Established commercial directors are the subject of this regular feature. Each issue we will profile their careers, accomplishments and the ideas that propel them to new advertising heights.

BEFORE getting involved in the production business, Christopher Gentile was a stills photographer and an avid sailor. Strange as life is, it was this passion for boating that opened his eyes to the world of commercial production, a world in which Gentile has quietly and confidently made a name for himself as a first-class ‘kids’ director.

Before starting down the path to directing, Gentile was hanging out on a sailboat in his hometown of Picton, ON. Turns out, Rabko was shooting an Ontario Tourism spot in the area, and being early in the season, was having trouble finding the required number of sailors for the spot.

‘I was teaching sailing and they were looking for 10 bodies,’ recalls Gentile. ‘I got this phone call to see if I could put a bunch of friends together to be in this Ontario Tourism commercial. So we put it together and after they said, ‘What are you up to?’ And I said, ‘Thinking of going off to film school.’ And they replied, ‘If you ever want to come work in the industry, then come see us and we’ll give you a job.’ So about a year and a half later I went pounding on their door, saying, ‘Hey, okay, does this offer still stand?’ And it went from there.

‘I started as a production assistant and went through every aspect of film production that there was to go through.’

Later, at McWaters Vanlint, Gentile was an assistant director to Derek Vanlint. There, he hired Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy as a prop buyer and it was this fortuitous bit of hiring that garnered Gentile his first gig as a director.

‘Before [Blue Rodeo] was successful, Cuddy was an on-set props guy. The very first thing I directed was actually Blue Rodeo videos. And I started getting the bug,’ Gentile explains.

Gentile’s first representation deal was with Diamond Productions in 1991. After a couple of years with Diamond, the young director moved to LTB Productions, where he spent five years, before joining The Players Film Company. He returned to LTB in late ’99, and as he says, ‘it’s been good.’

Like most directors, Gentile feels he’s pigeonholed into the type of work that has become his specialty – kids spots. While he points out his reel is not limited to kids, there is no question Gentile’s livelihood springs from his exceptional ability for directing children.

‘I think when you work with kids you have to be able to get on the floor with them,’ Gentile says. ‘Whatever age they are, sit down with them and just be their friend. I’ve noticed in the past that you can’t direct kids from behind the monitor or camera. From the time you do the casting with them you have to be interactive. You have to sit down and explain to them what you’re doing and what it’s all about, because they’re just dying to figure out what’s going on.

‘I really try to put a crew around me that I don’t have to worry about, [knowing] that they can find me with the kids working on the floor and I can give direction while sitting with the kids or hanging out with them,’ he says.

The director’s stills background is obvious when he discusses his ‘directing style.’

‘I love wide-angle lenses. And I like the moving camera a lot. Static stuff is okay, but if I’m using static stuff I’m usually on a wide-angle lens, trying to make it really in your face. And I try not to lock myself into one sort of lens; I’ll definitely go through the gamut. Very rarely is there a lens on set that I don’t use. We’ll put it up and do something with it. And move the camera – a lot.’

In terms of how the business is changing, Gentile believes the great advances in post-production have changed the way reels look.

Often, ‘a post look [that] is given to spots has changed what you want to put on your show reel,’ he says.

Gentile fears this post-intensive era can detract from the vision a director tries to communicate on his reel. ‘Sometimes it makes it difficult for an agency,’ he says. ‘Unless you’re really savvy about it, people have a hard time looking past these factors.’

Despite the concern, Gentile knows ‘when it comes down to it, it’s just having a great negative.’

More than 90% of Gentile’s work originates in the U.S., where he is recognized as one of the top kids directors in the biz today. Although most of the money he makes is American, the director is pleased he rarely has to leave his backyard to earn it.

‘The great thing about it for me is that my American clients come to Canada to shoot. So I get to hire the crews I work with, the DOPs I like to work with, and I think that’s a good thing. I don’t have to bring up an American DOP.’

Gentile, who says he is very ‘loyal’ to his production teams, gives a shout out to two of his favorite DOPs, George Willis and David Makin. ‘For me, if you find a cameraman who really understands what it is that you’re about, you’re going to come out with amazing stuff. The cinematographer-director is a monstrous, monstrous connection.’

In future, Gentile would like to work more with puppets, which he finds ‘hilarious.’ Having assisted Jim Henson on both Fraggle Rock and a Miss Piggy special, he has a soft spot for the soft talent.

‘What always amazed me was how someone could be standing there holding a puppet, and you’ll wind up talking to the puppet instead of the person who’s running the puppet, which is really fun.’ *

-www.ltbproductions.com