Does your brand have great images and amazing video footage?

Alex Ardenti

Director / Photographer

Originally from Rome, Italy, Alex Ardenti moved to Wollongong, Australia at the age of three. While his parents were busy opening the family's first restaurant, Alex was busy taking pictures of the world around him with an instamatic camera he received for his seventh birthday. As Alex puts it "... the world just looked more interesting and exciting through that viewfinder." His dad's super 8mm movie camera soon became his next toy to play with. He made his first commercials at this time using his sister and pets as actors.

Upon the Ardenti family's return to Italy, Alex by now a teenager, began lifting weights and by seventeen had become the country's youngest Mr. Italy. He followed that victory by winning the European Junior Bodybuilding Championships at nineteen while in the Italian Military Police. He admits that movies like Rocky and Conan motivated him to start building his body and completely changed the course of his life. It was his success as a young bodybuilder that led him to believe that his dreams were attainable and that anything was possible if he dedicated himself to it and worked hard enough at it.

Fascinated by the California lifestyle he read about in magazines and saw on TV and american movies Alex made the move to Los Angeles in the late ‘80s. Photography and filmmaking had taken a back seat to his bodybuilding career during his competitive years in Italy but re-emerged in full force once he came in contact with Hollywood. He felt they were his true calling all along.

Even though in Rome he often played bit roles such as Hercules (Young Hercules in the Lou Ferrigno film) and countless live TV performances and interviews, it was in Los Angeles that he stepped in front of the camera professionally at this stage in his life and supplemented his photography business by appearing in dozens of national commercials along with several TV show appearances. He was selected by Ridley Scott for a 7 UP commercial, played Kelly Bundy’s last boyfriend on Married With Children and appeared several times in sketches on In Living Color and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno during the ‘90s and early 2000s.

In 2007 he founded Ardenti Films, a boutique commercial production company specializing in the health & fitness industry. The company has since produced spots for American Gladiators Fitness, UFC Gym, Coast Fitness, MUTANT, Pre Fight, Horsepower, UPLOAD, Multi Power and Scorpion Helmets to name a few.

In the summer of 2013 Juntobox Films, a company created by Forest Whittaker and Philippe Calland, gave him a green light to direct his first feature film “The Driver”. Almost simultaneously he was asked to direct “The Skinny Truth” a feature documentary on the obesity epidemic produced by Rehan Jalali and Ben Affleck.

Alex still collaborates as an editorial photographer with over 35 international publications and has produced countless advertising campaigns in the last 20 years. He has well over 1,500 published magazine covers to his credit and is considered by many to be one of the most creative and artistic forces in the fitness industry.

Alex lives in Los Angeles with his wife Stephanie Richards, three baby boys: Ashton, August and Atticus. He visits family and friends regularly in Italy and Australia.

Ardenti Films

TV commercial production and photography

With 22 years experience as a top fitness photographer Alex founded the commercial production company Ardenti Films, a natural evolution of his still photography and a perfect platform to release his creativity and lifetime passion for filmmaking. The boutique production company specializes for the most part in creating TV commercials and high-end video content for the health & fitness, sports and nutraceutical industries.

Ardenti Films hit the ground running bringing aboard several advertising clients that were already using Alex's talents for print campaigns.

Who we are

A tight group of passionate filmmakers, motion graphic artists, editors and designers that simply love what we do.

We are at our happiest in the trenches of the set or playing with our digital paraphernalia in post production.

What we do

Practically everything and anything you can think of that has to do with motion. Broadcast 30 second spots, long form commercials, web series, workout DVDs, short films, music videos and documentaries. 

We understand the current landscape of advertising and the needs of our clients. We deliver your message. We make your brand look cool because it probably is cool… we just want to be the vehicle that shows your coolness to the world.

What we don't do

Those videos with actors reading from those teleprompter thingies that look like they're cut out and pasted into a stock photo background. We are not against them and they may have a use for certain companies but we wouldn't have fun making them. That and weddings.

How we work

It starts with an email or phone call. You may have an idea for a commercial that you want us to bid on or you may feel that your company absolutely needs to have great video so you can step into this century already… either way we are easy to talk to and won't sell you on anything. We're not the best salespeople. We're busy creating cool stuff.

You may already have a budget in mind and we can tell you what we are realistically capable of doing for you with that budget. We may suggest an appropriate concept for a spot or you may want us to create your whole campaign ideology. We're not an ad agency per se but we sure do get asked to act like one, which is fine with us. 

Maybe some great still images are the way to go for now while your company grows. Maybe you need both stills and video to sell your product or services. We can save you a bundle by creating great commercials and great photography on the same project. Send us an email. We won't add you to a list. We don't have lists.

Our production workflow

The Simplified Version:

Pre-Production

-We discuss your brand's message, chat about target audiences, deicide what platforms you want to launch your content on and we come up with a few possible ideas for a commercial or video. 

-A budget is agreed upon and we sign a short form contract.

-Dates are locked, talent is booked and caffeine begins being administered intravenously. We're on our way.

Production

-The day of the shoot is the fun part. As exhausted as we may look at the end of the day we love what we do and we know that we're heading back to basecamp with some really great footage to play with.

-You are welcome to come to the set but keep in mind that it's not absolutley necessary. We deal with a large number of foreign companies that aren't able to make the trip to Los Angeles. They send us their product if it's needed in the shoot and we deliver the commercial without them being behind the scenes. Comunication is key in these cases. Lots of Skype calls.

-We keep the crew small, quick and svelte. We rarely have more than 12 crew members on the set.

Post Production

-We like to start that immediately after we wrap. Files are backed up in several places before we even leave the set to insure there is no loss.

-Usually we can get a nice first draft within days of the shoot date. Rush jobs are part of this business and we've learned to embrace them. 6 days is average for a solid first cut with original music composed and graphics added.

-Upon viewing your first cut we talk about what may be needed to perfect the spot. Most of the time our first cuts are 99% perfect and we like showing clients a product that is as close to being finished as possible.

Where we want to be

We want to keep growing and create great things we can enjoy watching on a screen. IPhone, computer or IMAX it doesn't really matter to us. Each project we take on we need to fall in love with it, just a little bit. We make it ours. If it's also ours we will embrace it, take care of it, groom it and be proud to show it.

We want to remain the David fighting against the Goliaths. It's more fun to us than watching your back all the time.

One thing we would like to stress: Ardenti Films has a passion and unique work ethic for the commercial film industry.

We absolutely love what we do and clients tell us that it's so apparent when we are on the set doing our thing.

We are not the biggest production company in Los Angeles but we deliver a top quality product for a competitive price. We run an 'attitude-free' and 'stress-free' set simply because we do our homework. We go the extra mile not because the client pays us but because our name is on the project and we only want to create quality content.

Email us directly at [email protected] or call (818) 517 5617 to talk about any ideas you may have or just for a quick question you need an answer to. Oh and we have great snacks on the set… not always healthy but always yummy. We make our shoots our high carb day.