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RODERICK SANTIANO: Cinematographer, dad

Wednesday Conversation

FROM SARAH'S DESK: Our March Conversation's are leaking a little bit into April, and that's a good thing! I think you will really enjoy this interview we conducted with Rod Santiano, a talented, award -winning cinematographer, husband to Wendy Satiano (we interviewed her last week!), and dad to six. The link to his website is at the end of this post... you must go check it out. His work is absolutely beautiful!

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TAG: When people ask you what you “do”, how do you answer?

R. SANTIANO: I am a cinematographer. I collaborate with directors of films, commercials, music videos, etc. to get what they imagine in their heads into the screen. I'm in charge of the cameras, lights, and everything related to capturing a moving image. That also includes working with the many people that it takes to get that done. 

TAG: Do you have a day job? What is it? What does it mean to you?

R. SANTIANO: I actually do have a day job (which is unusual). I am the cinematographer on staff and a video editor at an ad agency called ThomasARTS in Farmington, UT. Having a full-time job in my line of work is a bit unusual. It means that I can do what I love and have a regular paycheck to support my family. A lot of times as a freelancer you never know when or what the next job will be and when (or if!) payment from a job will come in. 

TAG: Tell me about your family. How do you manage your time? Art/work/kids/house balance? Does it balance? What are the struggles of having to do both? And what are the benefits?

R. SANTIANO: I’m blissfully married with six beautiful children. With priorities in the correct order (family first) it makes it hard to explore my art and talents outside of work. So I’m glad I get to do what I love for a living. I think my current situation is perfect for my family and my art as I still get to do what I love and am good at, my family has the financial stability not usually afforded by a freelance artist, and my schedule is pretty balanced for the most part because I’m not off doing every freelance job anywhere trying to make ends meet. Answering this question has really helped me appreciate what I’ve got! Ha!

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TAG: Besides your art and design practice, are you involved in any other kind of work?

R. SANTIANO: Not really, but kind of. My practice is cinematography but I’m also very involved and good at editing, motion graphics, and website building — all of which I’d rather not do if I have the choice. So I, more often than not, am involved with those things out of necessity.

TAG: How would you describe your subject matter or the content of your work? 

R. SANTIANO: As a “hired gun” I work on anything that comes along, basically. I’ve been working mostly in commercials the last few years. Other types of projects consist of documentary work, industrial videos, and narrative projects.

TAG: What mediums do you work with? How would you describe your subject matter? What themes seem to occur/reoccur in your work?

R. SANTIANO: All digital these days. I used to work with actual film for a little while but that went away about as quickly as I got into it. So my work is all digital cinema/video and a computer screen. But as far as my actual work and style goes, I tend to lean towards the bright and happy California warm and sunny look. I grew up in Southern California so I think it’s in my blood. It makes me happy. My wife calls it a “romantic” feel — where everything is happy, ideal, backlit and beautiful. How life should be!

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TAG: Has there been a shift or change in your life or work that has led to what you’re making now? Do you see your work as autobiographical at all?

R. SANTIANO: I had a difficult time breaking into the commercial world until I started working at an ad agency. Now, that’s pretty much the bulk of my work. So making the decision to not be freelance for a while definitely shifted my body of work. I had previously been working mostly in the documentary world.

TAG: Is there something you are currently working on, or are excited about starting that you can tell us about?

R. SANTIANO: My wife and I just finished shooting a passion project for Easter. I photographed the interview subjects with the look and feel of Rembrandt’s lighting style. It’s absolutely beautiful, but I have Rembrandt to credit for it.

TAG: What are your biggest challenges to creating your art and how do you deal with them? How do you navigate the art world?

R. SANTIANO: I think the biggest challenge for me must be similar to every artist out there, which is trying to get what I see in my head onto the screen. But I have to say, it’s not actually THAT hard. At least, I find it so much fun that it’s difficult to say that it’s a real challenge. The real challenge is doing it in the time allotted, and being happy with what I’ve been able to get done in that amount of time. My number one rule, though, is that no matter how little time I have, I will not let an ugly shot happen. Ever.

