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

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

More Information

So I feel like I have been talking your ears off about production and post production of Voicebox but I have not really given you any information on what this film is even about. Well the short of the film is this is a coming of age/love story between a high school couple. This isn't a typical boy + girl couple it is a story of two young women who find love and also they are in a world where no one can talk. I don't want to give away the whole movie but it is a strong drama that involves the interactions and lives these two girls have.

Originally the film was designed to be a story of a boy and a girl stuck in this world without voices but after my casted male actor dropped out I looked to my backup which was my girlfriend Ashley. After letting everyone know the changes and whether they were comfortable or not we moved on with the film. However, after the first day of filming my other female lead dropped out and so we were fortunate enough to cast another actress (Ashley Golden) and keep the film alive. After the obstacles and changes I think what has come out actually is stronger than my original envisionment. Sometimes even the worst problems sprout the best changes and the case of this film that is 100% true.

I hope this helps you to understand the film and to be even more excited to check it out when it is all done.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Rough Cut 1

Well I got through an initial rough cut of Voicebox and showed it to my professor yesterday and he really liked it. He felt like the pacing was on spot and it looked very professional which is what I have been striving for with this film. I did not get a whole rough cut just the first 9 minutes of the film but so far it is coming together nicely.

Today I cleaned up some of the rough spots in the initial edit and also changed a few things around to make it make more sense. In addition I almost got to be a DP today on a set but apparently the client backed out last minute so I wasn't able to go (it would have been paid too). Anyway, I talked a guy about the possibility of doing some commercial work which would be paid and I hope that can work out. Also, I am going to try to go up to the flea market tomorrow to start selling all my junk, I am hoping to clean up house to have room for my growing film supplies. I am also working with my cousin to try to get some inexpensive shirts made so I can start handing them out/selling them to people.

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

Voicebox Final Day Photos

These are the behind the scenes photos from Voicebox filming day 3 (final day of filming). It was a great shoot that had some ups and downs but I think for what it is worth it could not have gone any better. Thanks again to Scott Loraditch for taking these great photos. Enjoy!

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess