Updates!

So I think it is high time to post some updates on what is going on over at my end of things. As of right now I am gearing up to do another music video for local rapper Kane Mayfield. I am trying to shoot the video on the 18th but things have stalled lately so I have to try to get that back on track. I am still going through the psuedo training run at the company that has hired me for production/post production help. I was suppossed to come in today to do an editing test, but it is being postponed until tomorrow. In addition I am still booking more stuff right now, I have been getting good bites but nothing is sticking, hopefully soon things will really start picking up for freelance stuff, but we will see. Right now is just that weird limbo time for the summer, but a major project will pop up sooner or later.

I am going to start spitting out random movie facts every day on my blog now I think...so here is the first random movie fact:

The inspiration for the Alien creature laying eggs inside of its victims and a new alien popping out of them comes from the braconid wasps which lays its eggs inside another insect. As the eggs grow they begin to hatch out of the insects body instantly killing it. Much in the same fashion as the creature does in Alien.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Interview Today

So yesterday I was supposed to have an interview with a local production/post house in the Towson area, however it got postponed until today. So today at 2pm I have my interview which I am happy to have the opportunity for and also excited to see what happens. So wish me luck on that today.

Yesterday melted down into a full on basketball kind of day. It was so nice outside so things just seemed right to play some pick up games with a friend of mine. My skills are improving and I am feeling a whole lot better with the level at which I am playing at (compared to just 5 years ago). I hope to keep getting better and maybe one day I will even be able to play in a little adult league or something.

So my car has been leaking engine coolant for a little bit now and I have been dreading getting it fixed since I know it is going to cost some money, and with no available income it is a bit of a dive. However, yesterday my dad comes up to me and is like I will fix it but you have to cut the grass the entire rest of the summer. So I am like score, not only will be cutting the grass again which is good exercise but I will get my skills back up since I haven't cut the grass in like 2 years. Now I am not dropping any cash and my car will be running like new, chalk one up for the barter system!

Still catching up on sleep....still keeping busy over here, I hope life is treating you as good as it is treating me right now.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Time is Coming Near

The time is coming near where I will not have an ordinary day job anymore and will have to rely on my freelance work to support me and that time would be May 14th to be exact. I am excited to be leaving my day job but at the same time almost extremely scared just because I have no idea what the future holds for me and the bills don't stop rolling in. Lucky for me I have some things in the works like a few music videos which I am hoping to get a little bit of money out of and I have an editing job which looks like I can make about a hundred a vid on which is kinda low but I will take what I can get right now to be honest. In the long term I am hoping to be able to get another day job that is either full time or offers just more to it. I mean I love video work but I also need to have a reliable pay check...but who knows maybe I will get enough video work in music videos or weddings or concerts to make a living off of. We will have to wait and see.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Interview Today

So I had an interview today for a part time photo/video assistant job and it went pretty awesome! It was a very informal occasion since I met the guy at a Starbucks up in Ellicott City but it was a great experience. I am not sure if I got the job or not but that doesn't really matter because I got handed out a lot of great advice that I think is amazingly invaluable to say the least. I mean we talked for about an hour and a half so it is a lot of ground that we managed to cover. He told me about the industry, where I should go for career choices, what I should do from here, all kinds of awesome stuff. I am so happy to just have had this experience getting the job would just be icing on an already delicious cake.

In other news both my music video for Kane Mayfield and Love is Undead are guranteed to place in the top three of their categories in the Towson Media Arts Festival so at the very least I placed in individual categories. Where things go from here is completely different but I am so proud that two pieces of my work made it so far in the competition. I will know exactly where things end up from here come May 12th but until then I am eagerly awaiting results.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

I am Gone!

Well last night I made the brash decision to finally put in my two weeks at work. I was hating going back and dealing with that craphole place as it was, but I was willing to make a compromise and just work three days a week or whatever. However last night I get pulled into the office to get bitched at for having too many call outs, mind you this is the first time I have ever been pulled into the office at all for such a thing in 5 years I have been working there. So they are talking to me about that and then they start to bring up the 20 days I had off for making my movie (yes they kept count of the exact number of days) which I had people either cover for me or I just plain had off for so there is no reason to be bitched at for it. But alas they still decided to get on my case about it. They were acting like my career was at this dead end job and I should take it so seriously so after that I was really pissed, but ok whatever...then my supervisor informed me that they were actually trying to get me in some kind of trouble for it, yes get me in trouble for taking too many days off? What kind of bullshit is that, all I did was take off time to make a movie which is my career, the thing I love to do. So I was like screw it, so I got a blank piece of paper filled out my two weeks and handed it to my supervisor at the end of the night.

I know as of right now I have no other job lined up but I am hoping to kick back on some freelance work for a while and start looking for a full time day job somewhere. I don't know really what will happen at this point. All I know it is time to restart my life and start fresh somewhere. Film makes me so happy I just wish I could do it all the time somewhere...but the problem is finding that place.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Brick Wall

Today was just a massive brick wall that I smacked right into. I have been pushing myself too hard and today in the morning it all blew up in my face. I was supposed to go to DC for two things 1.Shoot more music video footage for Kane Mayfield 2. Meet a local director about an Assistant Director job on an upcoming film. Well I decided to hang out with my girl last night and we stayed up until about 12am and I had to get up at 4am today, I thought I could do it. Turns out my alarm went off twice and before I could get up I looked at my phone again and it was 6:30 in the morning. The megabus was leaving at 7:15 and I had nothing ready to go. I ended up not going and now here I am just getting ready for a test in class today.

It was just a lot though, worked long shifts from Thursday to Sunday at work right after long shifts at school Tuesday + Wednesday. Combine that with short intervals of sleep and running 2 miles a night at the track...all this adds up to one bad combination and today was certainly all those factors adding up.

On the positive though I started editing old photos again so that I should have more of my photography work up soon and also I started editing more of Love is Undead for the first time in over a month. I will not be able to submit it to the Maryland Film Festival but I will be submitting it to the Sacramento Horror Film Festival instead. Wish me luck with getting accepted to that. Should be back to 100% tomorrow after this funky day is finally over.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Interview Day

So today is the day for my interview with Black and Decker for their video internship. It is at 2:30pm and I was up pretty late last night getting everything I needed ready to go for the interview. I am extremely nervous as I am for most things that I am unsure of but at the same time I am ready to get it done. I hope all goes well with it and that I may be fortunate enough to get the spot.

Also right now I am about to have another double gig day on Friday with two football games back to back. At 1:30pm I have the Gilman vs. Archbishop Spalding game and then at 7pm there is the Good Counsel football game. The Gilman game is fine but the Good Counsel game is an hour away from where I live so it will be a nice and long drive to get there, it sucks but for the money I can't really argue it. We will see today when I get the confirmation if I am getting both games but I more than likely will.

I swear I could fill like a novel full of papers if I kept rambling on about what is going on over here at TTP but I won't do that today, gotta get ready for school and interviews.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess