Mike J., Director and Cinematographer

Video

Mike J.

Shoots what's there.

Mike J. is a director and cinematographer working across documentary, commercial, and narrative film. Mike came up through documentary, where you get one chance at the shot and no say in the light, and has directed commercial work the same way ever since.

Fifteen years behind a camera, most of them on location. The kit is small, the crews are smaller, and the first day of any shoot is spent watching rather than filming.

Selected Work
Vela — a black and yellow clapperboard carrying the wordmark, held up on a night set

Vela — Video Direction, 2025

Launch Ident & On Set

Directed the launch ident for a production house and carried its new identity onto set — slates, crew kit, the lot — so it was in daily use on Vela's debut short before it was ever announced.

Hollowell — a foundry worker pours molten iron from a hand ladle, sparks scattering in the dark

Hollowell — Direction & Cinematography, 2025

Four Days on the Foundry Floor

Directed and shot a brand film inside a working cast-iron foundry, around a live production schedule. One prime lens, available light wherever the furnace allowed it, and nothing staged.

Night Ferry — a man in a dark coat at the rail of a ferry at night, red deck lights receding in the rain

Independent Work — Short Documentary, 2024

Night Ferry

A twelve-minute documentary about the people who take the last boat, shot across one winter of night crossings. No interviews and no narration. Selected for six festivals and bought for broadcast.

Low Sun — a figure in a cream suit standing in an empty swimming pool, backlit by a low sun

Independent Work — Music Video, 2025

Low Sun

Music video for an independent band, shot in one afternoon on 16mm in a drained swimming pool. Directed, shot and delivered in nine days.

Within the Collective

Mike typically leads on brand films, documentary and launch idents — anything where the camera has to find the story rather than be handed it. Mike works with V. from the first conversation about what a film is for, and with the collective's editors and sound designers from before the shoot, so that the cut and the score are planned on location rather than rescued afterwards.

All project enquiries are handled by Creative Director V. through Influence Design Studio.

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