Mark comes to documentary filmmaking from the art world, finding it was the natural progression from interests in photography, writing, music, and design. He was raised by a painter and a designer and tortured by two wicked sisters who were also artists. His initial higher education, at Memphis State University, included 3 years of foundation work in Fine Art and additional work in Commercial Music. He completed his studies “some years later” at San Francisco State University in the highly competitive Film Production core program. During this time he shot and edited a number of experimental films.
Post college he worked as a producer at Red Sky Films in San Francisco making some of the most engrossing miniture films in the history of television. These shorts frequently played before, after, and during the evening’s entertainment on nationally known networks including NBC, CBS, ABC, and even PBS. Though only commercials, he put his heart and soul into each one. Whatever. Seduced by the siren-call of Interactivity, Mark began producing multimedia CD-ROMs and helped found a spin-off of the film production company, Red Sky Interactive. Realizing the difficulty in budgeting for the new media, he learned many of the major software packages to ameliorate this task and gradually moved back into the creative side of production.
As his skills in design developed, he continued in this vein for several years, working both as a freelance and as employee in graphics, photography, and art direction. Currently he is Owner/Operator (just like the drivers of the big rigs) of his own outfit: OPTIPOP. He has exploited his experience in design by developing motion graphics, intertitles, and special effects for use in Still Life with Donuts.
Mary Michaud – Producer
Mary Michaud grew up in suburban Boston. Roving the swamps of an old pig farm as a child, she collected rocks and bones. She soon began making jewelry from stones, beads, shells and seeds. Fascinated by the natural world, she earned a degree in biology from Boston University where she also studied metal sculpture, jewelry design and photography.
After moving to San Francisco to pursue a master’s degree in nursing, her jewelry designs incorporated increasing amounts of rusted metal and industrial found objects. Her intentional use of primitive techniques struck an archetypal chord and found a home on the necks of bicycle messengers, social workers, movie moguls, dancers, and psychologists alike. While her homages to the flotsam and jetsam of the streets challenged people to re-examine their system of assigning social value to objects, her work as a nurse practitioner challenged her to do the same with the marginalized people of our society.
Mary now provides healthcare to under represented populations in Charlottesville Virginia. She continues to create jewelry and sculpture. Her designs include paper sculptures highlighting found photographs and ephemera. Her work can be seen at the Artisan’s Center of Virginia in Waynesboro, in various group shows, and online at www.marymichaud.com.
Filmmaking brings together her diverse talents of research, interviewing, 3-D collage, visual composition, and an artist’s eye.
