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Cinematographer Pietro Villani gives us the inside look on Hollywood production through a pandemic.

Chapman University Blog. On Set In A Pandemic, Alumni Spotlight: Pietro Villani (BFA 02)

Creative Content Wire article. What’s Your Story? Cinematographer Pietro Villani Tells Us His

Voyage LA Article, Meet Pietro Villani

British Society of Cinematographers

A SUBTLE SHIFT IN FOCUS
ACROSS THE POND / MARK LONDON WILLIAMS

THE FIRST NEW COLUMN OF SPRING FINDS US, ONCE AGAIN, “BETWEEN FRAMES,” AS IT WERE. IN THE ANNUAL CALENDAR’S RELENTLESS MARCH - NAB! CINE GEAR! EMMY! OSCAR! - THERE IS A BRIEF EXHALATION WHEN AWARD SEASON WRAPS UP, AND WE CAN CONTEMPLATE OTHER MOVIES AND OTHER WORK. BEFORE, OF COURSE, WE’RE OFF TO THAT SAME NAB IMMEDIATELY AFTER FILING THIS.

Nor was Schreiber the only DP in our current roundup to draw inspiration from her time living in New York. The city “has a lot of what I call natural culture and character,” according to Pietro Villani, the DP behind the indie film I’m Not Here, which was shot a couple years prior and is just now seeing release. Of NY, and perhaps specifically his native Brooklyn, he says “it’s one of those cities that’s not trying to be anything. I think the old world feel of New York gives a certain vibe. It’s home for me even though I haven’t lived there for many years, but I visit often.”

Whether development and real estate pressures have allowed NY to retain that charm is a subject of debate, but the themes of I’m Not Here are about changes almost entirely unwelcome, as J.K. Simmons, in a wordless turn, plays a man who is celebrating his birthday alone, in a dark, barely lit house, looking back on his life, realizing his string has been played out - and deciding whether to make this his very last birthday or not.

It’s to the credit of Villani’s lighting - and Danielle Aziz’s art direction - that the film absolutely looks like it was shot in a real house, with practical lights.

“About 95% of the film was shot on a stage on a set,” he reveals. “If there is a practical in the frame, there was a movie light doing the push. There is a scene where it may seem like the hanging light is lighting him, but it wasn’t. All that did was give motivation.”

That motivation was captured “on two cameras: an ARRI ALEXA XT and Mini, with Panavision Vintage Ultra Speeds and Primos. Present day stuff is much lower lit across the board. You have a lot of single source style lighting. The ambient light was achieved by SourceMaker blanket light above the set achieving a cool ambient tone with a neutral key push from traditional tungsten heads.”

MANDY.COM

Best known for his work on I'm Not Here starring JK Simmons and Sebastian Stan, Pietro Villani is an LA based cinematographer with 18 years of experience in movies, commercials, and documentaries. Pietro talks to Mandy News about how he began his career as a lighting technician, working on movies like Spiderman, Dreamgirls, moving on to become a cinematographer. By James Collins

VENTS MAGAZINE

SHOT ON VARICAM MAGAZINE

New Africa, DP Pietro Villani shoots UMC TV series, 40 and Single with EVA1

NY Times Article on UMC mentioning "Like Cotton Twines"

By GLENN KENNY APRIL 21, 2017

The Urban Movie Channel, or UMC, also features five features directed by the Ghanaian filmmaker Leila Djansi, including her most recent, “Like Cotton Twines,” from 2016. The drama is a sensitive, beautifully shot story about “Trokosi,” described in the opening as “a practice of religious slavery found in parts of Western Africa,” in which a virgin girl is given up by a family whose member has been found guilty of a crime. The picture depicts an American teacher in Ghana (Jay Ellis of the HBO series “Insecure”) attempting to rescue a student from being traded away by her father.

Like Cotton Twines wins big at Ghana Movie Awards 2016

By Pep Junia December 5, 2016

Among other wins at the 2016 Ghana Movie Awards Pietro Villani wins BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY for the feature LIKE COTTON TWINES

Moviemaker.com,

Eye Piece: Like Cotton Twines Went Digital to Capture the Depth of Ghana’s Beauty

ICG Magazine: ECA Winners Then and Now

By Pauline Rogers September 2016 issue

We catch up with a handful of honorees to find out how/if/when the most unique award in Hollywood changed their lives.

Peter Villani (DP, 2012, Carjack): Director Jeremiah Jones and I were on a commercial roll for years. He had done a few small shorts in school, but always wanted to do something grander. The goal of the film was to get him some narrative recognition. The film not only got into the ECA’s, but it won a decent amount of festivals. We have done another short together since and a few more commercials. He is planning to do a feature next year and is pushing a few scripts. I am going to shoot whichever one goes.

Peter Villani: Winning the ECA helped me get an agent, but I feel like it got me peer respect, which got some of my peers to recognize that I was more than a camera operator. This led to some 2nd unit gigs – jobs from new directors who had stuff in the pipeline. Since my win, they have attached me to their projects.

Peter Villani: [I tell every honoree to] go to Camerimage and any festival of importance to enjoy the celebration of your film. This was an honor to have won, and if anything, it proves that you are good enough and on your way. But that said – push harder than ever.

ICG Magazine: ECA 2012

Another year another giant leap in progression for this years Emerging Cinematographers Award nominees

By David Heuring& Beige Lucian-Adams September 2012 issue