Huge Meeting

Today is going to be a big day for us at TTP. We have a huge business meeting with what could be our first big corporate client. Corporate video is usually something that I tend to stay more away from, not because I can't do it just because it doesn't have much appeal to me. However this client proves to be an exception to that case by actually having some really cool stuff going on as a business. It is a unique opportunity for us as a production company and I just hope everyone will be thinking good thoughts today for us. Wish us luck...knock on wood!

I will posting up photos from the charity event we did on October 27th as long as the company receives the raw photos today, if not I will wait for them to get the materials.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom, Laura Bishop shouts at various family members through a bullhorn. The idea came from co-writer Roman Coppola's childhood, as his mother Eleanor Coppola used a bullhorn in a similar fashion.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

October is Over

I hope everyone had a safe and productive Halloween yesterday! Halloween has to be one of my favorite holidays and this year I got to spend it with my girlfriend Ashley and I watched Evil Dead 2, what more could you ask for. October was our biggest month to date for To Tony Productions, no questions. We got to do a lot of great stuff, including coordinating a film shoot with Travis Pastrana, do photography at a huge gala event at M&T Bank Stadium, go on several film shoots with a fellow production company in Towson, start planning for our next music video, being the official photographer for the 3rd Annual Dundalk Zombie Walk, and working with a Los Angeles based crew at the Virgin Mobile Free Fest. It was a lot of traveling, hard work and dedication but now that this month is over I look back with a big smile knowing that TTP is moving forward at a great pace. We may not be moving at breakneck speed but slow and steady win the race.

So what is in store with November? Well we hope to start and finish filming for our next music video before the end of the month. I have perhaps one photo gig this weekend but as of right now it is up in the air. We will be working with a company based out of Seattle to do an intimate poem reading video, hard to explain but it will be pretty cool. Finally we will continue to work alongside [kp] mag studios and I will be doing my part time work over at Render Perfect Productions in Towson. It should be a fun and productive month, probably not as big as October but we will be constantly booking more work as the month progresses.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2010 film Easy A, Olive's family members are all named after foods: her parents' names are Dill and Rosemary, both herbs; her younger brother's name is Chip, and the one at college is named Kale, and the fact that her name, Olive, is also something edible is the subject of a joke in the movie.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Arlington County Fair Day 1

So today marks the first day of the Arlington County Fair. I will be leaving my place at 12:30 and should be there by about 1:30-45. After that it is set up time and then taking lots of pictures...well hopefully. It is a gloomy day here on the east coast and hopefully that does not deter people too much from coming out and enjoying the fair. I am glad to be doing my first professional photo gig and thankful for the opportunity from the great staff at NeoNiche strategies. The one person who is especially to thank is Nick Hanson, who you may remember I worked with on past short films Nina and Love is Undead, he starred in both. He is a great guy and all this time later helped me to get into this company since he had nothing but high praises for me. It is so wonderful to know genuine people who are so helpful along my journey. None of this would be happening right now if it weren't for him. Thanks Nick!

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film Jackass: The Movie, The reason the majority of stunts were filmed in Japan was because whenever the crew tried to film them in the US, swarms of teenage Jackass fans would show up to watch the filming.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Productive Day Ahead!

So today I have a business meeting in the morning to finalize the date for an upcoming music video for a local musician. This will be the first big paid video I have ever done and I as of right now things are moving together nicely with it. We have a location, people for crew, people for cast, and also a good mindset of which shots to use. But yeah it should be a short meeting, but to the point I am excited to have a firm date finally.

