Calcagni, who has 10 years of directing experience, including spot work done in the US, the UK, Japan and other international locations, is now represented by The Italian Job Directors Bureau in Milan (see "Customized Fit," page 48). Calcagni has shot commercials for clients including Campari, Philips, Wrangler and Volkswagen, and recently shot a spot for Lorenz watches featuring curvy supermodel Laetitia Casta.

Calcagni attended the Brera Academy of Art, focusing on painting and photography before working in Milan as an executive producer and director on commercials.

Calcagni applies a comprehensive eye to scripts, including visualizing and drawing the set, art direction, costumes and other visual interpretations of the concept. "I like to think about the commercial in 360 degrees, then make it happen with the members of the production team," he says.

Seriously monitoring production details allows the director to concentrate on the actors and their performance. "I think the set can have plenty of unexpected events, but with preparation, you can take advantage of those events and sometimes find a better creative solution," says Calcagni. "Having a 'perfect' set allows me to [work], not in a cold or boring way, but to be able to transform it into possible, real and believable."

Calcagni says his influence is the "passions of my everyday life," and he draws inspiration from the things around him: movies, art, architecture, travel and physically constructing things by hand. The passion translates into his job as a director; Calcagni tells of one shoot for a PSA in which after a long struggle, he persuaded 30 fishermen to appear in the spot with their boats and "believe in that adventure."

Calcagni says his travel around the world on commercial work allows him to learn not only about directing, but about people. "I learned more to believe in 'high touch' than 'high tech,'" he says.

Among Calcagni's goals is to do a feature film, ideally produced abroad, "about freedom."