MIKE JONES VIDEOGRAPHY
Videography Portfolio
Live streamed and recorded events, original marketing videos, and narrative projects – with a distinctly cinematic sensibility.
3W Medical App | Social Media Marketing Video
I had only 3 days to write, direct, shoot, and edit this all in time to meet an urgent pre-Christmas deadline. Not my usual timeline, but as you'll see, a very merry burst of guerilla filmmaking under pressure. Make sure to turn the sound on.
3W Medical for Women | Brand Video
I directed, shot, and edited this to express the soul of a unique non-profit medical clinic. A sole commenter out of 37,000 views on YouTube asks, "What in the hell do these people do?" Watch and judge for yourself.
Blessed Sacrament Church | Cinematic Live Streams
My most technically demanding videography assignment was as director of photography/camera operator for select live streamed Catholic Masses during the pandemic. Operating multiple cameras (all at once, and sometimes in the dark) in manifold locations without getting in the way, shooting tethered to hundreds of feet of cable, with zero opportunity to cover over any mistakes, were just a few of its many challenges.
The pinnacle of this experience for me was filming the long, theatrical liturgies of the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil. Instead of opting for conventional, utilitarian event coverage common to live streams, I approached these shoots more like a movie, using the camera (or rather, 3 or 4 of them) to articulate a narrative and not simply "record." So, for example, the Holy Thursday live stream opens on a spatially compressed close-up of the altar and tabernacle to visually foreground its theme of the Last Supper. For Good Friday – day of divine expiation and the disorienting death of God – I opened with a "God's eye view" shot looking down from the choir loft, beginning deliberately out of focus to simultaneously evoke the confusion of the disciples, and framed subtle cruciform patterns in the church architecture at the two ends of a long upward tilt tracking the entering priest from behind as if following Christ up to Calvary. For Easter Vigil, an especially immersive service for all attending in person, I adopted more of a documentary approach to recreate the experience of being there for those consigned to watching from home. On all of these shoots, artistic considerations responsive to the meaning and form of each liturgy motivated my choice of lens and camera placement throughout.
Here, I've "remixed" some of my favorite shots from these live streams into more digestible vignettes edited to music. Enjoy!
Top: Holy Thursday 2021, Middle: Good Friday 2021, Bottom: Easter Vigil 2022; formatted for optimal viewing in the Instagram app
Emerald Heights Academy | Marketing Video
This is an older video of mine, from all the way back in 2019 (directed, shot, and edited), and the very first project I shot on a “real” (4K) camera. It's by no means where my videography career began, but it is the point from which my current videography work launched. Although this piece contains some technical flaws I would improve upon now, I think there is great value in sharing one's roots regardless.
What else? | A lot!
From weddings to personal interviews and private videos for internal organizational use, there's a lot more I've done – including some of my proudest lighting and editing work – but haven't received permission to share publicly. Contact me to request other video samples on a case-by-case basis.
