Demo Reel!

Here is the official To Tony Productions demo reel for this year! It is all the best from TTP since starting back in 2009. Enjoy the reel and leave any feedback you can.



Demo Reel - To Tony Productions from Daniel Hess on Vimeo.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Finalizing Everything

Now that I have a smartphone I have been busier than ever message everyone and making sure I have all the details settled for filming this Saturday. It is all about getting the first few shots done and getting my groove back. I am so nervous for the first shot it is insane, but like I just said once I get that over it is all pretty smooth sailing from there. I have all the actors down and call times are all set now so things are at the final stretch. I still have to STORYBOARD though which is going to suck because I need so much focus just to get that all of out the way. I have off all day Friday so with any luck I will be able to do it then so I know how I want everything to look. Still so much to remember and such little time, oh crap I thought it was Tuesday for a second but alas it is Thursday. T minus less than two days and counting.

Oh yeah things are getting resolved with the 72 Hour Film Festival fiasco this year and I may possibly be able to get reimbursed too so we will see.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Bummed Out Weekend

So I haven't really been updating the blog in a little bit so I am finally letting everyone in the loop today. So this past weekend was supposed to be Towson's Fourth Annual 72 Hour Film Festival...I was super duper amped for this. So much so I rented equipment and took off a lot of time from work to do my thing. I had suspected that this year was going to be the smallest year yet, what with the festival taking place over Easter weekend and all but I did not think they would actually cancel the event.

My suspicions began on Friday when I saw the event page for the screening was taken down, but no one bothered to email me with updates so I thought all was well. Then Saturday came and all day at work I was excited and wouldn't shut up about the details coming out at 4pm. So I get off work and on the way home it passes 4pm and nothing happens, 5pm still nothing, 6pm I email the guy running it and also post on the organizations facebook page. 7pm comes around and I am told it got cancelled. I was as you can tell a little p*ssed by this news especially since I took off work time and spent money on rental equipment. I couldn't believe it. So I responded the guy running it letting him now how upset and frustrated I was at the cancellation, just telling him that I spent over 200 bucks on nothing, took off time from work, made other people take off time from work all for nothing. He responded pretty nasty back to me about the whole thing saying that they had to waste money too, it was a lot of effort on their parts for nothing, etc (he said it in a tone I am leaving out). Then the President of the organization caught wind of it and sent an apology to me for the way he acted on the email...then later that night I got an apology email from the guy running the thing himself (which I could tell was forced so he was still kinda nasty about things). Needless to say I am meeting with the President guy not to raise hell but just to let them know how they should handle things in the future with this type of stuff. In the end I got to spend some time with my family so things weren't so bad, but my final 72 hour at Towson University will sadly never happen.

*PS I was the only one who signed up to film over this past weekend!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Oh Irony...You Suck!

So I got home today from a long day at school where I realized everything is happening on Tuesday which just so happens to be the day after the 72 hour film festival which I know will kill me! I have a test (in math of all things), another midterm test (in film and literature of all things), and a paper due (in Fiction since WWII of all things lol). Anyway I got the paper mostly done today even though I had to "borrow" a lot of ideas for it. The film and lit test I am kind of prepared for and the math test I am not prepared for at all. I should have off all day tomorrow but so does my girl so I don't know how much I will actually get done since I kind of want to spend time with her (maybe some studying for the math thing).

Anyway, back to the ironic thing in the title...which is the fact that B and H Photo/Video decided to ship my 5D Mark III today with like no warning at all, and then the camera came here to my house...I repeat was here in the FedEx guys hands...here. But since I wasn't here and couldn't sign he didn't leave it which means try again tomorrow! In addition to that I put out 235 bucks renting a Mark III this weekend for the 72 hour film festival, which means I will have my 5D and a rental 5D, which sucks! I am happy I rented the Glidecam but not so happy about the whole 5D thing, but oh well win some, lose some. I am happy to get it nonetheless because that means I will have it for Voicebox which kicks ass!

Busy weekend, followed by busy/stressful week...if the tests don't get to me then preparing for the film certainly will.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

72 Hour Film Festival Part III

So yesterday I found out that Towson's Fourth Annual 72 Hour Film Festival is going to take place this weekend! Pretty insane considering I just found out yesterday and they didn't finalize the details until I think last Friday or Saturday. In either case I am still going to do it and I plan on keeping the film small. That idea actually worked out to my favor since on the list of rules you are only allowed to have a maximum of 5 people working on the film which to me is a good thing but it is also pretty crazy. I mean if you want sound and camera there are two people right there...then add in actors and you have only 3 spots left. People are going to cheat more than likely because only 5 cast and crew members is a crazy limit to have to abide by. I think I can make it work though and I hope this weekend can go over well, then only other road block is that I work so much over this weekend. Luckily I took off Sunday but I am supposed to be working all day saturday and then literally all day Monday and the films are due Monday at 4pm. Craziness shall ensue for sure.

For the festival I am renting a Canon 5d Mark III since mine has yet to arrive from B and H Photo/Video. I am also renting a glidecam which is sort of like a smaller version of a steadicam but says it is almost virtually equal. I will test it out to see and hopefully this film will turn out to be intimate but great. We will just have to wait and see.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess