Daniel Krastek FANGS! The Musical
Danny Krastek is an award winning filmmaker based in the NJ/NY region. His previous films, "Almost Perfect" and "The Main Character," swept festivals across the country over the past two years, and he is excited to continue that streak with this all original musical, "FANGS!" Outside of his work as a director, Krastek also works as an editor, photographer, and screenwriter on various other productions, and has lent his talents to productions with ESPN, Good Morning America, and New York Fashion Week.
6/19/20267 min read
Can you explain to the audience your career?
This whole movie has been a long time coming. I first realized I wanted to be an artist when I was around 8 or 9 years old, though then I wanted to be an actor. I started off doing musical theater through my dad’s high school, and that love has never really left me. Eventually, I transitioned to telling stories behind the camera, rather than in front of a crowd, and I’ve been loving it ever since!
How many years have you been making movies?
If we’re not being picky, I used to make little movies by myself in my room with a tiny digital camera, so I guess technically my whole life? Seriously, though, the last 5 or so years has been when I really started taking film seriously, and began writing and directing full shorts.
Why did you start making movies?
The same reason anybody does, I guess. I’m a storyteller, and this to me is the best medium to do that. Film is a combination of all other forms of art; you have the visuals of photography, art design includes painting, sculpture, architecture, there’s music, there’s fashion with costuming, and on and on. That’s why I love movies.
Tell us a little about your project. What will the audience be able to see in your film?
The movie is called FANGS! The Musical, and it is an original musical comedy about a vampire. He gets tired of being alone in his castle, and uses a human girl who discovers his lair to teach him about the wonderful world of 2026. It’s got singing, dancing, the whole shebang, and it’s a great time. I wrote and directed it, and the ever amazing Aalisha Jaisinghani did all the music. The whole thing couldn’t have been done without her.
Why did you do this project?
This movie is a combination of two things that really pushed me into film, and art in general; musical theater and old monster movies. One of my earliest movie related memories was watching the 1941 Wolf Man with my grandparents when I was maybe 6 years old (or around there). Why I was watching that, I don’t know, but it’s stuck with me, and that gothic style has informed my taste as an artist ever since. So, those two things, mixed with my own style of humor, and boom, you have FANGS.
The other reason I made this was to see if it even could be done, because I can think of maybe two other short film musicals of this scale. Sure, there are movies all the time that are like, about bands and they have one song they play at a concert, or music videos, and those are awesome, but I’ve very rarely seen a student director make a fully original musical with multiple songs sung by the cast in character, complete with choreography, super poppy lighting and editing, animation, etc. This was my last film as a student, and I wanted to take the biggest swing I could think of, while still staying true to my own interests and strengths.
One of the problems some directors encounter is directing actors and dealing with some actors, especially in the amateur world. How do you see this topic? What kind of work do you do with them?
I’ve been extremely lucky with all of my films to have cast members that are open and willing to go along with whatever craziness I throw at them, and this one was no different. I mean, just the pitch alone is insane. Vampires that sing? Come on.Somehow, though, these guys stuck with me through it all. Specifically, I want to shout out Caden, Morgan, and Hudson, who not only came to set with their A-Game, but also had the extra challenge of coming into the recording studio to get the tracks made.
I definitely directed them in a way I hadn’t before. On my previous films, I’ve usually made a point of doing a ton of rehearsals and read throughs beforehand, because that’s how I help actors get to where I want them. For FANGS, we didn’t really do any of that, for a few reasons, the biggest one being that I wanted the cast to have spontaneity with their performances and feel free to improvise, rather than playing to whatever strict direction I might have given them. This is a super goofy movie, and I didn’t want my preconceptions of the characters to taint the actors' vibes.
A good movie takes care of all departments. But normally we can not allocate all the resources to have a good photography or spend a lot of money on sound post production or budget to hire actors. In your project what % have you allocated to. I don't just mean money but time as well. Of 100% of the time/money, what % did you dedicate to each department?
