Look Who it Was Random video

Canon Interview - Explorer of Light Crescenzo Notarile, ASC

2,192 views · Published 15 August 2010 · 5:54 · Indexed 24 September 2026

Channel: ChristopherKblog · 2010 · Howto & Style

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Crescenzo Giacomo Notarile was raised in Brooklyn, New York from first generation Italian descent.  Born of artistic lineage, Crescenzo’s parents, Maria & Vincenzo, a sculptress & painter respectively, encouraged his creative inclination throughout his life.  Graduating from high school in Huntington Long Island, with a graduating class of over 2000, Crescenzo received a high honors Cum Laude scholarship to  New York University for outstanding photographic achievement, and also a high honors degree from the Nikon School of Photography for Photojournalism.  Upon completing an extensive photo essay on the Homeless for a magazine, Crescenzo decided to create a 16mm black & white film of the same subject for a PSA. This allowed Crescenzo to emotionally compare and study movement contrasted by stillness, and to epitomize the feeling of kinetic energy through a single frame – a still photograph transcended into moving frames.  The film was received with critical acclaim at the student festival.  This experience brought Crescenzo to shift his focus from photojournalism, to motion picture filmmaking.  As a result, he followed a mentor filmmaker who was teaching at The New York Institute of Technology, and transferred there immediately. He soon directed and photographed a short film on the elderly, titled, Old Friends, which was aired on Public Broadcast Television, and was the recipient of an award at the University’s Film Festival.

Crescenzo’s father at this time was an Art Director/Graphic Designer for an “A List”  advertising agency in New York City, and was the recipient of several Clio awards for ‘Best Commercial Art Direction’. His photographer then, was Richard Avedon, and Crescenzo sat in many shoots, learning the persuasive art of advertising. At this time, Crescenzo worked during his summer vacations at his father’s agency as a ‘camera production assistant’ for an in-house film production company. This is where he learned the art and craft of cinematography.

Upon graduating Cum Laude in 3 years with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Communication Arts, Crescenzo passed a test and joined I.A.T.S.E. Local 644, an International Cameraman’s Union.  He very quickly worked his way up the ranks.  Crescenzo worked as a cameraman for Dino De Laurentiis, and for the late spaghetti western director, Sergio Leone, on the epic Once Upon a Time in America. 

Now, 30 years in the film business, Crescenzo Notarile has become an Emmy award-winning cinematographer. For the past 22 years, Crescenzo has been living and working bi-coastally in Soho New York and Los Angeles California, which continuously feeds his discriminating creative eye.  It has also afforded him to qualify as a world traveler.  His acutely sensitive and creative eye is constantly observing the world that surrounds him, which ‘simply waits to be seen for the first time’.  He carries his camera with him always, and thus has photographed the world, dozens of times over.  The result is Crescenzo’s fine art photography, which represents a pure essence of his soul, his character, and his experience as a person and as an artist in this world. 

During the last twenty years, Crescenzo has been a pioneer in the art of cinematography. He has photographed over 600 music videos for many of the giant recording artists, such as, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Ricky Martins, Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, Placido Domingo, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, N’ Sync, ZZ Top, Nine Inch Nails, Aretha Franklin, amongst many others… Crescenzo has also shot over 1000 commercials as a Director of Photography for many prestigious clients as, Revlon, American Express, Gatorade, Pepsi, Revlon, AT&T, Oil of Olay, Volvo, Buick, Pontiac, CoverGirl, Diet Coke, GM, McDonalds, J.C.Penny, Yoplait, Dominos Pizza, Toshiba, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson, Home Depot, Promos for NBC, ABC, CBS, MTV, ESPN, Comedy Central, and Playboy, to name a few…

Crescenzo not only continues to work as a commercial and music video Director of Photography for top directors, such as, Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Sam Raimi (Spiderman), Mary Lambert (Pet Cemetery), Russell Mulcahy (Highlander), Hype Williams (Belly), Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), etc., but currently also works as a director. He has recently completed a series of spots for Disney On Ice, Fosse, and Playboy, and currently in prep for the US Army.

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