SALVATORE TOTINO

#1: From interview [by Craft Truck]

#2: With dir Ron Howard [left] - "The Da Vinci Code" [2005]

SALVATORE TOTINO ASC/AIC

Born: 2 November 1964, Brooklyn, New York City, N.Y., as son of Italian immigrants.

Education: New York Institute of Technology, Long Island.

Career: 'I was born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. My parents were immigrants from Italy. I've heard stories about my father growing up in Italy. My grandmother made clothes that he took to other towns to barter with farmers for food. He was a hair dresser in Brooklyn and worked six days a week. Every once in a while my parents would take me and my sister Gina to a movie theater on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn that played Italian films on Sundays. I studied electrical engineering at the Institute of Technology on Long Island for two to three years, but quit and went to work in the electrical contracting business when I was 20 or 21 years old. I visited a friend who was working on a commercial. It looked interesting, so I told someone that I wanted to work there. A few days later [in 1985] I got a call asking me to come in as a production assistant at a commercial house in New York. I became fascinated by the work they were doing. I bought a Nikon camera and started shooting black-and-white stills, and learned how to develop film at a little darkroom on 20th Street in Manhattan. I met an assistant cameraman named Paul Gaffney while I was working as a prod asst. I told him that was what I wanted to do. He had me move camera cases around for a few days and decided that I was serious. Paul taught me about cameras on our days off. I started out loading cameras and working as an intern in the camera department on features, and as an assistant cameraman on music video and commercials. I worked on a few films, including 'Night on Earth' with Fred Elmes. I was impressed by the brilliant lighting that he did in those taxis at night on the streets of New York City. That experience was a big inspiration for me. If you stick with it, eventually you find somebody who is willing to take you under their wing. I worked with Harris Savides as an assistant cameraman on commercials. That's how I met Peter Care who began directing music videos in England just before MTV got off the ground. Peter gave me a chance to shoot second unit on a music video for an English group called New Order. [...] Oliver Stone asked my agent who was new and interesting. He gave Oliver my reel and told him about me and several other cinematographers. I had three conversations with Oliver and then he hired me. On the first day of photography, he said, welcome to Vietnam. I had no idea that meant I'd be fighting to survive. Oliver pushed and provoked me everyday. I think that feeling comes through in the film.' [From interview with Bob Fisher on the KODAK OnFilm website.]

Became a sought-after director of photography, shooting a wide array of innovative commercials and music videos. He has shot ad campaigns for Jack Daniels, Nike, Jaguar, The Gap and H.I.S. Jeans, winning a Clio Award for the latter. Ph 300+ commercials dir by Bob Giraldi, Dominic Sena, Nick Lewin ['One on One', 2002, for Volvo; 'UFO They're Here', 'Flower', 'Dream' & 'Soul' for Volkswagen], Chris Palmer ['Ice Cream Truck', 2002, for American Express], Mehdi Norowzian, a.o.

Member of the ASC since 2007 and the AIC since 2011.

Appeared in the doc 'New Frontiers: Making 'The Missing'' [2004].

Website: Salvatore Totino

FILMS & INTERNET
1999	Any Given Sunday [Oliver Stone] s35/c; 2uc: Chuck Cohen; addph: Keith L. Smith; + small part
2000	Changing Lanes [Roger Michell] s35/c; 2uc: Ken Bates & David M. Dunlap
*2003*	The Alamo [John Lee Hancock] worked with dir Ron Howard during pre-production, but film was ph by Dean Semler
2003	The Missing [Ron Howard] s35/c; 2uc: Keith Peterman; aph: Steve Koster

[Holding Eyemo camera] with actor Russell Crowe - "Cinderella Man"

