A lot on the Horizon

So as I look out today I see a lot places I can go for a long term freelance goal. Today I made a call to a company a friend of a friend said might be hiring, I called today and the owner is on vacation but tomorrow he is going to look at my email and set up a time to meet with me, hopefully this can work out. I have re negotiated things on two of my three upcoming music videos to get enough money to not lose money on everything, so essentially I am just breaking even which is still ok at this point. In addition I have this job editing which gets me a cool hundred per video I complete which is a nice thing to have as well. Also I am really trying to push the concert filming/music video production end of things here which I hope picks up soon. Finally, I got approached by a guy who does high end concert filming that I hope I can work with soon on some gigs as well.

There are also some other things that are just in talks right now so I don't want to give out too much before I know more. However I think things are moving along nicely and with the money I have gotten selling stuff plus my last two paychecks at my job I think I will be safe at least for a little bit. I just have to spend like no money for a while.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Filming Today

Well this is it, after what feels like a lifetime of preparation filming is slated to get started today at 10am. We have a long day ahead filled with the most intimate scenes involving our lead girl and father. It is mainly an indoor shoot today but we will be doing a little bit of outdoor stuff in Historic Dundalk. Hopefully no one minds us filming but you never know this is the most unnerving part of the day because dealing with cops is no fun when it comes to filming at all, not only that it looks bad because your actors tend to think you don't have your sh*t together. Otherwise things should go pretty smoothly, we have a whole house to ourselves and are getting a lot done today. Day one three...go!

*PS Be sure to check out Instagram for on set pictures today, I plan on trying to upload as many as I can, search for To_Tony_Productoins.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Meetings Underway

So today was the third day of meeting with actors for my upcoming short film Voicebox and while the meetings were not all that long I know have officially cast my lead male, lead female, the females father, and the teacher. None of the characters really have names but I will give them some eventually. I am excited that things are moving forward so quickly and with the first day of filming officially a month away today I am making great progress. After meeting with all the actors I am hoping to have a day for everyone to meet and talk and then get wardrobe all settled out. It is an awesome time right now though.

In other news I am working a lot more than I need to work so that I can fund attempting to rent zeiss lenses which would make this film even more amazing. I have got to talk to my DP again to see what he thinks but hey why not as far as I am concerned. I also have the ending scene finally all figured out and the system I have worked out should make for a beautiful end scene to the film. Now that I have that done I hope the beginning scene can be just as beautiful because I want to start the audience with an awe inspiring intro and a beautiful outtro, it is the least I can do.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Making Moves

So yesterday I had my meeting with the principal from my old high school Sparrows Point. The meeting was fine, I was clean cut and dressed up, super professional. He was more than willing to help in any way that he could but as far as nailing down the school for the weekend things were completely out of his hands. As soon as I got into the fact that I would need extras and filming on the weekend it moves into a category that the county has to deal with. Apparently they would need to have custodians on duty to clean up any messes we make while filming even though I offered to clean up after all that stuff. He is going to contact the county and get back to me but things aren't looking too good as far as right now. That leads us to the past 24 hours...

Last night was total breakdown mode which happens with every production but this time especially because of the location trouble so far. Well I had to work and just was not in a good mood, because as a student filmmaker I hate the fact that I have to limit my visions because of not having money. I am a firm believer in making great work but the things trying to stop that are numerous. It is sad because if I had a million dollars to throw around the schools wouldn't hesitate to have me film there even if the project was shit. On the flip though if you have a great story but no cash to throw around no one wants to be around you.

So to the present day, I went crazy emailing every school I could think of and didn't hear back from anyone except Dundalk Elementary who told me to contact the communication department in the school, then when I did the second I said anything about filming they immediately transferred to the guy who runs the department. I left him a message and haven't heard back yet. I can see myself fighting this guy because whenever I say I want at least 50 extras for the film and want to do a little bit of decoration the conversation takes a left turn to nowhereville. Sorry I don't want to just settle anymore, and making a believable film takes some set decoration and extras. Lets see how it goes.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Accomplishments of the Day

So today was a good mix of both relaxation and getting business done. All day was basically spent with my girlfriend Ashley, just lounging around and what not but in the evening I had two meeting with local musicians about upcoming music videos. Both meetings boiled down to shooting after I graduate which would be in May, so about mid May to Early June trying to knock it all out of the way. So that means potentially by the end of this year (as far as from now until June) I would have made 3 music videos and 2 short films which would be a new record for content created for myself. Things are really looking bright and hopeful and as long as this track stays true for me it will be a great year.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess