This Is “Slow Dance”
Four days ago, Craig Anderson and Dane Reynolds strolled into the Quiksilver Huntington Beach office. Normally, people in the office are excited to see them but on this occasion, it’s what they’re carrying that really causes excitement. It’s a hard drive loaded up with a new film about Craig, called Slow Dance, edited by Dane. No one can focus on the tasks at hand and all work seizes. It’s like being in Brazil during the soccer world cup when home team is playing. Nothing else matters but watching what we’ve all have been waiting for. It’s the master copy, but before I get my grubby paws on it someone backs the drive up. We all huddle around around the computer and get lost in what I’m gonna call the best surf film of recent years.
Dane Reynolds has produced an exquisite portrayal of Craig Anderson. It’s Dane’s first full-length surf film involving another subject. Slow Dance is a title that suits Craig. The film isn’t what you’d expect from Dane. Slow motion with candid moments! But, I wont give too much away. The film sums up Craig perfectly and after a lot of hours behind a computer screen you can bet Craig is relieved to be done with it. He’s taking some time off and spending his days hanging around Laguna with good pal Warren Smith. After a fun surf, I caught up with Craig for a beer and a slice of pizza.
Stab: So how did the world’s most indecisive surfer (Craig) and the world’s most decisive surfer (Dane) end up together?
Craig Anderson: Yeah, that’s a true summary of us. I can never make up my mind.
Is it ’cause you’re a perfectionist? I’m never happy with anything I ever do. There are parts that I really like, then others I don’t. Even with the movie, to try and fill 30 minutes, it’s hard. I feel like we could’ve gotten it down to a five-to-10 minute web edit and it would’ve been insane. But I am happy with how it turned out. I’ve always done trips with Kai and then had nothing else to do with it until I see it at the premiere. This was sitting in on everything and Dane would say, “What do you like?” And I know what I like but I won’t be pumped on a song, then he’ll ask what I want to use and I’ll tell him. He’ll play it and I’ll be like “Uh, that sucks.” There were a few songs that the first time he played me I didn’t really feel ‘em and wasn’t vibing to it. But, after sitting and listening to it a few times, it’d grow on me. Dane’s vision in that way is really cool. He’s always on the front foot with this stuff, like when he made Thrills Spills, and he had a lot to do with First Chapter.
Favorite part of the movie? My favorite section is the Chris Bryan Phantom camera section. The footage arrived a couple of days before we had to turn the film in, and I really like Phantom footage. It might be because we’d seen so much of the same footage and then this came in right on deadline. It was just so refreshing seeing something that Dane or I had not seen a million times from editing the last two months. We tried to get a Nicolas Jaar track for the section but he doesn’t give out his music to anyone. It’s not for sale. So it was a bummer but we got another great song. Its been around forever, this song, but I don’t wanna tell you what it is yet. I’d been waiting on the footage for months but Chris got married then had a bunch of other projects so we were so stoked to finally get it.
Where has dane surprised you the most as an editor? Just the fact that he edits is surprising. He does all of his website stuff and he doesn’t like taking credit for it. People don’t know that about him. It’s all him. He doesn’t want to take credit for it because he’s a surfer, like, he just loves surfing and he definitely paved the way for doing it all yourself and wanting to be portrayed in a certain way. He didn’t want people fucking up his footage. It’s cool to work with someone that is super passionate and just wants to make something that can’t be altered and is true to his vision.
Craig gets sidetracked and forgets the question but I tell him he nailed it and we move on…
Did he approach you about making your film? I think he was always doing projects with himself and he wanted to branch out and do something on someone else. We saw that the last few months with the Bobby clip he did and now he’s doing something on Taylor Knox right now.
Define the relationship between director and talent. From what I’ve seen, you guys are almost awkward around each other when it comes to making decisions. I don’t believe in the star signs and shit but we were born on the same day. He is normal as any human being and I think I’m pretty normal (laughs). But, when we together shit’s weird. We’ve always travelled together and done trips together, so we’ve become pretty close. But there are always those awkward moments amongst mates. We’ve been doing trips and then I’ll come here and stay at their pad for weeks and weeks and see how Dane and Courtney live. Fuck, I forgot the question again.
Would you say there’s equal influence in the movie? It was all his direction. I was pumped to go to all the surf spots. I had a vision of how I wanted it to look but nothing ever turns out how you expect it to. I went to Namibia thinking I knew what it looked like. I’d painted a mental picture but got there and it was totally different. Like, edit-wise and music-wise it was all Dane.
So you had to trust him to do his thing? I’ve always liked everything he’s put out. When the idea first came about I was confident it’d turn out cool. Even though we both have different music taste, I was into everything he’s ever put out.
Favorite clip left out of the movie? I always feel less is more. There came a stage a few days before we had to turn it in where Dane was like, it’s not looking good and we all agreed. We’d all seen it so many times. Dane sat there the entire day behind the computer and pretty much re-edited the whole movie. And from then on and we all realised that we were trying to tell a story and it wasn’t working. Then he re-edited it all and it fit well, we cut a bunch of clips I didn’t like and were in there just to make sense. There was nothing I wish had stayed in.
Was it tough telling Dane when you didn’t like something? Yeah. Because he’s so passionate and I really respect his take on everything, and everything he does is really cool.
So, did this make you second-guess your own decisions? Yeah, I feel like a lot of the time I gave him my two cents and he respected that, and I feel like as much as the project was mine it was his as well. We didn’t want to make something shitty. There were a few songs we changed around that worked for the better. If Dane was really pumped on something and I was unsure on it, I’d sit on it and take a break, go for a surf, then re-visit it and it’d always make more sense.
Dane said he got fatter during the making of this movie and needed bigger trunks on a recent trip. (Laughs) We all got a bit fatter. We weren’t complaining or whinging, but just sitting there in the same routine all day behind the computer and not surfing is heavy. Sitting in his editing bay doing the same shit, drinking a ton of beer. We went to Mex the day we handed it in, surfed a bunch and we both got six packs again (laughs).
What was the most overwhelming part for Dane, or section he stressed out the most about? He’s a decision-maker. He has something to do and he gets it done, whereas I’ll sit on something for longer. Dane is good at getting shit done, nothing phases him. He articulates everything really well. He edits a part then moves on. Section by section.
Did you ever expect the film to turn out so well? You had a vision of how you wanted it. By the end I was happy with it. You’re never going to be completely satisfied. You can always nitpick stuff, but I’m stoked on how it turned out. I was still doing other trips for Kai and Quiksilver so it came together really well. We had a lot of talented people involved in it from Daren Crawford to Chris Bryan, so yeah, I’m chuffed.
Four days ago, Craig Anderson and Dane Reynolds strolled into the Quiksilver Huntington Beach office. Normally, people in the office are excited to see them but on this occasion, it’s what they’re carrying that really causes excitement. It’s a hard drive loaded up with a new film about Craig, called Slow Dance, edited by Dane. No one can focus on the tasks at hand and all work seizes. It’s like being in Brazil during the soccer world cup when home team is playing. Nothing else matters but watching what we’ve all have been waiting for. It’s the master copy, but before I get my grubby paws on it someone backs the drive up. We all huddle around around the computer and get lost in what I’m gonna call the best surf film of recent years.
Dane Reynolds has produced an exquisite portrayal of Craig Anderson. It’s Dane’s first full-length surf film involving another subject. Slow Dance is a title that suits Craig. The film isn’t what you’d expect from Dane. Slow motion with candid moments! But, I wont give too much away. The film sums up Craig perfectly and after a lot of hours behind a computer screen you can bet Craig is relieved to be done with it. He’s taking some time off and spending his days hanging around Laguna with good pal Warren Smith. After a fun surf, I caught up with Craig for a beer and a slice of pizza.
Stab: So how did the world’s most indecisive surfer (Craig) and the world’s most decisive surfer (Dane) end up together?
Craig Anderson: Yeah, that’s a true summary of us. I can never make up my mind.
Is it ’cause you’re a perfectionist? I’m never happy with anything I ever do. There are parts that I really like, then others I don’t. Even with the movie, to try and fill 30 minutes, it’s hard. I feel like we could’ve gotten it down to a five-to-10 minute web edit and it would’ve been insane. But I am happy with how it turned out. I’ve always done trips with Kai and then had nothing else to do with it until I see it at the premiere. This was sitting in on everything and Dane would say, “What do you like?” And I know what I like but I won’t be pumped on a song, then he’ll ask what I want to use and I’ll tell him. He’ll play it and I’ll be like “Uh, that sucks.” There were a few songs that the first time he played me I didn’t really feel ‘em and wasn’t vibing to it. But, after sitting and listening to it a few times, it’d grow on me. Dane’s vision in that way is really cool. He’s always on the front foot with this stuff, like when he made Thrills Spills, and he had a lot to do with First Chapter.
