Ending...

So today was the end of my car photography stint that lasted about three days. The company I worked for was just simply asking too much out of me for not enough pay. While it would have been a nice way to earn extra cash, in the end it just really wasn't worth it. Not only considering that but also the drive to the place was quite the haul so all in all just not up to the level I needed it to be. In other news I am also stepping back from a local record label I have been working with for a few years now. I am not naming names or pointing fingers, I just think creatively we are seeking two separate things. It was fun, I learned a lot, I still love all the guys to death I just wanna go my own way for right now. Maybe sometime in the near future, some level of collabaration will be feasible but for now not really.

I think right now is just a time for me to carve my own path with To Tony Productions, I am getting into a little bit of everything just to try it and gain experience. As time goes on I know we will be able to gain a niche but for now it is a lot of experimentation with what works and what doesn't work. Well I will keep trucking forward and hopefully you guys will stay informed on what is soon to come.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, at the end of the sequence in which Dorothy and the Scarecrow first meet the Tin Man, as the three march off singing "We're Off to See the Wizard", there is a disturbance in the trees off to the right. This was long rumored to be one of the crew (or, by some accounts, one of the dwarf actors) committing suicide by hanging himself, but it is in fact a large bird stretching its wings.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Music Video Shoot Tomorrow

So tomorrow is my first official shoot since the 48 hour film festival and it is a new rap music video for Kane Mayfield! I am excited to be working with him again and I am aiming to create something more cinematic than the last music video. So tomorrow starting around 1pm that is going to be the rest of my day!

Last night I went scouting on another upcoming music video with my DP Chris Hill, it was cool we got to check out a lot of the local bars around my way. After a couple of misses on bars we found the perfect one and we are in talks to lock it down for the video. I am excited for this one since it is a video for a genre I never thought I would get into, but it will be worth it for sure. So more to come on that, we are looking to actually film sometime between July 18th-20th.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1994 animated film The Lion King, one of the bugs that Timon pulls out of a knothole during Hakuna Matata is wearing Mickey Mouse ears.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

July is Going to be Crazy

So this just in, July is going to be crazy for sure. With a ton of gigs getting booked, I don't know if we are going to be able to keep up. I think so far there are going to be at least 3 music video productions this month as well as my freelance work at my part time job, a video promo, and possibly more music video work. I am excited and can't wait to work my butt off to make all these videos come to life. It is going to be an awesome month and something I have been working hard to see come true.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet, In the scene where Heinrich confronts Ngawang, the director did not tell BD Wong the script called for Brad Pitt to throw him into the dirt; Wong's reaction is completely authentic.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Busy Season Starting

Well it seems as though the summer is starting to pick up over here at TTP. In the past two days I have been contacted by two different artists looking for music videos which is really exciting, especially considering that I have two other artists looking to make videos from a few weeks back. I think I am going to hold off on the two artists from weeks back though just because the price point for the videos just isn't right. I mean at this point I am trying to work with a crew of people who are all looking to get paid, including myself and sometimes I get low balled a little bit in the dollars range. I know when I talked to these artists I had a part time job but things change, so I am going to try to renegotiate with them to see what I can do.

Other than that I have to go in today to my part time production gig and I think pick up my check from the weekend shoot, and possibly do an editing test which hopefully does not make me look like an idiot. The system they use for editing is a Mac one which is like my worst enemy, I can use them I just chose to stay away, but hey you never know maybe all the rust will come off quickly. If it doesn't though I hope he doesn't get rid of me because I don't do great. Maybe I am just over thinking it but hey whatever.

Other than that it is a day to push the production company and maybe play some video games later in the day after heading up to the post house. We will see.

Random Movie Fact of the Day:
In the classic Forrest Gump with every transition of Forrest's age, one thing remains the same- in the first scene of each transition he wears a blue plaid shirt.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Music Video in the Works

Well a follow up music video is officially in the works for local Baltimore rapper Kane Mayfield of Mania Music Group. The song has been selected, story fleshed out and a small crew of video people assembled. This time around the feel should be much more cinematic but that is all I can really say now, everything else is hush hush so that when it drops it comes as more of a surprise for everyone. I am really excited about this one and hope to have something with some sweet quality!

Anyway in other news I have an interview/meeting with a local production house about I think an upcoming video gig this weekend, or maybe it is about getting a job there. I am not sure really we never said which one it would be, just kind of agreed to a time to meet and chat. So we will see what happens, I kind of would love a job right now but then again if he just asked me to work on a job by job basis I would be happier because I want to be able to hardcore freelance myself. Either way I am not complaining just gotta see where today takes me.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Editing Has Begun

Well now that everything is all done on Voicebox the process of editing the film together is underway. Last night I officially started the editing and things are coming together rather nicely. The film I would say is about halfway done and it is a little over 7 minutes long so far, which is great. I hope the final product will be around 15 minutes but that is a lot to shoot for. If it ends up over 10 minutes I will be happy though. The shots all look amazing and that is before color grading so I am very happy, it is usually the other way around at this point which is a nice change of pace. The biggest obstacle with this film is going to be sound, I can already say it is going to a be a beast just because I need to foley the majority of it, then mix the sound in evenly. I am not saying I am lazy but I tend to start taking liberties with sound when it becomes too difficult, just saying. However things are right on track.

In other news I submitted Kane Mayfield - Hello! and Love is Undead to the Towson Media Arts Festival this year and hopefully I will be able to place with one of these videos. I wish I could submit Voicebox but the limit is 10 minutes for submission and also it will not be done in time to submit by noon tomorrow it is safe to say. It is ok though I have plans for this short that reach beyond the University so that is where my aim is. Wish me luck though in the festival this year, it always gets me so nervous.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Editing Nearly Complete

Well last night I was cleaning and finishing up the last touches on my newly redone room and after a long day of cleaning I sat down to my computer and decided to edit. The project I finished up was the music video for Kane Mayfield the song of course being Hello which is really a tribute song to a lot of different locations that Kane himself has been at and lived at. The way I had to edit it was basically create 9 video tracks for B-roll and 8 video tracks of different spots we recorded him performing at. After that I would listen to the flow of the song and depending on how each few bars went or maybe one bar after the other went I would select one of the 8 locations we shot at and go with that. Then the ones I didn't want I would just cut and discard. It took a long time because I had to go with the very best shot for those few bars because I was getting rid of all other options once I cut out a video track. It was time consuming and probably not the most practical way to get the job done, it took about 2 and a half hours; but I got the job done. Later today Ashley is coming over and she will watch it, let me know what she thinks, then maybe I will ask Zach to come down and see what he thinks. If I can get approval from both then I will send it on to the label owner and get his approval. After all that we should have a final cut to be sent out.

I hope it gets there and I don't have to do a whole new cut...that would be very disheartening.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Virginia Trip Today

So today is my trip down to Virginia to shoot more of Kane Mayfield's upcoming music video. It is going to be a very simple yet pretty cool little video we are putting together. So far from what we have from NY I am pretty happy so we should be able to get more great stuff today. We are staying pretty late so today when we get down there we are going to check into a hotel and then stay overnight. However we should be back tomorrow hopefully by early afternoon. I am not sure what is going to happen though because I kind of have work tomorrow and knowing how late we are going to be up tonight we might not be up any time soon tomorrow. I hope all goes well with the trip though. Well gotta run and start getting ready.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Filming Filming Filming

Well today was my last full weekend off I took for filming The Cat, which is sad but true :(

Anyway on Saturday they felt like filming wasn't going to take that long so I got the day off which was nice because I needed it. Late Friday night I was up at Mania Music Group's studio discussing video possibilities until about 2 am, maybe later. We got a lot done that night and we are ready to go with music videos but we had to stay up late to figure it out. So Saturday I got up at 11 am and just sort of chilled with my day (a little bit of editing Love Is Undead on the side). The rest of my day was spent chilling with my friend Zach and watching the new Conan: The Barbarian which was ok.

Sunday I woke up early again to get ready for filming which took place in Havre De Grace, which is a really nice small town. We had a little bit of setbacks today but we managed to get a few shots in and even got a few locals involved in filming which was cool. From there we went to Everett's house and watched footage, then called it a day. There is still some more filming to go which I will try to get off for in the future. Next week we will not be filming since it Everett's b-day weekend so HAPPY BIRTHDAY in advance to him. It has been a great experience and I can't wait to see a finished product which will be here soon!

As far as other things got a lot going on this week coming up including school work which I have pushed off until last minute again lol and a few business meetings. I hope I don't die!

Thanks for the love,
Daniel Hess