Giorgio Scali may be the only guy in Hollywood who doesn’t want to direct movies someday. That’s because Scali, a cinematographer who is represented for spots by The Mack Dolan Agency, Hollywood, happens to love what he does. In fact, he calls cinematography "the greatest job in the world."
Even though he doesn’t envy directors, he nonetheless enthusiastically respects the ones he’s worked with. That holds particularly true for the person who gave Scali his first big break, Antoine Fuqua of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films.
Fuqua and Scali met in New York when they were both working as production assistants. Scali had started working in film after receiving a bachelor of fine arts in photography from the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts in ’87. He also received a concurrent degree in art history from Tufts University, Boston, and eventually parlayed his knowledge of still photography into gigs as a camera assistant. About six years ago, Scali says, after he and Fuqua had both moved to Los Angeles, Fuqua was working on a music video and rang Scali with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
"It was one of those things where he just called and said, AI know you can do this,’" Scali remembers. "He’d seen a lot of my still stuff … and loved it. He said he had four videos going on that week and just to come on in and do this one. I didn’t have any time to think about it or be nervous. Just go and do it."
Scali can’t remember who the video was for, but he ended up doing seven clips in a row for Fuqua. One of the videos he definitely recalls shooting is the "Most Beautiful Girl in the World" for the artist once again known as Prince. Later that year, Scali shot his first spot, a Reebok ad, with Fuqua. "He definitely sent me out there with this great reel," Scali says. "He’s really talented, and I had a lot of great images to put on there. That sent me on my way to working with a whole bunch of people."
One of Scali’s latest collaborators is director Robert Logevall of Bruce Dowad Associates, Los Angeles. Scali loves a good challenge, which is exactly what he got with one of his most recent projectsaa four-spot package for Volkswagen, helmed by Logevall via Arnold Communications, Boston.
Two of the spots, "Vapor" and "Reflex," are already airing, while the other two, "Vortex" and "Isotope," are set to break in a few weeks. The visually striking spots highlight new, limited-edition colors for the Volkswagen Beetle. Only 2,000 of the cars will be made in each color, and they are only available via VW’s Web site. "Reflex" opens on a lemon-yellow, reflective surface, with passersby checking out the color, and obviously impressed with what they are seeing. Eventually, a woman, seen in the reflection of the object, walks up to what is now revealed to be a Beetle. The dialogue-free commercial has a soundtrack composed of the Roots song "Dynamite."
The second spot, "Vapor," continues the reflective theme, this time with images of trees, raindrops, and finally a woman’s face. When the camera pulls back, it reveals a silvery-white VW. Like "Reflex," the commercial is purely visual, with only a music trackathis time "Renaissance Affair" by Hooverphonic.
Figuring out what the world would look like from a car’s perspective was "a little tricky," Scali admits. "The car is so round, and things are being distorted by those shapes. There was a lot of discussion about what would be the proper lensaendless discussions. We talked for a whole day about what the car would actually see. AWould it see from here to here, or from here to there?’ That kind of thing, and that was hard to visualize … For AReflex,’ we shot with two cameras side by side, one with a fish eye lens and one with a wide lens. That was really hard to figure out." Scali is no stranger to VW workalast year he DP’d "The Great Escape" for the Volkswagen Jetta, which was directed by Nick Lewin of bicoastal X-1 Films.
Hard, but fun. Scali says Logevall is "absolutely a joy, and we have just a great relationship." The two have also worked on spots such as "Boy" and "Girl" for technology firm Comdisco through The Richards Group, Dallas, and "Natural Defenses," "Strength," "Watch," and "Children" for Pedigree dog food via Grey Advertising, Los Angeles. Scali says of the Pedigree spots, "There weren’t any dog food shots or dogs eatingait was just portraiture, which is one of my favorite things to do."
