In the process of updating my showreel, I had the idea to produce some extra reel content, specifically shot on gimbal, for fashion, something that highlights my skills in a certain area.
In this case, I did a short montage of images I shot with different gimbals and cameras. Hope you enjoy this! For any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the contact page!
Stay Behind is a spy/conspiracy short film which introduces a TV series concept.
Director Federica Schiavello brought me on board as Director of Photography and I couldn’t be more excited! During the summer we’ve been doing meetings, recce and lots of planning. We are also trying to fund the project through Kickstarter:
“ The Cold War has ended but many secrets are still unravelled in Italy. This is the premise of the film, which explores how a parallel State lays behind a lot of unsolved events that changed Italy's history. This Parallel State takes the form of a hidden figure of the time, Antonella, one of those rare women belonging to the Italian Secret Services, in particular to Operation Gladio. In the film, Antonella, played by Heléna Antonio, walks through oneiric scenarios, being the only voice of this part of history, she confesses what the Stay Behind Operation is: a secret paramilitary organisation created to protect the West from a Soviet Invasion. However, this strangely intertwines with key events of Italy’s history that don’t seem to be related to the object of the mission. In fact, throughout Antonella’s monologue, we walk through stylised and oneiric setups such as the Moro kidnapping, The Blue Moon Operation and other terroristic/mafia attacks during the Years of Lead. For this, the film is inspired to be filmed through long takes like David Fincher's and, at the same time, keeping dreamy frames like Federico Fellini's, in order to give a real yet absurd vision of what happened behind those events.”
To know more about the history background, teaser trailer, the film plot, the characters & more, follow the link to the Kickstarter page! And… don’t forget to support it! We are close to the campaign goal and only thanks to your support we can make it!
I had the pleasure recently to participate in a Silver Steadicam Workshop, organised by Tiffen at The Bull Hotel in Gerrards Cross, UK.
I’ve been also featured in an article from britishcinematographer.co.uk and here you can find my thoughts about the course:
“I started as a freelance videographer in Italy, moving to the UK in 2016. Until 2020, I worked in-house as a camera operator and DP for a local production company and last year entered the freelance world, working mainly for live-streaming events, branded content and TV commercials. My goal in the next few years is to work more on documentaries, TV commercials and possibly on TV series drama as a camera operator and DP.
I’ve been always fascinated by Steadicam and wanted to do some training for a long time but only got the opportunity recently thanks to this Tiffen Workshop. As a camera operator/DP, I believe it’s important knowing how to operate a Steadicam. I’ve been working as a gimbal technician and operator and I can see the big difference between operating that and a Steadicam, both visually and technically.
I truly believe the course is worth every second. Danny and Robin are incredibly good at teaching and the course is well organised, from day one to day three. I liked that Robin shared a small collection of notes about Steadicam workflow, sometimes you just listen and there is no time to take notes during the course. It was interesting for me to test the different rigs and see the difference in fitting the various vests. It was also interesting to have suggestions regarding filming in particular circumstances such as wet weather, sand and wind!
The course definitely raised my enthusiasm for Steadicam work, both from a creative and business perspective. I’m really happy that I did the course, a really good experience and well organised. I’m amazed that in only three days we were able to set up, balance and fly a Steadicam, with some good end results as well!”
Not often you get the pleasure to film with amazing actors. In this occasion, we were witness of an amazing show! Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani, two big names at the Almeida Theater. The live-stream was produced by Studio North South and I enjoyed every minute of this work. It’s been challenging but rewarding on a high level. Our crew of 4 camera ops did 2 days of rehearsal before filming for the preview show, then we had 4 days of live-streaming, delivering the same quality and same shots, day after day.
We filmed with 4 Sony FX9 rigged for studio setup, using Zeiss 70-200 lenses for the side views, Angenieux Zoom for the steadicam and a Fujinon Premista 28-100 for the centre camera. Thanks to an amazing job Matt Hargraves and colleague William Knights did ahead of the show, we had a pretty smooth week.
You can find reviews of the show here
BBC - Guardian - The Times - Telegraph - Evening Standard - iNews - Whatsonstage
Photo credits: Marc Brenner
You can still watch it on-demand on the Almeida Website and you can have a look at the Q&A we filmed after the first show. Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!
