Luke!

Today is yet another day for more pictures! Yesterday evening I ran down to a friend of mines house to take pictures of his Jack Russell terrier named Luke. I have known Luke since I was a kid and he is now an old dog. Since he is old his health is starting to decline so I figured I would do something nice for my friend and try to take some great pictures of the dog before he gets much worse. I was hoping to sort of capture the dogs spirit in the pictures, which in some cases I think I do. Have a look at the pictures, I hope you enjoy them and any feedback as always is awesome!

Random Movie Fact: In the 1997 film The Fifth Element, the hero (Bruce Willis) and the villain (Gary Oldman) never meet, nor do they communicate in any way.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Choice Neighborhoods Photos

On August 7th, I had a really crazy busy day. One of the many projects I tackled was doing some volunteer photography for a good cause. That night there was a big community walk throughout a small community in Baltimore City. The whole event was in support of the Choice Neighborhood initiative which is set to try to revatilize aging city neighborhoods. It was a fun evening and everyone was nice, plus they managed to give out free food! Posted below are my favorite photos from the night. Enjoy!

Random Movie Fact: In the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Gary Oldman went to Old Focals, an eyeglass store in Pasadena, to search for the right glasses to fit George Smiley: "Glasses are funny things. For Smiley, they're iconic. It's like Bond's Aston Martin or vodka martini." Oldman tried on hundreds of glasses frames before he found the appropriate spectacles.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Free Photography Weekend!

This weekend To Tony Productions is happy to announce we are giving away two free photography sessions! This is a first come first serve basis so hurry quick and email us at totonyproductions@gmail.com to set up a session time. Not to worry though because even after we book our two free sessions we are going to be offering a half price discount on all sessions booked this weekend. So if you are in need of portraits, headshots, action photos, car photography, etc...then email us asap to set up a time! Have a great rest of the week and hopefully we can do some amazing photos for you!

Random Movie Fact: In the 1971 film 10 Rillington Place; filmed in the real Rillington Place, which had changed its name to Ruston Close after the notorious killings. Filming took place both in no. 10 Rillington Place itself as well as no.6. The street was demolished at the end of 1970 and the area was later redeveloped, with completion in 1977, as Bartle Road and St Andrew's Square.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Awesome Song!

Once before I posted up lyrics from a personal favorite song of mine and today is another day for another song. This song is amazing it is called Currare on Your Lips by After the Sirens. If you have never heard it you should do so right now.

Welcome to the last time
That You can buy my answer with less than a question.
I would sell the hands off my wrists if they weren't so preoccupied
With taking the bread from Your fingers and downing this cheap New Year's wine
That we call Your blood.
And You can wait for midnight but my lips are sealed.
And You can wait for midnight but my lips are sealed.

In this garden I'm waiting anxiously
For my children to come and murder me.
In this crowded room, staring nervously lovers lick at their lips and wait for the kiss.
I've been sharpening
My teeth for this moment
And I'll stab with my lips but You've already won

Is there no resolution?
Well, I'll call these rafters my gallows,
And strung up by day-old party streamers
In the back of my mind I can see
The merlot dripping from Your hands and feet.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2011 film Bernie, the owners of the Hawthorn Funeral Home in Carthage, Texas, where Bernie Tiede met Marjorie Nugent, refused to allow the film to use the name of the funeral home.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Today's News

So now that I have sent Voicebox out to two festivals the anticipation builds to see what happens next. I hope that I get in but I won't know for a little bit I just hope good things happen.

Anyway today it has been confirmed that I will be getting back into filming high school football games again! My first gig is going to be September 8th at Navy Stadium, filming the Patriot Classic. I am excited since last years event was a lot of fun, and this year only one game is going to be live which takes a lot of pressure off of me, the rest of the games are just for highlights. I am glad to be doing football again and am excited to be getting more paid gigs.

I may have another group of gigs coming up but nothing has been confirmed yet, supposedly I will know by the end of the day so fingers crossed for everything to work out for it. Besides that it seems I will be filming a music video on the 9th of September and I am in the process of finishing up the Three Beers Later music video.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2001 film The Others, the disease the children have is an actual disease known as xeroderma pigmentosum. It is very rare with roughly a thousand people in the world that have it.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Voicebox Complete!