In addition to that I have a photoshoot today with Mary, the model from the Jill Valentine photoshoot. She has more costumes and locations to use so I am super excited. She is really cool and chill to work with, and we have a lot more shoots coming up in the future besides this one, which I can't wait for to be honest.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1994 movie, Chungking Express, since Chungking Express was filmed in sequence or "like a road movie" as Wong Kar-Wai has said, Wong wrote each scene either the night before or on the morning on the day of filming.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Off Day

So today is my day off to just kinda relax and have a day to myself. Yesterday was chill and I got to hang with Chris, a friend of mine but today is just my day to lounge around. That being said I am going to probably still do touch up on the pictures I took for Mary on Monday, but that is kinda relaxing to me so it will be chill. I saw Moonrise Kingdom last night at the Charles Theater and it was a good and funny movie. I really enjoyed it, and for not being a big fan of Wes Anderson before, this film definetely got me intrigued to see more of his work. It was also awesome to see it projected in true 35mm print film, had an awesome vibe to it for sure. Well for now it is time to relax and edit photos, maybe hang out later tonight but I don't know. Today is a playing it by ear kinda day.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2005 film Doom, during the end credits, when the cast members' names appear on the screen, the only ones not to be shot/blown up are the only ones which survive in the movie.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Summer Production

So today I woke up (late in the morning of course) and couldn't help but think back on the past productions I have tackled over the summer months...wonderful times. Way back when in 2010 I was working on my True Docs series of shot documentaries facing subjects from the importance of dog care to family to heroin addiction, it was an interesting time for sure and without knowing it I captured two of the most important documentaries of all. The first one being on the subject of Family, which my grandmother did for me, only a few months later she would pass away suddenly which was heartbreaking but the interview she gave became very important. The next one I did was on the subject of Heroin Addiction and my cousin gave the most honest interview I think I have ever seen and even to this day people are still watching that video and finding some hope/truth in it. It is up to over 15,000 views on youtube.

The other production I did was Gas Guzzlers in 2010 which was a huge project which took what seemed like forever to make. Facing days where it was almost 100 degrees out myself, Jordan, Joe, Ashley, and Chad all went out to either North Point State Park or Fort Howard to film. We would mainly film from 10 or 11am to 3 or 4pm since at the time everyone except Ash and Chad worked at the same place. It was a cool shoot and taught me even more about making a found footage style film, I even got to screen it at Towson University that same December.

In 2011 that was a much slower season but one which was filled with praise I guess is the word. I am cheating a bit and counting May in this season since that is when I participated in the 72 hour film festival and what we got out of that was Spiritus. This film was the first project that I was a part of that won best in show, it was amazing. Then later on in June was the 48 hour which we got Nina out of, it didn't win anything but was a finalist at the screening. It was promising season in 2011 but a series of fallouts with friends ruined that...however what was to follow helped to shape me into the semi professional that I consider myself now.

This summer is proving not to be a summer for my productions or making a new film, but a summer of building connections and relationships. I am excited to see where this season takes me and I am sure the place I will end up is going to be better than I could have ever imagined.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Random movie fact of the day: 
In the movie Silent Hill the strange stumbling movements of the Dark Nurses when they first "come alive" was created by filming them walking backwards, and then running the film in reverse.

Tree of Life Review

The Tree of Life is one of those films that comes along and it is made out of pure love by the director. In this case it feels as though every shot in this film was thought of for hours before it was filmed, and Terrence Malick perfectly crafts them together. The film to me only really loses the audience is when we are sent to Sean Penn's character, all grown up and lost in a modern world. I understand the concept of having a character lost in the world but we get it, after 20 minutes of flashing into his world I found myself very bored and wanting to go back to the world of his childhood. This innocent town takes place around the time of WWII and is magical with the people and the kids that occupy it. The strongest character in the whole film is Brad Pitt as a patriarch struggling with the decisions he made in youth and how to raise his own kids. Early in the film I had a lot of respect for him but the film very smartly shows that it is not just a case of bad kids but rather a case of bad fathering by Pitts character. The inclusion of space as well as even dinosaurs adds a huge space to this film but all the different metaphors are just too much for even me to catch. This film is like the closest thing you can get to watching a novel...it is like a smart book that you love even though you don't always understand it.

I found this movie visually amazing and the non conventional editing was pretty amazing. This is a special film but it is a shame that it is so hard to pry into. I want to say so much but I find myself at a loss for words because of the sheer epic scale of this film. It is a movie that will challenge you and if you don't mind a long film that seems to be constantly hiding something from you then check it out. If smart dramas just aren't your thing then this won't be for you. Give it a chance though, I did and didn't regret it one bit.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Submarine and Bellflower

I have been putting off two movie reviews for some strange reason, but without further ado here are reviews for Submarine and Bellflower.

Submarine: This film can best be described as a coming of age story that is not exactly coming of age...if that makes any sense. The film centers around a young school boy who doesn't exactly have a great life (in essence he is a loser). His home life is boring but not bad, it is just school that sucks from being bullied to the butt of all jokes. He soon falls in love with a strange girl named Jordana and in order to impress her he picks on a heavyset girl. His strategy works and he gets to "date," Jordana. Throughout most of the film we follow their relationship and at the same time the relationship of Oliver's parents who seem nothing short of his mom cheating on his dad. So while in his relationship he is trying to watch over his parents. After Jordana's mom gets diagnosed with cancer she wants Oliver to visit her mom in the hospital and when he does not show up or answer her calls she breaks up with him. The story goes from there but I don't want to spoil the rest.

The visuals in the film are quite good short of a few unnecessary zoom in and outs which I almost want to feel good about but I just hate zooms (personal nitpick of mine). There are some cool effects done such as the frame staying still while the camera pans around the screen. Overall the cinematography is pretty spot on and quite beautiful (especially the beach scenes between Oliver and Jordana). The acting is well done across the board and the dialogue is great. This film captures the awkwardness of young love and of discovering sexuality for the first time amazingly; the fast talking dialogue only enhances the great effect. The story is really well put together and keeps pace throughout. I even wanted to mention the typography used which was very French New Wave, so I do love that. The ending to me though was very poetic but it left me wanting a little bit more but it is a fun watch that is not hilarious or laugh a minute but I think you will get something out of it. Rent it sometime.

Bellflower: This is a film that is both great and flawed at the same time. The story centers around a guy named Woodrow and his best bud Aiden who want nothing more than to live in a post apocalyptic wasteland much like the one envisioned in Mad Max. Woodrow ends up finding love at a bar during a cricket eating competition with a girl named Milly. Their first date Milly wants to go to the worst restaurant Woodrow knows of which he claims is out in Texas, so from California they go all the way to Texas to eat at this terrible place. On the way back they decide to trade in a car for a home built motorcycle and everything is great. Fast forward to months later things aren't as great as they were, Woodrow seems suspicious of Milly who is keeping her phone away from him. He lies and tells her that he is going to be away for a few days and then hours later comes back home to discover her having sex with another man. Things blow up and Woodrow speeds off where he is hit by a car on his motorcycle (which he is wearing no protection on). Now Woodrow has to deal with a terrible injury and the fact that Milly was cheating on him. From there comes some pretty shocking elements of the film which simmer down to a very almost silent style ending.

As far as the film goes the style and storytelling I both love! The story is great and is filled with the whole emotions of being a young adult, finding yourself in the world, and the downfalls of relationships. The way in which everything comes to a close is a very almost Fight Club kind of ending where you question all of what happened at the end, for me it was a great moment of realization that is a metaphor to me for the uncertainty of life as a young adult. The biggest issue and flaw of this film to me was sound design which I felt was really badly done, I don't know if it was a boom issue or microphone issue or even a post issue but the sound was like listening into a tin can at times. I had 150 dollar headphones in, the nice ones and it sounded bad which is a shame because the visuals and storytelling are awesome. The acting is good throughout except almost at the very end which felt like the actors didn't know what to do (maybe it was the first day of shooting). That being said it is still a great movie to watch especially if you are a young adult. Find it somewhere online and give it a look see.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess