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The Diligent Company is Daniel Kinney.
Director, editor and writer based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Short films, Super Bowl commercials, television pilots
& everything in between.
From integral team member to assembling the entire crew.
Daniel elevates every video production he touches.

More about Daniel

thediligentcompany@gmail.com

thediligentcompany

Director, Editor & Writer

Daniel Kinney
A behind the scenes look at a shoot for Accent Pai A behind the scenes look at a shoot for Accent Paint Store. @ghpstudio helped us craft a room in which we could switch out the walls to allow us to paint with several colors throughout the day. Done in collaboration with @m34productions
You do not always have to sacrifice quality in ord You do not always have to sacrifice quality in order to make a ton of content. So excited to finally start sharing some of the work we did with Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin @wisconsincheese We assembled an amazing team that helped us showcase 32 Wisconsin cheeses across 16 videos. Here’s just a small preview of our ‘Perfectly Paired’ series. Food styling by Stef Endres @stefculberson Shot by Jordan Post @jordanhpost & Jon Sovey @s0vey
“This documentary was so well done. Whomever did “This documentary was so well done. Whomever did the the pre-production and field producing really knocked it out of the park in terms of prepping the environments, getting the customers, and having the staff prepared and ready to go. The Director did a nice job of knowing what they wanted out of this piece and then working with the team to execute it. There was a clear amount of preparation and vision that was communicated across the creative and production teams in order to get it executed at this level. The attention to multiple and different camera angles, as well as interesting and relevant B-roll and interviews, allowed for the editor to have things to play with and make interesting choices in the cutting room, especially for something like this, where the story often is created in the editing room based on what was accomplished in the field. This was clearly a total team effort and it shows. An excellent piece. Congratulations!”

Proud to win, along with Jack Whaley @jackalahar, a Judge’s Choice Award at this year’s WAVE Awards @madisonmediapros. Especially with such a kind, detailed & thoughtful write-up from the awarding judge. Check out the documentary on our website.
This was such a fun edit! Especially growing up wi This was such a fun edit! Especially growing up with the show. What started as a promotional piece now lives on the Peacock landing screen for the show to give new viewers a brief glimpse of all the shenanigans ‘That 70’s Show’ has to offer. Done for Carsey-Werner Television in collaboration with Mirror 34 Productions @m34productions.
Here’s another from our Milk Means More campaign Here’s another from our Milk Means More campaign. Along with numerous technical tricks, casting is what really pushed the entire campaign over the top. Jenna Wilcox @jenna__wilcox pulled together talent from American Players Theater @americanplayers & the University of Wisconsin to bring each script to life. Done for United Dairy Industry of Michigan in collaboration with S/B Strategic Marketing @stephan_brady. Watch the full campaign on our website.
More new work! Patience is key when working with c More new work! Patience is key when working with children and @andrew_dryer_cinematography captured some amazing moments with these kids. Done for @playmonsterfun / PlaySkool in collaboration with @chrishynesphoto & @ghpstudio. Written & directed by Daniel Kinney.
We made a 2 day shoot happen in 1, providing more We made a 2 day shoot happen in 1, providing more content for the client at a cheaper price and it made the whole project better! Here’s how we did it. 

The concept was simple enough, 4 spots with 4 total locations with 4 setups at each location and talent in every single shot. That’s 16 setups across 4 locations.

Hustle. Sure… maybe? But setup & tear down from each location would have eaten half the day. And performances would have been continuously rushed. Allowing for only 1 or 2 takes and a few moments for reactions. Overtime would have been inevitable. That’s a no-go. 

Green screen. Actually, sure. But composites end up with an identifiable flatness across everything and dynamic lighting always causes problems. Plus there are limits on hairstyles & wardrobe. Let’s think of a better solution. 

Here’s what we did. DP Jordan Post @jordanhpost spent half a day shooting background plates at all of our potential locations, then, in studio, we projected each background behind our talent. This allowed us to do everything in 1 location. We were able to adjust our lighting & composition for each shot in camera. Then, to top it all off we added props between our talent and the background. 

For the edit we captured a full 360 view at each location so that we could ‘paint’ additional information into each transition. The result is an ‘effect’ that’s nearly indistinguishable from shooting on location.

Done for United Dairy Industry of Michigan in collaboration with S/B Strategic Marketing @stephan_brady. Watch the full campaign here. https://thediligentcompany.com/portfolio/milk-means-more/
So excited to share some insights on this project. So excited to share some insights on this project. We made a 2 day shoot happen in 1, providing more content for the client at a cheaper price and it made the whole project better! Here’s how we did it. 

The concept was simple enough, 4 spots with 4 total locations with 4 setups at each location and talent in every single shot. That’s 16 setups across 4 locations.

Hustle. Sure… maybe? But setup & tear down from each location would have eaten half the day. And performances would have been continuously rushed. Allowing for only 1 or 2 takes and a few moments for reactions. Overtime would have been inevitable. And have you heard the term French hours? That’s a no-go. 

Green screen. Actually, sure. But composites end up with an identifiable flatness across everything and dynamic lighting always causes problems. Plus there are limits on hairstyles & wardrobe. Let’s think of a better solution. 

Here’s what we did. DP @jordanhpost spent half a day shooting background plates at all of our potential locations, then, in studio, we projected each background behind our talent. This allowed us to do everything in 1 location. We were able to adjust our lighting & composition for each shot in camera. Then, to top it all off we added props between our talent and the background. 

The result is an ‘effect’ that’s nearly indistinguishable from shooting on location. Done for United Dairy Industry of Michigan in collaboration with @stephan_brady. Directed by Daniel Kinney.
As COVID restrictions lifted, the CEO of @toppersp As COVID restrictions lifted, the CEO of @topperspizza along with his wife (Head of HR) set off on a mission. They decided to visit every single Toppers location in the country and we followed along to document everything. Well, almost everything. This is just a small preview of the 9 minute documentary. Done in collaboration with Buckhowl. Directed by @jackalahar , edited by Daniel Kinney with additional filming by @jordanhpost
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