So after a long summer of finalizing and working on Voicebox it is finally all done! I couldn't be happier and I am so glad to have it all finished, it is an awesome feeling. Yesterday I spent all day fixing up last minute things and getting a press kit organized for the Elgin Short Film Festival and managed to get it postmarked on the last day of submissions, which is amazing since I have been wanting to submit work to that festival for about two years now. In addition I woke up early today to run out and ship the film over to the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. I had to get rush shipping because I failed to realize that the 27th of September is their received by date not the postmarked date, which means that early today was the last chance I had to send it out. So for now I have Voicebox sent out to two festivals so we will see what happens. I will be putting the film online soon but not until after everyone in my crew has had a chance to watch it and send any final critique (sometimes I feel like I am just not ready to call it a final cut lol).

Random Movie Fact: In the 1993 film Groundhog Day, early drafts of the script explained the cause of Phil Connors' weird experience: a disaffected ex-lover called Stephanie cast a spell on him to teach him a lesson.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

More HDR Fun

So just about an hour ago I went to Fort Howard State Park to snap a couple of photos. I was not very successful in getting a huge number of cool photos but I got to work with some HDR photography again. Well posted below are the two images of the day. I had a little bit of fun with these so let me know what you think.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, mr Weasley's shed of Muggle artefacts contains, among other things, two Remington Noiseless Portable Typewriters and an HP Laserjet 4.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

North Point Park Trip

So here are the collection of photos I took yesterday on my journey through North Point State Park. I love the way all the photos turned out but I have to say I am most proud of the picture I got of the deer. I walked a little ways down a trail where I remember seeing deer before so I was hoping to have a repeat of that luck from years ago. Low and behold just a few minutes in the trail and there is one just standing there looking at me. So I start going crazy trying to take a bunch of pictures. Unluckily however my zoom lens is on a 24-105mm so I wasn't able to get zoomed in close enough to it for an amazing picture but I think it is still cool to get it on digital. Well enough about my trip, here are my photos...enjoy!

Random Movie Fact: The 2007 film Disturbia was filmed on location in the cities of Whittier, California and Pasadena, California. The homes of Kale and Mr. Turner, which were supposed to be next door to each other, were actually located in two different cities.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Back to the Roots

So today was a day for me to get back to my roots in the world of photography. After taking the trip to Rocks State Park on Saturday I really felt connected to nature again, it was nice, I haven't felt that way in a while. After that day it took me back to the days going hiking with my family and having a blast at different parks. After that flood of memories and taking nature photos again I decided to go out on a nice day trip today. I went out to North Point State Park which is about five minutes from my house and just walked around. After walking I managed to get a few cool pictures including one that I am super duper duper proud of, but I am not saying why...just check back tomorrow to see the picture. Also I experimented more with HDR photography without a model, just landscapes to see if I have an eye for it at all. It was nice to connect with nature and snap photos all at the same time. Tomorrow I am thinking of heading up to Fort Howard Park but we will see, maybe I will try to find someplace new to explore.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2004 film Man on Fire, Writer Brian Helgeland first saw the original Man on Fire when he was renting videos in the late-'80s. He walked in to the video store where Quentin Tarantino was working, and asked what was good. Tarantino recommended Man on Fire.

RIP Tony Scott and Phyllis Diller

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Rocks State Park

So yesterday was the first day in a little while me and my girlfriend Ashley have been able to spend the whole day together. Not knowing what to do I randomly suggested to go to Rocks State Park and off we went. It was fun, relaxing, and a good time with my girl. I snapped a few photos and so did Ashley so here are the pictures from the day.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film Tuck Everlasting, The working title for the movie was "The Everlasting Tucks", but director Jay Russell thought the original name would fit the movie better.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Coming Soon

Country music video, Voicebox, some more photography, and a pop music video this fall.

Wanted to keep it brief today!

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film Red Dragon, Edward Norton is the only actor who appears with two other actors who played the famous role of Lecter - Brian Cox and Anthony Hopkins. Norton would later appear with Cox in 25th Hour.

Who Am I?

I feel like I put up a lot of posts talking about To Tony Productions which is obvious because this is what this blog is all about. That being said I feel like I never talk about who I am. Well let me take this time to introduce myself. My name is Daniel Hess, I started To Tony Productions two years ago with the vision to one day create films that share new ideas and thoughts. Back then I was merely a sophomore in college, just really getting my traction when it comes to film but I had a big dream. I named the company for my cousin Anthony because ever since he passed away from CF I always wanted to do my best to make him proud, so I named my production company after him. Now To Tony Productions is picking up steam as a full service production company, currently we are finishing our second music video, starting a third up in September, and soon to be releasing Voicebox.

What about myself...well I am just an average guy I guess. I am currently freelancing and working for different companies in the video field. In my free time I like to watch movies, exercise, play with my dog Lexi, and write. This year has brought about the most change in my life since probably 2008. In the month of May I finished college at Towson University and quit my job of five years at Oak Crest Village. I decided that the rest of this year would be committed to finding work in the film/video industry full time. My plan is to have something concrete before the winter, if not however I will probably just have to settle for a full time job somewhere which would suck but it is a means to an end. Yeah I consider myself a workaholic when it comes to video production but I love it too much not to pour my heart and soul into it.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2000 film Meet the Parents,  The scenes at the "Surf and Turf" restaurant were filmed at a Port Washington, NY restaurant called "Louie's". The car racing scenes between Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro were also filmed in downtown Port Washington. Also, the scene where Stiller and De Niro go shopping is in Port Washington at Salem Drugs.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

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

Arlington County Fair Day 2

So I just got back from the second day of photography at the Arlington County Fair. Today was a bit smoother than yesterday and I think I made a lot more progress this time around. Today I think we doubled on how many people we got to pose for pictures for the county. The mission of this weekend is to get people to pledge to use any alternative means of transportation besides their car. The slogan of the program is called the car free diet (very catchy if I do say so myself). As people come in and out of the fair we hand out little free maps for transit and bikes and metro lines so that way people can plan to take trips in other ways besides driving. After we give people the information we ask if they would like their picture taken with the alternative transport they either use or are using. Many people will say no just out of feeling uncomfortable but we do get quite a few who will take pictures with it, so it is nice. It has been easy and difficult at the same time but today was busy so time went by a lot faster. Plus we got to see a free little show by two members of the Harlem Wizards, a trick basketball team I think from DC or something. It was cool, fun, and chill. One more day to go.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, Afraid that Anne Hathaway's previous films The Princess Diaries and Ella Enchanted would work against her during auditions, the casting director introduced Anne to director Ang Lee as a New York Broadway actress. Ang Lee hadn't seen any of Anne's nor Michelle Williams's previous works before he auditioned and subsequently cast them in Brokeback.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Arlington County Fair Day 1

So today marks the first day of the Arlington County Fair. I will be leaving my place at 12:30 and should be there by about 1:30-45. After that it is set up time and then taking lots of pictures...well hopefully. It is a gloomy day here on the east coast and hopefully that does not deter people too much from coming out and enjoying the fair. I am glad to be doing my first professional photo gig and thankful for the opportunity from the great staff at NeoNiche strategies. The one person who is especially to thank is Nick Hanson, who you may remember I worked with on past short films Nina and Love is Undead, he starred in both. He is a great guy and all this time later helped me to get into this company since he had nothing but high praises for me. It is so wonderful to know genuine people who are so helpful along my journey. None of this would be happening right now if it weren't for him. Thanks Nick!

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film Jackass: The Movie, The reason the majority of stunts were filmed in Japan was because whenever the crew tried to film them in the US, swarms of teenage Jackass fans would show up to watch the filming.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Sorry For Not Posting More

I have been driving myself pretty thin these past few days and pushing out all the energy I have has not been leaving me much motivation to keep posting on here. I am not complaining and love all the work I get, with all the travel and everything it is just draining. However I am here to provide some updates for everyone. Well as of right now there is only one final day of filming for the Wesley Spangler music video and that will just be a day of B-roll to add in more content to the video. It was a fun music video and super goofy, can't wait to put that out for everyone to see. Also I have finally gotten the last piece of music done for Voicebox and now it is just some small tweaks away from being totally done, more on that to come. I am doing color correction and foley work for a client who has contracted me out for it and that is almost done.

For upcoming projects I have some down the road and some approaching immediately. This whole weekend I will be down in Arlington, Virginia at the county fair doing photography. The event is to promote people to find different modes of transportation in VA without driving alone, the county is trying to push for people to carpool, walk, bike, use public transportation, etc. Basically I am going to be taking fun pictures of people with the alternate mode of transport they use. It is about 4 hours each day for three days, not a huge chunk of time but should be some fun. Down the road I have another music video that I am hoping to start filming on between the 20-30th of August and have it involve a two day shoot. The song is great and the artist is great, I can't wait to make something beautiful for a beautiful song. Otherwise there are things brewing in my head for independent projects but that is down the road, some things that don't even involve film (crazy right)?

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film The Bourne Identity, the film was originally scheduled to be released in June 2001, but was delayed because of re-shoots ordered by director Doug Liman, including the car chase that takes place in the middle of the film.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

This Week is Gonna Be BUSY!

This week coming up looks like it is going to be pretty busy! Tomorrow I have to head down to Virginia to fill out some paperwork for that company that is going to contract me out to do some gigs for them. That is in the morning then in the afternoon around 2pm I am going to be setting up for the final part of Wesley Spangler's video Three Beers Later and we are going to be doing that until we finish up which will probably be at the latest 8pm. On Tuesday I am going to be at [kp] mag recording studio doing some foley work for a project I got hired on to do post production for. After that around 6pm I am doing a volunteer photo gig for a city housing project which looks to be pretty cool it is just a little community get together. Then on Wednesday I have an eye doctor appointment lol, so that day and Thursday things look like they are going to settle down. Finally this weekend if all things work out I will be doing my first gig down in Virginia for a county fair just taking pictures to promote a city driving initiative in Arlington. So that will be the 10th-12th in the afternoon. Wish me luck on all of this I hope it all pans out and everything goes through.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1989 film Do the Right Thing, all of the scenes of the "Corner Men" Robin Harris, Paul Benjamin, and Frankie Faison were improvised.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Chill Work Day

Today I finished up another treatment for a music video, which I hope to finish before the end of August. I tried to keep the video as confined as possible but at the same time tell a good story to go along with the song. I feel I accomplished both very well, now it is just time to get feedback from the client. I hope they like it since it will make production easier and also help me to stay focused on the vision a little bit better. I really want things to work out with this gig since I really like the artist and just simply really want to make this music video. Also today I am working on some color correction for a client who recently finished up a little short film, the biggest issue is blown out backgrounds, like where the light comes in. I was asked to get rid of it but the light is peaking really bad so I don't know if there is going to be much I can do at the end of the day the only thing that may save the shoot is to redo it, but I will do what I can. Otherwise today I want to try and wash my car and maybe write up a little photo contract for another upcoming gig.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film Phone Booth, during the movie, when the Caller warns Stu not to move, he says that "you pull out your wallet and BOOM! - you get shot at 41 times". This is a reference to the killing of Amadou Diallo, an innocent man who matched the description of a serial rapist. The police approached him and he pulled out his wallet. They mistakenly thought it was a gun and shot 41 times between four officers, hitting him 19 times and killing him.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

July is Over

So it is official July is over and done with. It is now August and every so often I like to look back at a month and reflect on how things went. July was interesting as I feel it is every year, it was the month of my birthday and also I think it was the first true transitional month for me. It was the first time I feel like myself and To Tony Productions really stepped things up and started asking for a bit more from our clients, to run a business and provide quality products we had to start asking for decent pay. While at the beginning of July I had a lot of work opportunities and chances to make videos a lot of it just wasn't for the right price. I was getting kinda lowballed and no matter how much I tried to make it work at the end of the day there was really nothing in it for me as an artist or business man. Those that just weren't ready to pay for the quality were I guess left to their own devices, I am just not going to operate like that. It is hard and gigs get passed by a lot but I will take quality over quantity any day of the week. Yes July was a month for me to grow and I think I finally have a great foundation for the future.

Random Movie Fact: The 1994 film Clerks was filmed at the same store in which director Kevin Smith was working at the time. As he was only allowed to film outside of business hours, and because bright enough lights couldn't be afforded, the plot included an explanation for the shutters being always down.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Big Stuff Coming

So today I had a pretty sweet business meeting/interview with an actor I used to work with on a couple of past projects, Nick H. He is a great guy and invited me to meet with some people at the company he works for called Neo Niche Strategies, they are a company which seems to just recently start investing in video production and Nick is sort of the head guy for everything. Well he invited me down as I said and I have been offered two gigs one a small photobooth gig at a county fair down in Virginia and the other is a lucrative gig as an editor which would involve a lot of travel. The second gig would take me away from Maryland for 5 weeks, with a week break in between, I am excited and hope it all works out because this gig would be huge for me! When I know more about it trust me I will be sure to update it here. Wish me luck!

Random Movie Fact: In the 2005 film Cinderella Man, the cinematographer invented a "tire-cam" which is a camera cushioned inside a tire and behind Plexiglas. This allowed the professional boxers to hit the tire to create realistic reactions from a first-person point-of-view.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess