Day 2 of the 48 Hour Film Festival

So today is day 2 for us at the 48 Hour Film Festival. Last night was the entire screenwriting process and we had to come up with a story for today. The genre we landed was Horror which was pretty sweet since I have tackled horror before but not in the way we have written it this time around. We are hoping to go super serious with it, something psychological yet still holding its roots in this well known genre. The story is good, after a lot of debate we have a script/outline ready for it so today it is all about translating that to film. We have a lot of great talent and being the director I am excited and nervous about how things are going to go today. The lone actor that was confirmed dropped out so on the fly I had to get another actor who I have worked with before but he can't be on set until 2pm today which sucks, I wish I could have a better idea of this situation earlier as I would have gotten a better handle on things. Otherwise it sounds like things are good with the rest of the talent for today. Hope it goes well and wish me luck.

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

Could Barely Wait

I almost couldn't wait to post this before midnight, but I held it back until now.

So today I had my interview which went great, it was about an hour long but after it was all done we came to the conclusion that I should wait until February to try and start due to the crazy schedule of the minimester. So when February comes around I will hit him back up and start the internship.

After that I went to the premiere of Fang a horror comedy film directed by Jonathan Boushell. It was a very funny cheesetastic picture that had a definite life of its own which is hard to find in a student film. I hope Mr. Boushell continues making pictures and growing as an artist he has a lot of talent. Everything was great about it, and I was glad to have been invited.

Tonight I ordered all the items to decorate the set for my samurai film which has transformed from a music video to a standalone story which will be super short but hopefully come out pretty bad ass. I just hope for post I can find a voice actor who can speak Japanese, that would be great. I am happy it is all coming together and by the end of the year I should have two solid short films which is an awesome accomplishment. I think with these last two it will make 4 short films in one year! 2011 has been great to To Tony Productions.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess