I MADE IT!

So I have to say I am more than a little proud of myself after yesterday...I don't think things could have gone much smoother honestly. So I woke up at 4am to get myself all ready and collected to leave by 7am (I know I take forever to get ready). So Druid Hill Park was easy to get to but was packed due to the big marathon race they had there. Then it didn't help that once we got there we walked to the opposite side of the park and almost didn't make it to the spot on time, it was intense but we got there. The engagement was awesome and was really cool to capture video and photos from. After that I got back home and prepped for my 2pm gig which was all the way up at the studio I rent out in Forest Hill. The client got there on time and did her video all in one take which we ran through a few times to get different angles. It was cool for a promotional video and has a nice quirky feel to it which is what the client was after. Once I got back from that I wasn't feeling too hot and had quite the stomach ache for some reason and that persisted up until I left for the last gig which was at Pier Five. I have to say it was my toughest gig just because of the fact that I had stomach issues and my lack of sleep was catching up to me. However I pulled through and before I knew midnight had come and I was all done. I took over 500 photos last night which is about an average of 100 per hour and after reviewing a lot of them this morning I have to say the vast majority I like, unlike that last event I did, but I have improved dramatically since then.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, as the Orcs have black blood, it was only natural that the inside of their mouths should not be pink but black as well. To achieve this, the Orc actors had to swill a liquorice-based mouthwash prior to each of their scenes.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

The Raid: Redemption Review

Over this past weekend, after all the fun and lunacy of filming I went out to the theaters to go see a movie I usually don't like to watch which is the genre of the action film. However I had heard some cool things about The Raid: Redemption so I went out to see it. Starting off for those of you who hate subtitled films don't see it because this is a foreign film and there are subtitles so just a fair heads up.

Anyway, this film is one of those rare gems that does not feel old or outdated like a lot of foreign films do, I say this because the process of getting a foreign film over to the states can take a while and by the time they do arrive they can feel stale. For Redemption I think it is slick and well shot, the director (Gareth Evans) definitely tries out some experimentation for the different angles and set ups of the camera. I love the fresh edge to a genre of movie that can feel somewhat cliche at times. The story itself is not something that will win an Oscar for writing but it keeps you a little bit on edge and has a few nice twists throughout. The harshest thing I can say about this film is the beginning which is drawn out a little too long and doesn't introduce enough characters to keep me surprised, for instance if we see one character at the beginning for more than a few seconds we are going to keep seeing them for a good chunk of the movie, and not just that but the few people we do spend some screen time on they disappear only to reappear later to do something good for our protagonist. The level of violence in this film is fairly high, I saw a mom take two kids into the theater who only appeared to be 10 or younger, don't do this to your kids, it is way too much for them. That being said I think that the interested ways people die are pretty sweet, they are clever and add the grimacing ouch reaction you want in a movie like this.

Overall the slow beginning and what would appear to be the lack of spellchecker on the subtitles really do hurt this film but in the end the action is what we came to see and it delivers on this on all cylinders. If you want to go see a well shot, scored, and choreographed film then this is the one to see. Fair warning the violence is high and subtitles are present but it all just feels so right. Go give this one a view, you won't be wasting your time.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

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

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