Testimonials

SALVATORE TOTINO, DP

Salvatore Totino, ASC, has been a DoP for over 15 years, working variously on commercials, music videos and feature films. He is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Ron Howard on no less than five films including Frost/Nixon, which has received multiple award nominations, and most recently Angels and Demons. Here, Totino reveals why he chooses to work with Cooke lenses.

"Cooke lenses are always my first choice. I like the look they give - they’re sharp but slightly on the warm side, which I prefer. I also find them to be mechanically superior to anything else I’ve used. I love that I can shoot them wide open and the whole frame is crisp, you don’t lose any detail at all – the lens holds everything nicely.

I started using Cooke lenses in 2002 when I was working mainly on commercials. I liked them so much that I bought myself a set! Cooke lenses definitely help me develop my creative vision, it’s one of the main reasons I use them. Obviously the choice of camera, film stock and of course lighting are important to a project, but I believe that the lens is where the story is told. They talk about ‘the Cooke look’, which is about the velvety texture you get with Cooke and the way the lens photographs skin tones and exposes character. I agree with that – for instance, we intentionally lit Cinderella Man in a very warm way, and the velvety look and warmth added a lot to both character and plot in that film. It has a very distinctive look and this definitely helped to tell the story.

Most of my recent film work has been on Ron Howard’s projects. He and I have worked together on five films now [The Missing, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, Angels & Demons]. Ron is always exceptionally well prepared when he comes to work, but he creates a very collaborative working environment. There is always room for discussion – we’ll talk about what he’s thinking, what he wants to achieve and then we’ll discuss how best to get there. Once we’ve worked out what we want to do, Ron defers to me on the choice of lenses, cameras and so on. We know each other well enough to trust each other’s choices.

Frost/Nixon is all about character, showing the stresses and tensions and interaction between the protagonists. We did a lot of close-up work, mostly on medium lenses and some wide lenses, to focus on the details in the facial expressions. The ‘Cooke look’ really added to the story here, it captured the warmth of the skin tones, and also the fact that the lenses don’t distort on the wider shots was very helpful.

The film isn’t just about the interviews, it follows the set-up and aftermath as well. I tried to light the indoor shots very naturally and simply with just four small lights, as if you were in a room during the day. We were also working with a mix of locations and sets, which often appeared together in the same scene. For example, in one scene David Frost is outside a house looking in through a window (on location) while Nixon is inside the house looking out of the same window (on a set) and I had to light each one naturally, inside and out, to blend seamlessly together.

It’s one thing to create flashy, glamorous photography with a moody atmosphere and shafts of light and so on, but when you try to make a film feel natural it’s not that easy to do. This film is about being in the moment, making the audience feel like they’re there, and the Cooke lenses really helped me achieve that. I’m proud of the film, and very happy that it has received seven BAFTA nominations and five Oscar nominations.

Angels and Demons was an entirely different kind of film to work on with a whole new set of challenges. It’s much faster paced, more of an action movie even than The Da Vinci Code, and therefore it needed a different look.

I stayed on longer lenses for this, typically 50 to 150. There is much less dialogue in this film so the long lenses helped to capture the atmosphere and added pace to the film. The high resolution centre field of the Cooke lens also helps to tell the story by directing the audience’s attention to one part of the frame – it draws the eye and moves the plot along.

In this film we used lots of big strokes of light, plus of course we wanted to capture the colour and warmth of Rome. It was a joy to shoot those beautiful building exteriors. We got some great shots outside the Pantheon, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican, though unfortunately we weren’t allowed to shoot inside. We had a great production designer who created the amazing interiors on set. I’m particularly happy with the scenes we shot on a set of the interior of the Sistine Chapel – I lit it strongly outside through the windows and used smoke to create shafts of light… there’s a great atmosphere about it.

Working on two very different films has prompted the question: which type of film is more interesting to work on – an intimate character study or a blockbuster action movie? Well, as a film-goer I probably prefer the former; but as a DP I really don’t have a preference. Everything is challenging one way or another, every film genre has certain levels of difficulty, and a lot of it has to do with the preparation. I am fortunate to work with Ron who always does his homework, and with Cooke I have the tools to create different looks depending on what is required.

Another thing I like about Cooke is that Les [Zellan, Chairman, Cooke Optics] will go beyond the call of duty. If you need to do something specific, Les will sit down and work things out with you – I love the personal support I get from Cooke. If I have a question about one of my lenses, they immediately take it back to the factory, sort out the issue and send it right back. They are so reliable, and they stand behind their product.

It’s so great to have a hand-crafted item in a modern age –like a Ferrari!"