Dan | TRIUMPH67

About: Dan Tanz

Triumph67 is Dan Tanz’s first feature film. A teacher by day, Dan writes long into the night and over his summer breaks.

Posts by Dan Tanz:

Oct 6, 2010: Director’s Journal: Flyway Film Festival (Work in Progress Screening) October 24th, 2010. 5pm.

Through the very social and hard working prowess of Jeremy Wilker, our co-producer and DP, we have worked out an extra special arrangement with Rick over at Flyway Film Festival. Triumph67 will show as a work in progress (not quite fully completed, but getting sort of close) for those of you who are interested in checking out where we are at with the process. I think it will be well worth the journey along the beautiful Mississippi River as Autumn [...Read more »]

Aug 31, 2010: Director’s Journal: Festivals Festivals Festivals

After about 5 hours last night and 3 hours last week, we have applied to around 14 festivals. We identified a list of almost 50 festivals that seem worthwhile, and we will spend the next three to six months working with festivals to find a good match. Talking about festivals like Cannes and Sundance gets us excited but conflicted. What are the chances for our indie film to get noticed? Whom do you have to know, how much is politics, [...Read more »]

Aug 22, 2010: Director’s Journal, Postproduction, Part 3

Looking forward

As we approach the end of the summer (nooooooooo!), I reflect back across the last three summers, and the long road that has been the making of Triumph67. I have been in a working relationship with some wonderful people over the course of these last few years, and wouldn’t trade the experience for any amount of success. There are so many challenges that we have hurdled up to this point, and everyone who has lasted this long is [...Read more »]

Aug 3, 2010: Director’s Journal: Postproduction, Part 2

The status of postproduction for Triumph67 has advanced to a place much closer to finishing by our self-imposed deadline of the end of the summer. After working with Reid Kruger at Waterbury Music for an intense week pouring over every scene of the film, I have signed off on the score of the film, and am leaving him to mix it to perfection. Reid is a master at dynamic piano playing and sprucing up a melody with a luscious symphony [...Read more »]

Jul 31, 2010: Director’s Journal: Scoring Triumph67

It is the last week of July, 2010. One year ago we shot Triumph67, and now, I’m staring at the footage that has been seared into my brain and scrambling to finish the film in time for application deadlines for Sundance and Dubai. I have been meeting with the talented and personable guy who is scoring the film, Reid Kruger, who operates out of his home studio, Waterbury Music. Reid agreed to take on the job, and we have been [...Read more »]

Jul 28, 2010: Director’s Journal: Postproduction, Part 1

Postproduction. What would it mean for Triumph67?

We wrapped production of Triumph67 in early August of 2009. Immediately after production, the producers sat down and bludgeoned our way through numerous meetings on how to proceed into post-production. The first question at hand was how we would approach finding the right editor. The three of us producing at the time deliberated for several weeks to determine the best approach, often coming up against disagreement. We eventually landed on an interview process in [...Read more »]

Aug 6, 2009: Director’s Journal: Day 18

Thursday, Day 18.

A skeleton crew arrives at my home at 8:30am. We caravan to Lake City, Minnesota in two cars, stopping at a gas station just out of town for bananas, candy, and pop. We are on our way to shoot the final scenes of Triumph67, on my parent’s sailboat on Lake Pepin, the widest point of the Mississippi River. It is a sunny day, and we are on our way to finishing on schedule, with minimal need for pickup [...Read more »]

Aug 5, 2009: Director’s Journal: Day 17

Wednesday, Day 17.

Our last day with the full crew arrives, and there is a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie that is noticeable with most of the cast and crew. The interns play soccer in the yard with Kareem’s four-year old son, and smoke cigarettes in the shade of the trees in the yard. There is laughter, accolades handed out freely, and a feeling of relief. In spite of this, we quickly come up against some challenges.

We race against the clock [...Read more »]

Aug 4, 2009: Director’s Journal: Day 16

Tuesday, Day 16.

The sixteenth day of shooting Triumph67 is a dream. We pull into the parking lot of the Lock and Dam under the Ford Bridge, and the breeze and air feel great. It’s an easy enough scene. Sami takes photos of Mohannad. We’ve been here before for B Roll, but today is cooler, and the air pressure feels comfortably high. The shots look great, and nobody bothers us. Actor Kareem Aal’s 4 year-old son gets a cameo, and the [...Read more »]

Aug 3, 2009: Director’s Journal: Day 15

Monday, Day 15.

Day fifteen begins at my Alma mater, dear old Macalester College, in St. Paul, MN. We set up shop in the Art Department, where I majored in Fine Arts about nine years ago. Earlier in the year, when I called Macalester looking for suitable lecture halls for the scene where Flora projects slides onto the wall, I was already set on the particular hall in the Art Department where I had studied Art History. I got a small [...Read more »]