Michael Markham

I am proud to announce that Lies written by Zhubin Parang and Directed by myself will be featured on Sparkandecho.org as the featured art for the week of July 15th.

This came about because I am curating for Spark and Echo this year. “Spark and Echo Arts is creating the world’s largest multi-disciplinary illuminated Bible with a piece of visual, performing or literary art covering every passage of the Bible. We commission artists from diverse backgrounds and showcase their works online and at live events in NYC and beyond.” I brought Zhubin to the project as I thought I comedy writer’s point of view would be fruitful and unique one for the project. Zhubin is a talented writer/performer who has been featured at UCB and currently writes for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He also happens to be a friend of mine (through my wife, they went to college together) that I have been wanting to work with for several years.

When Zhubin came to me asking if I knew anyone who films things, because Emily at Spark and Echo was asking if he could film the script he was writing so there would be more  than just a PDF to post to the site, I perked right up and offered, “Actually, I do that.” We decided that with a little more effort we could make a short film out of the piece, rather than just filming a couple of actors on a stage doing the sketch. It also afforded me the opportunity to do some comedy on film. We got together a talented team and shot it in an afternoon in June. I then edited at home and we had it done in 2 weeks.

Big thanks to Redeemer Presbyterian Church for the use of the space and equipment.

On a whim I got a few people together to make a quick short film. I got Nick Rubing-Bradway to DP and cover sound. Nick and I have worked together on several projects includes some short films he has written as directed. He was also on crew for “Fumes” a short film I directed and starred in that is currently in post production. I also asked Juliette Trafton to act with me in it. Juliette is a friend I have wanted to work with for some time. In order to make things easy, we took an old audition speech I have done for years and re-contextualized it in a new space with the addition of another charger. Juliette and I improved around the speech to create a scene that didn’t exist before.

The idea was simply to shoot something in an afternoon and play with the results. After the excitement and frantic execution of  “Fumes” I wanted work on something simpler. On “Fumes” we had a lot of new tech that I had not previously had the chance to work with. So there was a lot of ‘new’ equipment on set, new decisions for me to make, lots of new details to keep track of on top of my acting and directing. So this film was an experiment in less. I took one lens, the Canon 50mm f/1.4. I had a single lav mic to record sound (It would have been better to have 2, so both actors were covered at all times). I decided beforehand that all shot were to be locked on the tripod. There would be no movement of the camera. By eliminating these variable I was able to focus more on the composition of the shots and how they worked together. Telling the story with what at time felt like still pictures.

This is the extent of my designs for this piece, to display it here for people to see. I hope you enjoy it.

Big thanks to Jonah Sachar and Mike Staff at Jake’s Dilemma for use of their downstairs party room.

There is a password on this video: Baron

I had the distinct pleasure of working with the fabulously talented Tamika R. Guishard on her Thesis film “Jackie” a few years a go. Unfortunately I believe I ended up on the editing room floor. It’s the second film I got to do with Tamika. I look forward to working with her again in the future.

Jackie

Having grown up in East New York’s volatile child care system, Jackie Isley is armed with street and book-smarts upon meeting “Ronnie” for the first time. Looking more like her sister, Jackie soon learns that not only is she the product of a teenage pregnancy, but also that her mother is out for blood…

Jackie world premiered at Cleveland Int’l Film Festival (CIFF) and Atlanta Film Festival (both Oscar-qualifiers.) It was also officially selected for Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival and International Black Women’s Film Festival (in San Fran.)

***This film was written, directed, produced, shot, starring and edited by Black women (and Kristen Swanbeck 🙂 ***

“Jackie” – Kellye Janel
“Ronnie” – Soara-Joye Ross
Producer – Marquette C. Jones
Director of Photography – Cybel Martin
Editors – Kristen Swanbeck and Tamika R. Guishard
Film Score – Michael Kratter
Writer/Director – Tamika R. Guishard

An old world  cloak and dagger spy meets new world global cyber terrorism. . . In a nail salon.

There is a lot to catch up on here. I have been so busy with making this film happen that I have been unable to keep a record of everything here.

In November, while waiting to hear if Pinecone got into any festivals I got the itch to get back to work and make another film. This time I wanted to be in it. And the goal was to hit an 8 min run time. The longer a short film is the more challenging it can be to get it into festivals.

I called up my good friend Judith Leora and asked if I could use her short play “Fumes” from a New York Madness I was a part of earlier in 2012. She was game and agreed to come on and help produce it as well. At the same time I was introduced to Meredith Witte through a friend at church. Meredith is a commercial producer by trade and was looking for more stories to tell. She agreed to come on and produce the film as well.

With this core team in place we got started an built an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money for the film. The campaign was more than a success and we raised beyond our goal. This afforded us to rent better equipment and more lighting than what I used on Pinecone to give the film a more professional look.

I got us a fantastic location. Thanks to Rachel Miller Hyams and my wife Karen I was put in touch with Joni Johnson at Kropps and Bobbers down on Ludlow Street. She was gracious enough to offer her shop to us for a long evening in February to shoot the film.

We then had to cast the other two actresses for the film. After a few casting sessions we found the fantastic Alexandra Gjerpen and Alla Bronskaya to round out the cast opposite myself.

Judith brought in her friend Sabrina Notarfrancisco, to design the costumes. And I assembled a crew headed by Doyle Lee. I knew if I was going to direct and act in the film I needed someone I trusted as the Director of Photography to handle the camera and lights. I had worked with Doyle on one project before, and knew that was one aspect of the production that I would not have to worry about on set.

Everything came together and we shot the film in one very long night. I got to set at 8:00 pm on Saturday night February 9th (It was the weekend of the huge snow storm) and I locked the gate to Kropps and Bobbers at 11:15 the next morning. It was an incredibly long night.

Since then we have been working like crazy to get the film finished and begin submitting it to festivals. Meredith found us some fantastic editors Ryan Steele and Brendan Hogan to cut the film. These guys are amazing. We’ve been working tirelessly for the past two months to shape and massage this story and make it sing.

As of last night we are currently at picture lock. We have a movie and we need to start polishing it up. Ryan and Brendan are going to continue working on the color correction and grade, to give the movie just the right look.  Russ Gautier (who was on set all night in February as the production designer) is creating some incredible animation for the credit/title sequence. Meredith is finding us a sound mixer to clean up the on-location sound. Saturday nights on Ludlow Street sound like keg parties at times. and

The film is coming along very nicely. I am incredibly proud of the fabulous work everyone on the team is bringing to the table. The blessings that have brought it all together are staggering. I am very excited to finally share this movie with the world. We hope to have it ready for submitting to festivals by the end of May. You can see some stills and other updates about the production on our IndieGoGo Page, in the Updates and Gallery tabs.

My short film Pinecone premiered at CineKinkNYC festival on March 1st at the Anthology Film Archives on 2nd Ave in New York City. It played in the “Hooking Up” shorts program, on the lighter side of the festival. It won the Juried Prize for Best Comedic Short.

Here is Pinecone for your viewing enjoyment.

Pinecone

Written by David Ian Lee and Michael Markham
Starring: Karen Sternberg and David Ian Lee

Directed and Edited by Michael Markham

I had the chance early this month to, once again, shoot Kenyon Adams & American Restless. Here is their entire show from the Rockwood Music Hall in New York, New York.

This is some fantastic music and solid performing. Hope you enjoy!

Shame

Grindstone

Rollin & Tumblin

On The Road

Mojo and Part the Waters