Working through Cuatro Y Medio, Mexico, (Cielo Films in the US) a company he founded with his fellow director Enrique Begné in 1992, Christianson has built a reel transcending specializations. He was DP on "La Ley de Herodes," directed by Luis Estrada in 1999, and via Titan Films, develops other feature projects. Varied spots for Palacio de Hierro, GNP, Avon, Galletas Lara and Volkswagen attest to his range.

"I do best when a lot of visual input is required, but I try to do a little bit of everything," he says.

His work on various spots for up-market department store Palacio De Hierro for Teran/TBWA, showcases Christianson's aptitude for lavishly executed visuals. "Agua" captures a beautiful woman with a penchant for footwear lingering underwater. "Salon" has a sexy teacher instructing a room full of male students, only to discover one of her pupils has crib notes written all over his body. "Cupidos" has a damsel fleeing the arrows of a number of cherubs armed with bows; when she is struck her gaze falls on her own mirrored features and she falls in love all over again. "Relaciones," is set in the court of Louis XIV, complete with powdered wigs and dandy's aplenty. Christianson describes his approach to creating the worlds for the long-running campaign.

"They give me a good story line, but not storyboards. Ana Maria (Olabuenaga of Teran/TBWA) and I sit down and start pulling out all these images and somehow develop an image style. It's always slow motion, epic and huge," says Christianson. "The visual references depend on the idea. I spend something like four months each campaign dedicating myself to looking for related images."

The glitzy Palacio work is at the opposite end of the spectrum from most contemporary Mexican campaigns. Due to budgetary doldrums, Christianson says huge productions have become rare while documentary, 16mm pieces flavored with dark comedy are common among Mexican boards.

"I think Amores Perros has influenced the whole country and seems to be on the minds of all creatives," he says, siting less emphasis on visuals and more on acting. Despite his cinematographic credentials, Christianson shows no snobbery towards this stripped down approach.

"If you have a great concept and a board that calls for 16mm handheld, then work within that style; it's not so much about the format as it is what's in front of the camera," he says. "The dangerous part is what is happening in Argentina. If you start doing everything [on handheld] then it becomes the norm and is not interesting any more. Basically, you are lowering production prices, saying 'we can just go out to the corner and shoot on video or 16mm.' Then, it's dangerous when agencies come up with concepts requiring huge productions: no one is prepared."

Luckily Christianson gets his hands on boards great and small. He recently went the stripped down route in an Easy campaign out of Lowe Lintas, Mexico; then, he shot a large scale Nintendo spot for Leo Burnett, Chicago (his first for a general market US agency). "Hidden Ruins" was shot in the jungles of Veracruz, and required construction of suitably undiscovered looking ruins, Indiana Jones styling and heaps of flora and fauna.

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