Favorite part of the movie? My favorite section is the Chris Bryan Phantom camera section. The footage arrived a couple of days before we had to turn the film in, and I really like Phantom footage. It might be because we’d seen so much of the same footage and then this came in right on deadline. It was just so refreshing seeing something that Dane or I had not seen a million times from editing the last two months. We tried to get a Nicolas Jaar track for the section but he doesn’t give out his music to anyone. It’s not for sale. So it was a bummer but we got another great song. Its been around forever, this song, but I don’t wanna tell you what it is yet. I’d been waiting on the footage for months but Chris got married then had a bunch of other projects so we were so stoked to finally get it.
Where has dane surprised you the most as an editor? Just the fact that he edits is surprising. He does all of his website stuff and he doesn’t like taking credit for it. People don’t know that about him. It’s all him. He doesn’t want to take credit for it because he’s a surfer, like, he just loves surfing and he definitely paved the way for doing it all yourself and wanting to be portrayed in a certain way. He didn’t want people fucking up his footage. It’s cool to work with someone that is super passionate and just wants to make something that can’t be altered and is true to his vision.
Craig gets sidetracked and forgets the question but I tell him he nailed it and we move on…
Did he approach you about making your film? I think he was always doing projects with himself and he wanted to branch out and do something on someone else. We saw that the last few months with the Bobby clip he did and now he’s doing something on Taylor Knox right now.
Define the relationship between director and talent. From what I’ve seen, you guys are almost awkward around each other when it comes to making decisions. I don’t believe in the star signs and shit but we were born on the same day. He is normal as any human being and I think I’m pretty normal (laughs). But, when we together shit’s weird. We’ve always travelled together and done trips together, so we’ve become pretty close. But there are always those awkward moments amongst mates. We’ve been doing trips and then I’ll come here and stay at their pad for weeks and weeks and see how Dane and Courtney live. Fuck, I forgot the question again.
Would you say there’s equal influence in the movie? It was all his direction. I was pumped to go to all the surf spots. I had a vision of how I wanted it to look but nothing ever turns out how you expect it to. I went to Namibia thinking I knew what it looked like. I’d painted a mental picture but got there and it was totally different. Like, edit-wise and music-wise it was all Dane.
So you had to trust him to do his thing? I’ve always liked everything he’s put out. When the idea first came about I was confident it’d turn out cool. Even though we both have different music taste, I was into everything he’s ever put out.
Favorite clip left out of the movie? I always feel less is more. There came a stage a few days before we had to turn it in where Dane was like, it’s not looking good and we all agreed. We’d all seen it so many times. Dane sat there the entire day behind the computer and pretty much re-edited the whole movie. And from then on and we all realised that we were trying to tell a story and it wasn’t working. Then he re-edited it all and it fit well, we cut a bunch of clips I didn’t like and were in there just to make sense. There was nothing I wish had stayed in.
Was it tough telling Dane when you didn’t like something? Yeah. Because he’s so passionate and I really respect his take on everything, and everything he does is really cool.
So, did this make you second-guess your own decisions? Yeah, I feel like a lot of the time I gave him my two cents and he respected that, and I feel like as much as the project was mine it was his as well. We didn’t want to make something shitty. There were a few songs we changed around that worked for the better. If Dane was really pumped on something and I was unsure on it, I’d sit on it and take a break, go for a surf, then re-visit it and it’d always make more sense.
Dane said he got fatter during the making of this movie and needed bigger trunks on a recent trip. (Laughs) We all got a bit fatter. We weren’t complaining or whinging, but just sitting there in the same routine all day behind the computer and not surfing is heavy. Sitting in his editing bay doing the same shit, drinking a ton of beer. We went to Mex the day we handed it in, surfed a bunch and we both got six packs again (laughs).
What was the most overwhelming part for Dane, or section he stressed out the most about? He’s a decision-maker. He has something to do and he gets it done, whereas I’ll sit on something for longer. Dane is good at getting shit done, nothing phases him. He articulates everything really well. He edits a part then moves on. Section by section.
Did you ever expect the film to turn out so well? You had a vision of how you wanted it. By the end I was happy with it. You’re never going to be completely satisfied. You can always nitpick stuff, but I’m stoked on how it turned out. I was still doing other trips for Kai and Quiksilver so it came together really well. We had a lot of talented people involved in it from Daren Crawford to Chris Bryan, so yeah, I’m chuffed.
Text by Stab Magazine
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