We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Giovanni Lodigiani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Giovanni, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Back in 2008, I decided to move to California. Music composition and filmmaking was my field. But during that time I had to move on my own while continuing to provide for my family in Italy. It was a considerable risk to invest everything in this adventure also because it was the year of the economic crisis. But I saw no alternative. I am grateful that I took that perhaps somewhat risky step because today I would very much regret not having done it. I was a music conservatory graduate and had a concert career in europe. The film & TV production was what I felt the most. At the beginning of the American adventure I was also used by pimps who took advantage of me but mostly I always managed to get to know and work with people of great value. Which allowed me to learn a lot, build an international catalog used all over the world and especially in the most important US television channels. I think the best weapon is always persistence

Giovanni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been making music and visual art since I was a child. I never thought of doing anything else. The natural consequence was to graduate from the music conservatory and to draw and create stories very frequently. Video and cinematographic production arrived thanks to the translation of all the art, poetry, drawing and study of the great authors into my personal vision.

My team and I create orchestral productions, soundtracks for TV and Film but also advertising and media in general. For visual productions we have a section dedicated to animation, CGI, external drone shots, and green screen.

The approach is always artistic and therefore the result wants to be unique and not an assembly line. I prefer to do a job aimed at creating something alternative rather than following the wave of clichés.

In 2019 my short film The Gift won Best US Short Award Cinema Los Angeles. My music is used in National Geographic, HBO, Showtime, NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, The NFL, CBS, TBS, CW, AMC, and Lifetime, to name a few.

My work has been exhibited at renowned film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Berlin, Hong Kong and Venice Film Festivals among others.

I’m working on the production of a feature film and an animated short as well as a documentary which will be the third in a series. The first two have already obtained more than 1,300,000 views.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Making money being an artist is a double win. You feel richer because you have the sensation of not giving a product but of sharing emotions and inner worlds. It’s not just a material exchange or a barter of some kind. It is obvious that if the artist fails to be paid enough, frustrations begin and it is known how many artists have suffered for this over the ages. But even in those cases, the additional wealth the artist creates and then leaves to others goes beyond the money lost or gained. When a work of art is beautiful, it reverberates in others, inspires people, opens minds, nourishes the soul like food feeds the body. And if the work of art is truly beautiful, it goes through the ages without weakening, without losing value as many other things do.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

If out of laziness I put off too much something I have to do today there’s a good chance that thing later will give me problems. In my experience, things postponed almost always bring me aggravations, obstacles, loss of money and additional difficulties if not loss of opportunity. I’ve gotten used to transforming indolence into anticipation over time and I attach great importance to the pleasure of doing things when I interact with others. I think that being careful to show up on time, having a handshake that seeks a direct gaze and a sincere smile, keeping your word and knowing how to listen are all things that change us and can only bring luck and success.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.giovannilodigiani.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDgp4x0CSQA
• Other: www.trax4pro.com

Image Credits
Alan Silvestri, William Shatner, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Indiana Lyttle, Giovanni Lodigiani