Biography

A graduate of the California State University of Long Beach Film Production Bachelor of Arts, Sam K. Yano started in publishing as a freelance graphic novel artist. He moved in post production as an assistant editor, then headed the 3D CGI department working on commercial projects for Hyundai, PacifiCare Health, and Johnson & Johnson. He led the effects and 3D animation team for CGI driven films and television and then broke away to film the documentary "In Search of Juan Valdez" while traveling through South America. With this foray into television and film Sam would work for Discovery Health and Paramount Pictures. He has since worked as a feature cinematographer for films like Takamine, Salad Days, and Sake Bomb and wrote the feature film SAKI.
- IMDb mini biography by: Sam K. Yano

For the feature film Sake-Bomb, director Junya Sakino wrote the original draft of the film and then writer Jeff Mizushima and co-producer Hiram Chan rewrote two different versions of the script. Sam Yano took Jeff's original rewrite and wrote yet another version of Sake-Bomb. But in the end Jeff's script went into production with Sam later signing on as the cinematographer.

Despite graduating from film school Sam claims to have not seen Orson Welle's classic Citizen Kane (a requisite for many film classes). He promises to ceremoniously watch the movie after he directs his 1st feature film.

In the movie Takamine there is a scene where two young characters talk near an ancient lighthouse. Director Toru Ichikawa had other production business to attend to leaving DP Sam Yano to direct part of the scene.

Sam Yano wrote the original screenplay for the feature film Saki (US: Saki the Killer) in 30 days, with no intention to be the cinematographer. But due to budget constraints Sam signed on as the DP, being that he was familiar with the script. The film was shot in just 7 days.