As far as navigating the art world, I just like to see what other people are doing. I try my hardest to not get jealous of other people’s good work and success. That’s a real challenge for me. It’s a tendency I could definitely live without.

TAG: What are you most proud of?

R. SANTIANO: I’m pretty proud of much of my recent commercial work. But looking back, I’ve worked on a few projects that I am proud to have been involved with. They are all documentaries, since that had been my world for almost a full decade. I filmed a documentary called NEW YORK DOLL that was an official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. A higher profile documentary produced by Billy Joel about Billy Joel and Shea Stadium called THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA was an awesome project to be a part of. We interviewed countless celebrities over the period of 14 months and I got to travel all over the US and even took a quick hop over to London for an interview with Paul McCartney. It was a pretty epic production.

TAG: What advice has influenced you?

R. SANTIANO: I think the biggest influence to my images and working style happened quite a while ago when I was still attending film school. It wasn’t so much advice, but example. There was a TV show called Party of Five and the look the Director of Photography was creating just struck a chord that resonated with me. I managed to get in contact with him and he invited me to the set to meet him and watch him work. I was amazed at how quickly he worked and the way he worked with his crew with such precision, command, and confidence, also the rawness of his lighting style that still looked polished in the end. It was enlightening and that experience still shows it’s influence in my day to day workings on set.

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TAG: What do you want your work to do?

R. SANTIANO: I, of course, want my work to fulfill it’s purpose: which is to get the director’s vision on the screen. But I think mostly for me, I just want my work to be seen by the world. There’s something validating about creating something that has exposure to the masses. And the bigger the audience, the sweeter the reward. I don’t know what the psychology of it is, or how normal or unhealthy it is. But that’s how I feel about it. I think that’s why working on a feature film (or hopefully, films) that becomes a success is one of my ultimate goals because it reaches such a large audience.

TAG: How will you know when you have arrived?

R. SANTIANO: I think when I’m getting calls on a regular basis for national commercials and feature films, I’ll feel like I “arrived.” Especially if a feature film I shoot “makes it.”

TAG: What are you presently inspired by— are there particular things you are reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?

R. SANTIANO: Contemporary cinematography inspires me. Which makes sense because you have to keep up with the times, both in look and technology. But I’ve learned to stay true to what my style is. I can emulate or create different looks but it will always have my take on it.

TAG: What does having a physical space mean for your process, and how do you make your space work for you?

R. SANTIANO: My space changes from project to project, which is fantastic. I absolutely love it.

TAG: Does personal history work its way into your practice? How might who you are be reflected in your current work?

R. SANTIANO: As my wife puts it, I’m a romantic (even though being romantic in my relationship with my wife could use some serious help!). My images tend to reflect the happiness and warmth I see in life.

TAG: What risks have you taken in your work, and what has been at stake?

R. SANTIANO: So far I’ve been lucky to work with so many directors who have allowed me to photograph the projects we’ve worked on the way I see fit. I think I owe that to their trust in me that I will do amazing work and that I’ve been hired because they know that I will make the right decisions for the project. I would say that only a small percentage of the projects I’ve worked on have had a very specific pre-visualized look that I’ve had to create and adhere to. I think what I’m saying is that I take risks every time I work because I have had the luxury of creating the look when I’m on the set, I run the risk of someone not liking it.

TAG: Do you have a motto?

R. SANTIANO: NO UGLY SHOTS. EVER!

Roderick A. Santiano found his love for cinematography at the age of 14 when an innate sense of lighting, camera work and editing inspired him to seek a career in film. He was awarded the maximum scholarship available to Art Center College of Design’s Film Department in Pasadena based on quality and merit of his submission film reel. Since graduating from Art Center in 1996 he has worked on countless commercials, shorts, feature films and documentaries. His documentary projects include NEW YORK DOLL—an Official Selection for the Sundance Film Festival in 2005—and the Billy Joel documentary feature, THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA; as well as contributing work to the Netflix Original MITT and the 2015 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection, MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED. Many of Roderick’s projects over the past twenty+ years have won several awards in noted film festivals, have gone on to gain national television exposure and have also won Clio, AICP, ADDY, and TELLY awards.