2004	Cinderella Man [Ron Howard] s35+16mm-to-s35/c; 2uc: Glen Keenan
2004	The Check Up [Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris] c; comm short/6m; for Volkswagen
2005	The Da Vinci Code [Ron Howard] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc France: Alexandre Lamarque; 2uc U.K.: Fraser Taggart; aph: Jeremy Braben & James Swanson; uwph: Mike Valentine; vfx model unit ph: Rick Mietkowski; + small part
2007	Frost / Nixon [Ron Howard] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: John Barr
2008	Angels & Demons [Ron Howard] s35+RED (green screen plates)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Josh Bleibtreu; ph insert unit: Steve Adcock; aph: Jeremy Braben
2008	Johnny Yesno Redux [Peter Care] c; mus short/19m
2009	Father's Day [Laurence Dunmore] c; short/11m; prod for The Responsibility Project sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance
2010	The Dilemma/What You Don't Know/Cheaters [Ron Howard] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Ted Lichtenheld; aph: Steve Koster
2011	People Like Us/Welcome to People [Alex Kurtzman] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; insert ph: Corey Walter; aph: Steve Koster
2011	Safe House [Daniel Espinosa] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; uncred addph (reshoots); ph: Oliver Wood
2012	Made in America [Ron Howard] dv/c; mus doc/95m; filmed 1-2 September (Philadelphia)
2014	Everest [Baltasar Kormákur] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus)-to-D-Cinema (scope [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc (Italy): Kent Harvey (Val Senales) (+ ph Everest unit) & Stefano Falivene (Rome); 2uc (UK): Remi Adefarasin & Fraser Taggart; 2uc (Everest) (+ yak wrangler Nepal): David Breashears; aph (Nepal): John Marzano
2014	In the Heart of the Sea/Heart of the Sea [Ron Howard] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT + Canon EOS 1DC, C300 & C500 + Indiecam GS2K)-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; addph (reshoots May-July); ph: Anthony Dod Mantle (2013)
2014	Concussion/Game Brain [Peter Landesman] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c; 2uc (Pittsburgh): Benn Martenson; aph: Dylan Goss; filmed 2014-15
2015	Inferno [Ron Howard] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus & Mini)+RED Epic Dragon-to-D-Cinema/c; 2uc (+ main unit c.op 'b' cam): Andrew Rowlands; aph (2u Italy): Jim Swanson
2016	Spider-Man: Homecoming [Jon Watts] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus & Mini)-to-D-Cinema (scope [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc: Brad Shield; aph: Brian Heller
2017	The Mummy [Alex Kurtzman] p+HD (ARRI ALEXA 65 & Mini/p)-to-D-Cinema (scope [also 3-D version])/c; addph (reshoots February-March): ph (2016): Ben Seresin
2018	Bird Box [Susanne Bier] RED Weapon 8K S35-to-UHD/c; addph (reshoots in 2018): Oliver Wood; 2uc (+ 2ud): Alexander Witt; insert ph (+ c.op 'c' cam): Michael Paul Jones; for Netflix
2018	The Tax Collector [David Ayer] c

FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT
1989	Prancer [John D. Hancock] 2nd c.asst; ph: Misha Suslov
1989	Street Hunter [John Gallagher] co-1st c.asst; ph: Phil Parmet
1990	Dice Rules [Jay Dubin; comedy sketches + concert film] co-cam loader (concert crew); ph: Michael Negrin (concert) & Charlie Lieberman ('A Day in the Life' seg)
1990	Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll [John McNaughton; one-man show] co-1st c.asst; ph: Ernest Dickerson
1991	Night on Earth [Jim Jarmusch] 1st c.asst New York; ph: Fred Elmes
1992	Lake Consequence [Rafael Eisenman; tvm] ph: Harris Savides

MUSIC VIDEOS [Selection]
1993	Regret [a: New Order; d: Peter Care] 2uc; ph: Tom Richmond
1994	Spoonman [a: Soundgarden; d: Jeffrey Plansker]
1994	Rocket [a: Smashing Pumpkins; d: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris]
1994	What's the Frequency, Kenneth? [a: REM; d: Peter Care]
1994	Lightning Crashes [a: Live; d: Jake Scott]
1995	Secret Garden [a: Bruce Springsteen; d: Peter Care]
1995	Fake Plastic Trees [a: Radiohead; d: Jake Scott]
1995	Queer [a: Garbage; d: Stéphane Sednaoui]
1997	Staring at the Sun [a: U2; d: Jake Scott]
1997	Turn My Head [a: Live; d: Jake Scott]