Here’s what’s funny- we really DID give 100% effort for each department. This movie is the coming together of some of the most talented people I have ever known giving their all to create something insane, and I think it’s paid off.
-Direction: that’s me! I had to live with this project for an entire calendar year before we even set up a single frame. This thing has consumed the last 15 or so months of my life, and that doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon, so I’d hope I gave 100% effort.
-Photography: We had a fantastic team on camera, our DP George Parker was a delight to work with as always. He took shots that I was already happy with and added an extra something to them to make them really stand out. And the camera department isn’t the only ones responsible for this, the lighting team is just as responsible for how the film looks, especially with all the super quick changes during the musical numbers.
-Sound: not only did our on set sound team do a great job in difficult circumstances, everyone who did sound related work before and after the shoot deserves their flowers. Aalisha especially, who wrote and mixed and recorded all of the music for both the songs and score. This is just as much her project as it is mine.
-Postproduction: HUGE thank you to Brandon Lang, who combed through hours of improv and continuity shifts to make this thing. He’s a genius at Premiere, I tell ya.
-Work with actors: As I said before, Caden, Morgan, and Hudson were all phenomenal to work with. Being able to take such a wacky concept for a movie and really make it your own is tough, and these three did it expertly.
-Art direction/locations: This might be the thing I’m most proud of with this movie. Our production designer Chrissy built the castle. Everything you see in the castle, the pillars, the candles, it’s all her. We gave her an empty room, and she made something that goes on endlessly. Phenomenal stuff.
If you could go back, what would you change about this project? (1 thing only)
The only thing I wish had gone differently was something that was out of everyone's control. We had to cancel one of our shoot days due to a gigantic blizzard that was supposed to sweep through, which cut our schedule down from 6 days to 5. We managed to get everything, so it’s not like there are any giant things that I’m kicking myself over now, but if we had that additional day, we could’ve done even more.
What are you happiest about this project?
I think I’m mostly just happy that it somehow got made at all. Like I said before, I have barely seen anybody do anything like this at the student level, so the fact that a movie like FANGS can exist at all is honestly miraculous. I remember watching the final cut of the film and just kicking my feet and letting out a big sigh of “wow… we did this.”
Make a wish to the movie gods. What do you ask?
Please help me find funding for a feature, I beg of you movie gods!
What movie would you have liked to direct?
There’s no real movie that exists that I wish I’d made, I don’t really think like that. Every movie is the artist's own vision, and someone else directing it inherently makes it a different thing from the movie I would have liked to have made, you know? Like, if I said “I wish I had made Citizen Kane” or something, the version of Citizen Kane I would have made would not be the same version I’m sitting here saying I’d wish I made, if that makes sense. I’d rather be telling my own stories through my own lens than try to make someone else's.
What kind of cinema do you like? Genre, directors, actors?
I’m a guy who watches everything. I love horror and musicals, obviously, but I will sit down and give anything a try. I’m not picky when it comes to movies. My biggest influences as a filmmaker (if I have to name a couple) have to be Don Hertzfeldt and Charlie Kaufman, though. You want geniuses, there they are.
Imagine that all the movies are going to be lost. If you could save 3 movies, what would they be?
I remember this question from the last time I was here, so instead I’d like to reword the question a little bit. Here are three movies that I would say are the most similar to
FANGS, and that I was inspired by;
-Rocky Horror, obviously.
-Nosferatu, both the original and the Eggers remake. Huge influence on the physical set we built.
-Basically all the Monty Python movies were an inspiration in terms of the comedy in the film.
If you have more projects underway, can you give us a bit of information?
Writing, writing, writing, that’s all I’m about right now. I have nothing concrete on the books yet, since we just finished FANGS, and I desperately need a recharge. The good news is that I’m overflowing with new ideas that I would love to create. It’s just a matter of what I decide to do next, and this newest film has given me the confidence that I can do whatever I want, and it’ll all click together in the end.