Sean Valentini has established himself as one of the busiest commercial cinematographers in the country. Over the last decade, the DOP has shot some of the biggest spots for the biggest clients and agencies in the country, racking up awards and accolades along the way.

After university, Valentini scored a job as a production assistant at Toronto’s Revolver Films, then specializing in music videos.

‘I was one of their regular PAs,’ he recalls. ‘I traveled with them and they knew me and trusted me. Eventually I bought a 16mm camera.’

The Revolver gig allowed him to put his knowledge of film and photography to good use. He became a go-to guy, of sorts, for the shop.

‘[Revolver] kept paying me my PA rate and it became easy just to throw me a couple of rolls of film and get me to bang off some second camera stuff on music videos. That sort of got parlayed into other opportunities to shoot,’ says Valentini, who also dabbled in editing ‘to support my shooting habit.’

With a reel full of videos, Valentini maneuvered his way into the commercial world as a cinematographer. His first big break was with Imported Artists director Richard D’Alessio shooting the original ‘I Am’ campaign for Molson Canadian. Valentini had left his first visible mark on the Canadian ad market.

Valentini has been the cinematographer on a number of high-profile spots and campaigns. He has amassed work for clients like Sunlight, Rogers, Chrysler, Lexus, Scotiabank, MAC Cosmetics and CN. Some of his more recent ads include Nike’s ‘Perfect,’ directed by untitled’s Curtis Wehrfritz (a Bessie contender from last year); the ‘Cam’ PSA for the Canadian Breast Cancer Society, directed by untitled’s John Mastromonaco; and most recently, the new Clarica campaign, directed by The Players Film Company’s Gary McKendry. Another of his favorite directors is Spy Films’ Pete Henderson, with whom he shares a bit of history.

‘We went to Ryerson together. We were roommates and worked at Revolver together doing music videos, and now commercials.’

What appeals to him about these directors is their attitude on set.

‘I like people who like a loose set where everybody is at least striving to have a good time and there is not a lot of tension,’ says Valentini. ‘I try to create that kind of atmosphere and I like directors who work that way, too. In general, I like a work environment where everybody feels comfortable giving input, whether it be the grip or the gaffer, the camera assistant or whoever.’

As for influences, Valentini says the stills still have it: ‘A lot of my strongest influences are actually from stills photography rather than motion pictures,’ he says. ‘Photography is a big influence on me and I think I bring a sense of that compositionally to my cinematography.’

Valentini says he is able to put across the vision of the director, but sometimes can let a bit of himself to bleed into the picture as well.

‘As a cinematographer, I think you have to be a bit of a chameleon, especially in commercials,’ he says. ‘You may have a visual style or a strong point of view about how you would approach things visually, but that’s not always what a project requires. Sometimes it requires looking at the visual references from the director and trying to help recreate those.’

Valentini is represented by Toronto’s Sesler & Company, one of only a handful of shops that exclusively represents cinematographers.

‘[Being repped by Dora Sesler] makes life a lot easier, because I’m not particularly good at talking about money or working on deals or understanding what the production company needs the way Dora does.’ *