Daily Inspiration: Meet Aniket Solanki

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aniket Solanki

Hi Aniket, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My journey into the tinsel town of Hollywood has been nothing short of a fairytale. I grew up in a small town in India watching foreign movies like Terminator and Star Wars. As I was a single child, movies became my escape into a land where brooms could fly and dragons could talk. When I grew up, I never considered a career in film because I thought that the dream was so big that it was almost impossible to achieve. Instead, I did computer engineering in my undergrad. After I finished my undergrad, I knew that I had to give it a shot and applied to the top film schools around the world. USC School of Cinematic Arts was one of those, with an acceptance rate of 3 percent. Never in a million years I had thought that I would get in at USC. The day I got in at USC School of Cinematic Arts was one of the best days of my life. It was a life changing moment and I haven’t looked back ever since.

For me, the School of Cinematic Arts was like Hogwarts and I felt like Harry Potter. It was a completely new world for me with endless opportunities and exciting new things to learn. The three years I spent at USC were one of the most formative years of my professional and personal life. I made some amazing friends and met lifetime collaborators. I graduated from USC this May and already the films which I worked on during my time are screening at prestigious film festivals around the worlds like Cannes Film Festival. From being a small kid watching movies on my dad’s old cable TV to now being a part of this industry, it has being a surreal experience. I hope to continue living my dream in the city of LA which has become my new home.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think the biggest challenge has been to commit to filmmaking as a professional career. There are many ups and downs to this lifestyle. On many days I have felt imposter syndrome as many of my peers have more experience than me. As a creative, I always feel that my work isn’t good enough and self doubt lingers over every project I do. Also the film industry is not smooth sailing as there are many ups and downs and we have to adjust to that. At the end of the day, I tell to myself that this is a marathon and not a sprint. There will be some good days and some bad days but I have chosen this career because the good days are worth it. Every project brings it own set of challenges and those challenges help me grow as a professional and as an artist.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a sound designer and I do post production sound in films and television. Sound designers are the hidden heroes of the film industry as we contribute to the aural experience of the film. None of the sounds that you hear in a film are real, which means that they aren’t recorded on set but have to be re constructed in post production. From the whoosh of the Millenium Falcon to the zap of Spiderman’s web sling, all these sounds that we immediately associate with our favorite movies are designed and constructed by people like me. I like to approach sound design in tandem with the story and the script. I like to believe that we are all storytellers and I tell stories through sound in films.
I worked on a film last year called “Two Breaths” where I travelled to Hawaii as the production sound mixer. It was an incredible 2 weeks with a great cast and crew. The film recently premiered in Cannes at the American Pavilion. In February, I also had the opportunity to do production sound for the first short film shot at Sony’s newly built Virtual Production stage. It was a great experience and I could not believe that I was working at the Sony lot while being in school. I am currently working on a Bollywood thriller titled “The Room” which will do it’s festival run later this year.

How do you define success?
When I was young I used to equate success to being wealthy and famous. As I have grown older I have come to understand that success for me is doing the thing I love while being recognized by my collaborators and surrounded by the people I love and admire. At the end of the day, if I am content with my life, then I will be successful. All the other material things will follow in time but the biggest thing is to be happy and to be motivated to pursue art as a career and as a profession. In our industry it is very easy to get blinded by the shining lights but every day I remind myself to take baby steps forward and feel lucky that I get to do this for the rest of my life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anikets_0708/
• Other: IMdb- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13635934/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_2_q_aniket%2520solanki

Image Credits
Ji Lee
Sebastien Chu