Too Busy

So this weekend turned out to be pretty intense to say the least, I think in all four years of my college experience this week/weekend was my busiest in history. Friday I helped out a friend finish up his short film for a screening that night around 7pm, we got the film in during intermission. Then Saturday me and my friend worked on my film with color grading, picture lock, and adding effects in. Sunday I wrote my final paper for English class which ended up being 6.5 pages. Today I am going to foley and get all the sound effects and music score placed in my movie. Then tomorrow from the way things are sounding right now I am going to be on set for a feature film shooting here (preliminary information as far as right now). Then Wedenesday I could be doing a photoshoot for a friend of mine that I met while at Towson (or hanging with my girl...depends). Finally after all that I gotta start work on two separate music videos, a spec commercial, and a possible third music video.

Sorry to vent but that is how things are shaping up in my world right now. I hope life is easier for you guys out there and if not that isn't a bad thing you are busy, just means you are working hard. I hope to keep working hard and finally finish my film today. Wish me luck with everything!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Racing Towards the Finish

As of right now I am working on my friends final student film project. It is freaking intense and crazy. They have only a few minutes to get the project done and then turn it in, after all that the screening of the film is tonight. I am going to it and can't wait to see the finished film since I have not seen much of anything from it. I am excited and hoping they can get it all done.

Besides that I have to finish up my own film project Voicebox and turn that in by next Tuesday and also turn in a final paper for my English class. After that I am all free and ready to go! I am so excited to graduate and get everything done!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Four Things To Go

Well there are only four more tasks for me to tackle before I am all done with school, I shall list them below:

1.) Finish up my Experimental Film Class final project which is due today
2.) Take my Film and Literature final which is today at 3
3.) Write a 6-8 page paper which is due Tuesday for my Fiction since WWII class
4.) Finish up Voicebox which is due Tuesday for my Independent Film Study class

After all of these steps are taken I will be all done with college and moving on to either full time freelance (a good possibility) or getting my masters which I will more than likely start in about a year. It all depends on the cash flow situation as well as how much in financial support I can get for my masters degree program.

It has been a hectic week so sorry for not blogging more after next Tuesday things will be much better.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Last Day of Classes....Last Day of Work

Well today is the last day of classes here at Towson University. I have already gotten my first grade back which was in my Math class and I got an A- which was way way higher than I expected. I have two English classes then finals begin which is a scattered bag of times. On Thursday I have to do a final for Film and Literature which is the only true final I have...also I have to finish my Experimental final project by Thursday at the same time as well (the finals both overlap). After that I have a paper due for Fiction since WW2 and I have to turn in my final cut for Voicebox by Tuesday May 22nd which is the last day of finals. Then if things go well I graduate...

In other news last night was my last night at work which was less than climactic...it really just plain sucked. It was the usual affair of being stupidly stressful and almost everyone that said they would be there didn't come because things got switched around and those people that tried to act sincere in the past didn't even say anything to me, they just left. It was kind of sad and now things get real but I am excited to be moving forward with life. I have enough video work to fill a page and a half of paper so I will keep busy.


Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Media Arts Festival '12

Well I just got back from the 2012 Towson University Media Arts Festival with a pair of Second Place videos! Both Love is Undead and Hello! by Kane Mayfield got Second place in their respective categories (music video and shorts). Not only is this a nice step up from getting Third place last year with Spiritus it is also an accomplishment to submit two separate works and then have them both become finalists...then have them both place second. I feel strong about these videos and I am glad to see them get the recognition they deserve. I have to give an even bigger shout out to the two videos that beat me out this year I Tell 'Em Towson University in the music video category was a well put together video that they somehow got a ton of people to be in which is amazing (I know how hard that can be to pull off). Also to Do Not Duplicate in the shorts category was great too, a pretty sweet opening credit sequence and also some cool shots added in the mix as well.

Overall this year was much better than last and I hope to keep submitting as many years in the future as I can especially if some friends of mine end up going there next year...I can just have them submit works for me lol. Great night...lots of fun...can't wait for more festivals.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Updates!

Well I wanted to share with you the latest on what is going on here on my end of things. My latest short film Voicebox is coming together nicely, me and a friend of mine made the opening title sequence for it last night and it looks nice for the film. Also I tweaked more of the visual element of the film and it is tight like a tiger...now just the nightmare of sound work which I am hoping to do a lot of tonight since it will be a nice quiet environment to work in. Otherwise I am on track to have it all done by this coming Tuesday for school...then releasing it out to the masses.

In other news I have officially only two more days of work left before I am out for good and it feels nice! I am so glad to be done with that kiddie job cleaning pots and pans to move on to a more adult friendly environment. I am keeping my options open and I hope to find a job in the video field soon or maybe pen a script or something for money. Anything to avoid getting another day job is fine by me.

Tomorrow is the Media Arts Festival at Towson University and I hope that Love is Undead and Hello! can place high...I am not getting my hopes up that they will win but lets just see how things go. Whatever place they get I am glad that they were both selected as finalists because what that means to me is that I have a good talent for this. Obviously I am strong enough in the craft of making a music video and a short film to be considered as a finalist and trust me doing one or the other is very hard...I know this sounds cocky and I don't mean for it to, I just am blessed to have two works in two separate categories as finalists. If they win awesome if they don't I still have something to put on the resume.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Back to Voicebox

After a few days of being swamped with applying places as well as going out for interviews things have slowed down again and now I am getting back to finishing up with Voicebox. I started fixing some of the edits yesterday and have been working on things to make the film visually more polished. I am also getting score done for the film right now and tomorrow I am going to try to do the foley work for the film. As I was sitting with a friend of mine yesterday I was commenting on how my professor said every scene has an emotional arc and he said...yeah every scene should or it is not needed. After I thought about that I was very happy with myself because I had accomplished a short where every scene is completely needed in that it had purpose. Other shorts I have done where I watch them and realize that some scenes are just filler or not needed but with this one it is not like that. I was proud of the film before but I am even more proud now.

In other news I have a funny feeling that Love is Undead and Kane Mayfield - Hello! will not place first at the Towson Media Arts Festival. Call it a hunch but I think the language and violent content will scare everyone off from picking it just because if it were to get first it would get screened and that means a film with language and violence will be shown. If that happens then anyone who brings their family will be offended and thus will lower the odds of high attendance for next year and I don't think the program wants to alienate any age group. I am also thinking this because in years past they just go for the film that is fun in a stupid way because that is just what they go for...especially in the shorts category and Music Video I just think Hello! is just too adult for them. So we will see but I have a bad gut feeling for this...don't get me wrong I am honored to just be a finalist.

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

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

Hey

I got into the finals of the Towson University Media Arts Festival for both my short film Love is Undead and my music video Kane Mayfield - Hello! so if I make it to the next round I will place in the top 3 of these two categories. If I am really lucky then I will make it into the top three for best of fest for one of these videos. We will have to see but either way I am really happy! In other news I got through another week of editing Voicebox and I am a good chunk of the way through doing foley work for the audio end of things. From here I have to add a musical score and then from there it is titles and then color correction...then I am all done, I can't wait to show everyone.

I saw The Cabin in the Woods today and it is great and weird and funny so go out to see it for sure! Also yesterday I saw Drive which is incredible so if you get a chance please watch that too!!!!! It is amazing!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Editing Has Begun

Well now that everything is all done on Voicebox the process of editing the film together is underway. Last night I officially started the editing and things are coming together rather nicely. The film I would say is about halfway done and it is a little over 7 minutes long so far, which is great. I hope the final product will be around 15 minutes but that is a lot to shoot for. If it ends up over 10 minutes I will be happy though. The shots all look amazing and that is before color grading so I am very happy, it is usually the other way around at this point which is a nice change of pace. The biggest obstacle with this film is going to be sound, I can already say it is going to a be a beast just because I need to foley the majority of it, then mix the sound in evenly. I am not saying I am lazy but I tend to start taking liberties with sound when it becomes too difficult, just saying. However things are right on track.

In other news I submitted Kane Mayfield - Hello! and Love is Undead to the Towson Media Arts Festival this year and hopefully I will be able to place with one of these videos. I wish I could submit Voicebox but the limit is 10 minutes for submission and also it will not be done in time to submit by noon tomorrow it is safe to say. It is ok though I have plans for this short that reach beyond the University so that is where my aim is. Wish me luck though in the festival this year, it always gets me so nervous.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

First Experimental Film

This is my very first experimental film. It had to involve no camera and tell no story. What do you get out of this video?



Insert User Experience from Daniel Hess on Vimeo.