Course (the one I have been avoiding). I can't wait to get through it and start the rest of my life.

On a whole other note I wanted to talk about a recent interaction I had on Facebook last night with a "group" of people that call themselves professionals...which I will say outright they are not. The post I saw that a member posted was an audition call for a film they are doing. The first one they did was terrible but that is beside the point. Anyway they were going to charge $5 for a processing fee for actors to come out to audition. I was mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No audition should ever cost money for anyone ever ever ever ever ever ever period. If someone wants you to pay them to watch you act when you are not even guaranteed a spot in the film just walk away. The thing was after I called them out they still argued it with me saying that they deserve to get paid for hours of listening to actors. NO NO NO you get paid when the film you are making gets money...and if you are getting into this business because you are trying to make a quick buck then you are wrong. Every professional producer out there takes a gamble producing a film and on small productions usually takes a little bit of a loss. Trying to think that you deserve to make money to hear auditions is total and utter shit! If you are getting into this business because you don't want a real job or you think it is easy there is the door buddy because no good people like you flood the indie market and drive too many people down the drain. Film is an open canvas and people like I encountered last night and have encountered so many times before just smear shit all over that canvas.

DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE! FILM IS AN ART AND IT DESERVES TO BE RESPECTED.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Finishing Touches

So today I was adding some last minute touches on the music video and actually just a few minutes ago I sent out what I think should be the final cut of the video to the guys at the studio. At the request of the owner I added a few things that I was hesitant to at first but thanks to his encouragement I did which was the last little punch it needed to take it from average to awesome. I was glad to have made the final adjustments and can't wait to show it off, all anyone has been saying about the video is that they like it so I am very happy.

Also today I showed my cousin and aunt the final edits of the pictures I took of my little cousin back in August. It was a lot of work to get through so many pictures but they were happy with the end result and I was too which was great. After my cousins approval I am going to be uploading the final edit of those pictures tomorrow in my post so that everyone can see. I hope everyone likes what I have done and that it will help me to get future work with pictures. We will see.

My final piece of information is that I am talking with an actor concerning headshots and if all goes well I will have a paid gig and even more photography experience.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Pictures from the Minimester

Well last night I decided to edit the pictures I took for my final project in Aesthetics of Film further to make them more appropriate for my picture reel. I know it has been a while since the last time I put up pictures so I think now is the time to do so. From my perspective I feel like the middle three are the strongest one but the first and last look pretty sweet too.

With the project we had to redo a scene from any movie we wanted and I decided to do a scene from 500 Days of Summer when Summer and Tom were talking on his bed. In the film it is presented pretty innocently but I set up to do two things very different. One was make it a lot darker, the lighting, the actions everything. Two was to change the scene to reflect the style of the whole movie and how the relationship was always in flux. I feel like I did a good job of both but you be the judge and let me know what you think.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

1 Class Down

So yesterday I almost thought I wouldn't make it to class on time, which was terrible especially considering that it was the last day. I woke up at 9:53 when I was supposed to wake up at 7:30, the problem was I stayed up until 3 the night before editing the final project video for class the next day. I still had to finish the edit and get ready for class before 10:30 which I somehow managed to do and going 80 the whole way I made it just at 11 which was insane. I got the project uploaded and we were the third group to present and it was a blowout. We took the cake in the class with the best project bar none. We composed the shots great, solid with the lighting, story was moody then very funny (the class actually did laugh which was great to see), and overall it just looked good. I am not saying that because we shot in HD or any of that because if anything HD is less forgiving than SD (many professors have even commented on that).

After we showed it we were on a roll with great feedback until this stupid girl had to go and be buzzkillington all over the room. She asked what camera I used because she is a hater and I truthfully responded with the T3I and then she was all in some bitchy tone like I didn't think we could use that camera. The teacher then in a low voice almost like he didn't want to say it was like Yeah, you shouldn't have used that camera. Then all the feedback just stopped and we moved on, I was so pissed. Then after class...right in front me when I am waiting to talk to the teacher she is still complaining about it. I was even more pissed, and I mean the girl owns that camera...use it. I was always told use the DVX and I did until I got my HXR NX5U back in the day and then I was like screw it, I got this thing. I mean I didn't buy a 1,500 dollar wide angle lens to not use over some DVX crappy camera. This film is going on the reel man I wasn't downgrading the quality for anything.

Anyway that was my little descent into madness. I also watched The Thing last night for the first time (not the new remake, the 1982 version). I thought it was a very good film and the effects were still pretty sweet even by today's standards. I wouldn't want that happening to me or people I knew that would be super scary.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Filming for Class Tonight

So tonight is the big night for the final project in my lighting class. It is hard to believe that 2 days from now I will be all done with the class. Tonight we are going to start filming at around midnight and get done whenever it is we get done. I hope it is not too late but I have a feeling it will be since we can't even get started until midnight tonight. It is going to be grueling to say the least but it will look nice especially since we are filming in complete HD with the DSLR camera. The other nice thing about today is the fact that class isn't until 3pm which is giving me some extra time to sleep in and also get my first project done for Aesthetics class which will be all over on the 23rd. The minimester goes by fast and I am almost a little sad to see it go so quickly.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess