Constantinos Tseklenis is a conceptual artist – living & working in Athens, Greece, available for audiovisual projects all over the world - focusing in all areas of audiovisual productions such as Documentaries, TV Programs, Movies, Events, Interactive Visuals, Web Designs, 3d Animations and finally Urban Lighting Developments. He also designs his own series of Led Light Fixtures branded as Lightme and other such as Balloon Lights and Urban Development Products that cover a wide range of demands in his Lighting Projects. Also a photographer – web designer – creative director – director of photography – lighting designer – animator – editor – writer – film director – producer and founder of Smartframes Productions Company.



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Full Bio

 

Constantinos Tseklenis was born in Athens on July 22 1963.

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His father is a well-known textiles, fashion, interiors and industrial designer while his mother a business woman and a keen photographer. Although he was born in Athens and went to school in Greece, he had the opportunity in his early teens and during school vacations to follow his father on business trips around the world, mostly in New York City, getting acquainted with different cultures while improving both his English and French.



Constantinos was a keen Water Skier and a Windsurfing champion in his early years and won the Greek Sailing championship for two continuous years. He also finished in the 10th place during the European Windsurfing championship in Lake Balaton in Hungary in 1980. Water Ski, Barefoot, Sailing and Scuba Diving Cinematography remain until today his favorite recreational hobbies and extreme acts of escape.



Since his childhood, photography and filming were his beloved hobbies. Shooting experimental Super 8 mm films and photographing his father’s creations or attending fashion photography sessions and advertising filming, gave him the opportunity to improve his knowledge in Photography and to gain recognition locally even before his studies.



He attended Moraitis & I.M Panagiotopoulos High Schools in Athens and graduated in 1981. He was then accepted into Boston University and began his studies in economics but after 9 months during his freshman year, he decided to quit and change his field of studies in Cinematography.



He graduated in 1986 as a Filmmaker after giving exams and submitting a student film to the Board of the Stavrakos Film School in Greece. Working members and teachers of the school were moviemakers George Panousopoulos (Mania 1985) and George Skalenakis (To Nisi tis Afroditis 1965 starring Katina Paxinou). Scalenakis was a talented director and an old friend of Milos Forman back in their education years in the Prague Film School.

 

He completed his obligatory military service in Greece during 1986 – 1987. Since he couldn’t avoid it, he decided to have fun both as a military cinematographer and as a free fall diver parachutist in the Greek Commando Forces participating in over 78 jumps.



Both his Scuba Diving and Parachuting training proved to be very helpful in his future career as a cinematographer. His years of experience in shooting techniques as a cameraman in both these activities was a virtue that made him very eligible as a Cameraman.



Since his student years he worked as a photographer and more often as a fashion photographer for a plethora of Fashion magazines in Greece. He collaborated with many Advertising Agencies in Greece like BBDO, McCann Erickson, DDB Needham, Lintas and Saatchi & Saatchi shooting famous products campaigns.



He created a shooting mannerism inspired by the aesthetics of Richard Avendon and the color mastering of Cheyco Leidmann. Kodak and also Fuji Films sponsored him in Greece with a stock of high quality Fuji Daylight & Kodak Ektachrome IR E6 Reversal experimental emulsion films for testing, experimenting and final shooting. Polarizing filters, underexposed scenery with bright-colored main subjects, blue and red contrast elements, sensuous art direction or provoking locations specified his aesthetics & mannerism technique.



He began to work as a production coordinator and later as a production designer in the greek movie industry. His talents were recognized rapidly ascending and working on all fields of movie productions.



He has worked as a Cameraman, a Director’s Assistant, a DoP, a Production Designer and finally as a Conceptual Artist, a Creative Director and a Film Director in the Production Industry of Advertising Films.



He filmed, directed and produced over 280 Advertising Films, 15 Documentaries, 5 TV Programs, 21 Major Industrial Corporate Videos, 20  Music Video Clips, 2 Theatrical Productions, over 20 Big Multimedia Events and he has participated in many other native movie productions either as a DoP or as a Director in Greece.



He served as a manager & creative director of the following two major production companies in Greece. ”Cinemax Productions”, a subsidiary company of the BBDO GROUP and “Smartframes Audiovisuals” which was founded in 1995 and until today is financing all his creations as a producer and a movie maker.



Although his mentor in cinematography was the famous Greek DoP Christos Triandafyllou, later he worked as an assistant next to DoP masters like Aris Stavrou and George Arvanitis who lit Theodoros Agelopoulos films and as a Director’s Assistant to George Panousopoulos, Pantelis Voulgaris, Nikos Nikolaides, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Nikos Koundouros, Franco Zeffirelli and the Taviani Brothers (Paolo et Vittorio).



As a conceptual artist and a film editor, having fluent knowledge of the digital technology spectrum, he developed many audiovisual & multimedia design innovations making Gesture Movement Interactive Applications to collaborate with his Broadcast Digital Media Final Projects thus creating a new perspective in Interactive Audiovisual Content and Events.



He also studied and mastered the film color process both as a photographer in the beginning of his career and later as a DoP and an Editor. Although film remains his favorite media, he tested, worked and invested a lot of money in High End Video Definition Cameras.



Lighting and Photography were always his basic tools in creating a superb aesthetic atmosphere in all of his projects so he had to invest a lot of time testing Professional Digital High End Cameras like Red One, Sony F3, Sony Cinealta F35, Panasonic P2 AVX 201 & AF100, Arri Alexa, Canon & Nikon Video DSLR Cameras, etc. He mastered these cameras and reconstructed their default log files in order to match his shooting demands. Also he developed many film like digital post production techniques.



Since 1995 he has been collaborating as a creative director with many cultural institutions in Greece directing their exhibitions and events audiovisual demands like The Onassis Foundation, The Benaki Museum, The Byzantine & Christian Museum, The Cycladic Art Museum, DESTE Foundation of Modern Art, Hellenic World Foundation, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank, Eugenides Foundation and Megaron Athens Concert Hall.



His image & video banks, all based on his shooting research & hoarding of the Cultural Treasures of Greece, is considered one of the best in Greece. Many Film & TV productions world-wide have used his image bank material in their final projects. This material is divided in two categories, the pre-digital era bank and the digital world bank. There are about 3000 hours of selective shooting material that covers sections like nature, time-lapses, sea world, traditional customs & arts, artworks, relics, monastery life, cooking, wines, aerial  shots, underwater world, science, the animal kingdom, etc.



He developed his first Feature Documentary in 1997 titled “Macedonissa” based on the biography of the greek painter Thalia Flora Karavia & Angeliki Metallinou Tsiomou a school teacher and a warrior of the greek resistance during the Bulgarian possession in 1908 (she became later the first woman to receive a – Doctor in Education – Professor’s Degree recognition by the Greek Academy).



The feature he filmed, directed and produced was ordered by the  Thessalonica Cultural Capital of Europe Organization in 1987 founded by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Anna Synodinos the famous greek tragedian actress incarnated both leading roles in the movie. This documentary was nominated in 1988 with the first award in cinematography in the European “Agon” Festival of Historical & Archeological Films.



He also directed many awarded documentaries like Epirus Architecture, Santorini an Homage to Beauty, Thalassa, Graffiti, Wine Secrets and Byzantine Monuments of Macedonia.



Finally “Omar” based on the european performances tour of the (turkish-egyptian orient) multi instrumentalist musician and composer Omar Faruk Tekbilek in a collaboration with “Iassis” the greek ethnic jazz group in 1999. Omar is one of the world’s foremost exponents of Middle Eastern Music, honored as a peacemaker and a virtuoso. Omar Faruk is also the most sought-after musicians whose work transcends political boundaries while maintaining traditional sensibilities in a way few artists can manage. The documentary was aired by the greek & turkish television.



He has directed many awarded commercial films in Greece for products, brands and companies like Philips, Emboriki Bank, Citybank, Kahlua, Crispies, Tefal, Hyundai, Always, Knorr, Maggi, Generali Life, Insurance, Lagosina, Amita, Crispies, Softex, Playboy, Kymco, OPAP, Cirio, Barilla, Cutty Sark, Titania Hotel, Sani Resort and finally Greece National Tourism Organization.



He is the founder and creative director of Smartframes Audiovisuals, his private production company in Athens, equipped with: Red One, Sony F3, Arricam LT, P2 Panasonic and DSLR Cameras, Cooke & Angenieux PL Mount Lenses, Final Cut Pro & Avid Editing Suites equipped with Aja Kona & Mojo DX Capture Cards, Motion, Shake, Logic, Korg Synthesizers, Soundbooth, 16 Channel Digital Recording Console, AKG Microphones, Steadicam Unit, Griping Equip, Accessories, Dollies, Lighting Equipment, Tripods, Mic Guns, Broadcasting Van, plus a well-trained, professional and very experienced 10 member camera crew.