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.

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

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

June is Over

So every now and again I like to reflect back on a month and see what all I managed to accomplish over the course of it. This month was a time for moving forward with my life. June was when I finally officially graduated from Towson University and got my Bachelor's Degree from the Electronic Media and Film department. June I would say was also a rocky month, it was a time for a lot of talking and not a lot of results coming out of it. I mean I guess I could be that blunt about it but all this talking was necessary for building a foundation for professional relationships. June was when I made my second attempt at the 48 Hour Film Festival, to lackluster results. However for all the slow time that passed in this month it is vital to lead into July because now I am looking to the future and I see what is going to be the most busy month for video production I have ever had to deal with, and that is amazing! No matter what happens I know I will be learning and growing for the better.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1956 Science Fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the film originally ended with Miles J. Binnell on the highway shouting to the people driving by, "You're next, you're next!" However, the studio wanted a happier ending that would assure the audience that the hero's efforts were not in vain, so scenes were added to the opening to show Miles in a hospital recounting his story to two other doctors and to the end when the other doctors find out about the pods and one of them contacts the FBI.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

I Need to Shoot Something

Like a video shoot, it feels like forever since my last video shoot, even though it kinda was this month, but that was the bust of the 48 (which I am not here to discuss). Anyway yeah I feel like all I do these days is talk about negotiating with clients and talking over budgets which sucks, because that is all I have been doing. Lately all I do is talk things over with what I call "potentials," they email me, we talk and usually price is the main issue. I mean I don't want to turn clients down, it sucks, but making money is a big thing and not being able to make any sucks. I know there are a lot of talented people that deserve video work, but everyone is on a level playing field to me and fees for work are fees for work. Maybe I am just out of touch but I have to stick by my rates. We will see though, hopefully soon I can get back to shooting more stuff.

Random Movie Fact: In the original Godzilla film circa 1954, the sound department tried numerous animal roars for Godzilla but felt they were unsuitable for an animal of such immense size. Akira Ifukube came up with Godzilla's roars by rubbing a coarse, resin-coated leather glove up and down the strings of a contrabass (double bass), and reverberated the recorded sound. Also, Godzilla's thunderous footsteps were made by beating a kettle drum with a knotted rope.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

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

Start of the 48 Hour Film Festival!

So this afternoon/evening is the start of the Baltimore 48 Hour Film Festival. This is the second year I am participating in this awesome event, this year under the group name Towson Avengers! This year I am working with a fresh group of completely different people from last year, from the talent to the crew it is all new faces. I am excitedly nervous for the competition since I have assumed the role of Director of the piece. I have not been able to dedicate as much time as I have wanted but I know we can still make something awesome this year. I am looking forward to not only finishing a film, but getting it in and seeing all the other great works that come out of the competition.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Getting Back On Track

So today is my day to get everything back on track, slowly but surely. I am going to clean up my room, give my dog a bath, and later tonight possibly hang with my friend. I just want to start getting life straight to get back on track really. These past few days have been tough and now that the smoke is clearing I can see where I need to go in life.

That being said I will be crazy busy this weekend doing the 48 hour film festival which should prove to be pretty insane. So I mean today and tomorrow are going to be back on track days, but then this weekend is going to prove to just be insane again, so I don't know what I am going to do. Just endure as Alfred would say to Batman...it is in the trailer. Anyway, yeah that is how things are shaping up for me. Hope to have more less depressing stuff soon.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Finding Happiness

I think things are getting better and better right now for me. I am finally getting happier just because I know I only have another week of work left and I have a lot of things popping up that can be potential opportunities for me. Today I got the number of a guy who may be looking for an editor from a friend of a friend so I am going to call about that tomorrow. Plus I finally managed to sell my Redrock Micro adapter for a little bit of cash, I took a huge loss on it since I paid a lot more for it back in the day but it wasn't moving any time fast and I need the extra cash so it was worth it.

In other news it looks like I have a team for the 48 Hour Film Festival, I am just a boom operator but it will let me get more on set experience and you never know it could be another really good short film to have under my belt. At the very least things will get done and it is another credit to have on my resume. I hope to also start penning a potential feature length film script to do next summer, if I can get it done soon I can raise funds to make the film. We will see though this is very early in the stages. I have to make it through editing Voicebox still so that is my first priority.

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

Fortunate Day

So today has turned into quite the fortunate day for me. It is my first day back to school since spring break and I getting to ease into really easy for sure. Last night I got an email from my math teacher saying class was cancelled which was my 8am class so no waking up at 5:15 to get ready for me. I then realized I had a meeting at ten about my film but I managed to get that pushed back until Thursday. After all that I realized I had a midterm in my Film and Literature class but then got an email saying that was postponed until next week. So today has been an easy transition to get back into the swing of things for sure. I am having a pretty lucky day.

As far as plans for the film I am going to try to use Towson for my high school looking scene and then I am thinking of having a big yard sale on April 7th in order to save up more for my film. I mean I think I will have a good chunk of money from work and then taxes came back right in the nick of time but I could use that little bit more for things like food and drinks. I don't know for sure but I will see. If I do decide on that then I will post more details soon.

Also I think my DP and Sound guy get back from Europe today and I can't wait to talk to them to get everything straight for filming. I hope it all works out as far as their schedule because I can't do it without them. Finally the registration for the 48 hour film festival starts today this year and I am going to see if they want to have a group for it or not. I know I do for sure but that is just me.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess