February is Over

So the month of February has finally come to a close and I think this past month held many ups and downs for To Tony Productions. It was a busy month from the beginning since I was focusing very heavily on the photography side of things and got to do two actors headshots and even semi booked a third one which I have to follow up on tomorrow to make sure it is still happening. In addition I made more headway in my zombie film Love is Undead which has been slow and steady for the most part (that is something that I would for sure like to have done by the end of March). Also I finished up my first script since the summer for my upcoming short film Voicebox which I am still in the pre production phases of it. My first ever music video was released this month to a lot of positive feedback and I must say I couldn't be happier about that. With that being said the music video lead to my first write up in The Towerlight since 2009 which was huge for me. Just yesterday I booked two more music videos in May which is very exciting.

All in all February was a good month to me and I hope in March to release my zombie short film and to be 100% ready for the production of Voicebox. Other than that I also hope to get more photography gigs and to work better on the technical side of the camera.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Gearing Up

So I finally worked out things on my script and I have an official official final script done for Voicebox a film that I think can achieve greatness as long as it done well. I am very excited and watching the Oscars got me all thinking about the day that maybe I could go to the awards! That would be amazing. However I think they should totally have an award for best experimental film or short film at the Oscars but maybe that would make them too mainstream or something. I don't know.

Anyway I am very happy to have been featured in the Towerlight newspaper yesterday and it has been the first time since my first short film Abuse that I have had a story in the newspaper. So I have been having a lot of good fortune lately which I am very grateful for, I just hope it can keep going for a little bit.

Anything else...oh yeah I also sent the music video for Hello! to The Other Venice Film Festival out in California which has a category for judging music videos and I submitted it just for the hell of it. I think I may have mentioned it before but here it is again I guess. Otherwise things are just slowly building up to April when I hope to shoot the film.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Newspaper Feature!

I was featured in today's issue of The Towerlight, Towon University's school newspaper. Check out the article!

Student directs music video

26 February 2012 By Eva Niessner, Staff Writer No Comments

 

Daniel Hess is no stranger to the world of filmmaking. His short “Spiritus” won the 2011 72-hour Film Festival, sponsored by the University Residence Government and Lambda Kappa Tau; his film “Gas Guzzlers” screened at Towson in December 2010, and his film “Nina” was a finalist in the Baltimore 48-Hour Film Project competition.
But until now, music videos were unexplored territory for Hess. The Towson University senior made the video for rapper Kane Mayfield’s song “Hello!”
Hess made contact with Mayfield through his audio production class.
“My professor was Brandon Lackey, who was a co-owner and producer at Mania Music Group,” Hess said. “I thought it was awesome that he made beats and worked with rappers, so I started coming to the studio and filming their recording sessions, then live shows, and now music videos. Kane was always there and even though he seemed intimidating at first, he is a really cool guy and fun to work with.”
Hess said shooting the film was grueling.
“We shot in New York, D.C., Virginia and Federal Hill,” he said. “The New York trip was the craziest, since we stayed up there all day going from Manhattan, to Brooklyn, to Times Square. That same night, we had to go up to a party where a bunch of famous producers were sampling never-before-heard beats, and we were there until about 3 a.m.”
The video also has a deeper meaning, Hess said.
“I wanted to dedicate this video, and in fact all of my videos, to my cousin Anthony Ranocchia III, who I named my production company [To Tony Productions] after,” Hess said. “He passed away from cystic fibrosis at age 14, when I was 10, and he was my best friend. He is the one who motivates me to keep working hard, because I know if he were alive today, he would be making a difference in the world. That is all he ever wanted to do.”
Though Hess says he could see himself making music videos professionally, it wouldn’t be his dream career.
“It would difficult for me, because to me, video production is an art I take very seriously and I love to tell deep and intricate stories,” said Hess. “It is a tough field to get into and I have worked in nearly every aspect of video production, because in this industry you can’t be picky. You have to take the jobs that are offered, and if right now it is my time to make music videos, I am more than happy to do so.”
“Hello!” is now available on Vimeo and YouTube.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Exciting News

So last night I got an email from a certain reporter from The Towerlight asking me if I would like to answer a few questions about my experience creating the video for Hello by Kane Mayfield. I was more than willing to and I am super excited to find out if this is going to make newspaper pages, because if so that would be amazing! I can't wait to find out more!

In other news I met with my professor about my upcoming short Voicebox and he really enjoyed the script and think that it will make for a great short film. I need to add a few little details to the script but otherwise things are going right on schedule with production. I can't wait to get past all the pre production and get into actually shooting the film!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess