SPACE IN FILMING
AH, but what KIND of space are we talking here? The cold, dark void beyond Earth? The moments before or in front of the camera? Or just the extreme “hurry up and wait!” that all actors and actresses experience in the filming process? Or, in a different context, everything cut during editing? Or the distance that sometimes wells up between how well one portrayed a character, and watching oneself on the big silver screen? Well, kinda all of them. Except the first. For now, forget the cold, dark void beyond Earth for the Lights! Sound! Camera! Action! of the whole filming enchilada.
As lead actor in “STATIC (2021)” – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15420946/ – I can say with authority there are many moments before or in front of the camera that are, at best, spacey, and at worst, harrowing (with a giggle and laugh regularly interspersed). And then there’s the bloopers, outtakes and just plain stress-relieving crazies.
“Hurry up and wait,” typically a military service axiom, readily applies to acting and film making. It’s not unusual to spend months to years in pre-production, working out the finances, producer(s), director(s), screenplay, crew, cast, props, locations — the list goes on and on — before a single frame is shot. Paradoxically, once filming begins, time (seconds!) are money! It’s faster and more furious than watching a kung-fu, actions movie or being in the middle of a tornado.
As for what ends up cut, well, anything goes including not just scenes but entire characters! My experience with K. Simmons Production of STATIC (2021) and Kendrick Simmons, director, was that production stayed pretty close to the script, all 29 evolving versions of it as filming progressed! Yes, there were a few cut scenes, but the work as a whole benefited from the editing (and special effects) genius of cameraman and editor, Robert MacLean! And as for the cast, what more can I say then that it was a joy working with and learning from Eriko Okada, Shane Chisum, Ben Wilkison, Jerri Lyn Endo, Kurt Ken Kaminaka, Setsuko Tsuchiya and the rest of the cast. Weeks after the premier, I still have to admit the film not only comes together well as a whole but beautifully and, hey, I can no longer recall what ended up on the editing floor!
The first time I saw myself as cinematic viewers see me was an experience like no other. They say an actor’s worst critic is him or herself, and that being said, my overall impression of the film and my acting got better rather than worse with each viewing. However, there is still no experience I can think of like seeing one’s face on a “big screen” be it a 90-inch home television or 97-foot curved cinema screen for the first time. It elicited a wide-ranging mixture of emotions, I can’t imagine ever experiencing again. Except in my next movie. Ha, ha!
Piqued your interest? Wondering what it’s really like? I invite you to explore my actor website with lots of “behind-the-scenes” photo/video montages at https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php. And as for what I’m doing now before my next film, I’m currently Executive Producing “The William Maltese Collection,” a bio-documentary on the life and times of that incomparable author, William Maltese, and “Finding Kate,” an adventure film based on multi-award-winning author A. G. Hayes’ novel of the same name (https://kspllc.media). And, yes, I’m hoping to play a major acting role in one or both.
The Many Faces of Daniel S. Janik: https://youtu.be/HZwaVvSaHlY
As lead actor in “STATIC (2021)” – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15420946/ – I can say with authority there are many moments before or in front of the camera that are, at best, spacey, and at worst, harrowing (with a giggle and laugh regularly interspersed). And then there’s the bloopers, outtakes and just plain stress-relieving crazies.
“Hurry up and wait,” typically a military service axiom, readily applies to acting and film making. It’s not unusual to spend months to years in pre-production, working out the finances, producer(s), director(s), screenplay, crew, cast, props, locations — the list goes on and on — before a single frame is shot. Paradoxically, once filming begins, time (seconds!) are money! It’s faster and more furious than watching a kung-fu, actions movie or being in the middle of a tornado.
As for what ends up cut, well, anything goes including not just scenes but entire characters! My experience with K. Simmons Production of STATIC (2021) and Kendrick Simmons, director, was that production stayed pretty close to the script, all 29 evolving versions of it as filming progressed! Yes, there were a few cut scenes, but the work as a whole benefited from the editing (and special effects) genius of cameraman and editor, Robert MacLean! And as for the cast, what more can I say then that it was a joy working with and learning from Eriko Okada, Shane Chisum, Ben Wilkison, Jerri Lyn Endo, Kurt Ken Kaminaka, Setsuko Tsuchiya and the rest of the cast. Weeks after the premier, I still have to admit the film not only comes together well as a whole but beautifully and, hey, I can no longer recall what ended up on the editing floor!
The first time I saw myself as cinematic viewers see me was an experience like no other. They say an actor’s worst critic is him or herself, and that being said, my overall impression of the film and my acting got better rather than worse with each viewing. However, there is still no experience I can think of like seeing one’s face on a “big screen” be it a 90-inch home television or 97-foot curved cinema screen for the first time. It elicited a wide-ranging mixture of emotions, I can’t imagine ever experiencing again. Except in my next movie. Ha, ha!
Piqued your interest? Wondering what it’s really like? I invite you to explore my actor website with lots of “behind-the-scenes” photo/video montages at https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php. And as for what I’m doing now before my next film, I’m currently Executive Producing “The William Maltese Collection,” a bio-documentary on the life and times of that incomparable author, William Maltese, and “Finding Kate,” an adventure film based on multi-award-winning author A. G. Hayes’ novel of the same name (https://kspllc.media). And, yes, I’m hoping to play a major acting role in one or both.
The Many Faces of Daniel S. Janik: https://youtu.be/HZwaVvSaHlY
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