Foley Work and Scouting

So today was a big day for the foley work on my upcoming short film Voicebox. I was up at a local sound studio [kp] mag, they do great work you should go check them out if you are in Maryland and need any help with foley work or sound recording. Nice little studio for sure! We got through the majority of it today and will officially finish up tomorrow sometime in the day. After all that I had to go down to Fort Howard Park to do some scouting on a music video coming up on Wednesday. Today we picked the filming spot in the park and tomorrow we will be testing lights for the shoot. Finally we will be filming the performance end of the video on Wednesday. After that we will work on the story part but that is later down the road. Keep in the loop and on the lookout for Voicebox!

Random Movie Fact: Marlon Brando reputedly suggested that his cameo role as Jor-El be by him in voice over only, with the character's image onscreen being a glowing, levitating green bagel. Unsure if Brando was joking or not, the film's producers formally rejected the suggestion.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

How to Fight

Today is a good day for self reflection...as I look back at myself in the mirror I see a man who is on the verge of being broken but also one who will fight harder and harder. I struggle everyday in this world as an artistic minded person...I fear this is a huge burden. It is a burden not just for me but for all who think artistically because we must struggle with the small details of not only our work but with ourselves. If things are perfectly aligned and structured for us, then nothing will be right. The constant criticism and complaints can at times bombard us with no remorse, but we must fight back by creating works that are stronger. I fight every day, and all other artists do as well. Do not stop fighting, do not stop doing what is right to make yourselves better. Support one another and show love...this is the only way we will all succeed against the many obstacles we face.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2005 film Thank You for Smoking, no one is shown smoking a cigarette throughout the entire movie. In fact, except in the black and white film that Naylor watches, no-one is seen even holding a cigarette. Naylor holds an empty packet and Robert Duvall holds an (unlit) cigar.

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

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

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

Changing Things Up

So today I am going to be changing my entire room layout, which is something I have been wanting to do for a very long time. I am just tired of my old set up and wanna make my room not only a bedroom, but a home office and also a space for people to come and enjoy themselves. What I am hoping to do is to move my bed to the other side of my room and my computer suite to the opposite side of where it is at too. I also want to get rid of two pieces of furniture completely, one being an old broken record recorder which used to be my grandmothers and the other being a big old dresser of mine which basically turned into a random storage spot for just plain old junk. Getting rid of that will free up a lot of space which in the long run I am hoping to add a flat screen LED tv and also a couch to the side with my computer so I can actually watch movies on something other than my bed. It will be nice to have some changes around my room and hopefully before the end of the year I will be moving out and also in a union!

In addition to that I feel as though I have a solid beginning for the Hello music video and that is always my biggest hurdle. I am going to let my girlfriend watch it and if I get her approval I will go on, she is a much harder critic than I am...plus I get clouded by my own edits so I can't really approve my own cuts, I like to get second or even third opinions before moving forward.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Today is the Trip

So as of right now it is almost 6 am and I am getting everything ready for my trip up to New York. I am catching the megabus at 8:15 and will be there at around 11:35am. It is a video shoot day as well as a big meeting day for the artist I am riding up with. It is sure to be an exciting time just hate that is the middle of winter, it is going to be freezing up there. I just gotta bundle up and shoot some video content. Got more packing to do so I will update you guys on how the trip went tomorrow. Short and sweet today.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Filmmaker Manifesto

Today I have decided to post up my manifesto. As a filmmaker and artist I feel as though it is important to put into words exactly the way I feel everyday of my life.

I am a filmmaker an auteur as the French would call it. Every morning when I rise from bed the first thing on my mind is film and every night the last thing I think of before I go to bed is the same. Whenever I have a free moment to think about anything it is what moment would this be in a movie or what movie this reminds me of. The first thing to say when there is an awkward silence is "What was the last movie everyone saw," or joke about a really bad film. When I am at work doing something not related to film I think about movie ideas or picture myself inside of a film about my life...what part of this story does this represent I ask myself. When I finally get the chance to make a movie it is the greatest high I can get, the rush of getting shots done seeing my idea come to life, it is like every second is a thousand Christmas' culminating into one giant day. After the film is done I am happy because now I get to edit and can be alone for hours if I need to just making the film look how I want it to look. Once it is a final product I want to show the world, and I couldn't more proud. I show my family and they react in a way that is less than fantastic but I have the biggest smile on my face, people may say mean things about it and I listen but I selfishly think "What do they know." As a filmmaker my ego can inflate higher than a helium balloon and I can see myself as a great artist better than those around me, however I have to deflate to realize that working with others is going to be the way to go. I struggle constantly with inner demons threatening to make me quit but as time goes on I see that I can't stop moving no matter what comes in my way. I am a filmmaker one whose vision knows no bounds together with my crew and cast we can make a world changing film or we can destroy each other. This is my manifesto.

Thank you all for the love,
Daniel Hess