Endless Summer [Music Video]
2 days, and a few locations later...
We must have trekked over half of New York to shoot this video. A superb and fun loving crew, lead by a great director. It was seriously an honor to work with famed Hip Hop photographer turned director, Jonathan Mannion, to bring this video to life. Some rather long days ultimately ended in a jam-packed Fette on Milk Studio's manhattan balcony. Milke even did us the curtesy of premiering the video on their site. How nice of them. Perfect end to a perfect video.
Across The Tracks pt 1
Things have been moving along pretty swiftly. I've been knee deep in pre-production for my next project. A short film entitled "Across The Tracks"
Our "tracks" location
The Plot
The film follows Ella and Tara in racially charged 1960s GA. Both sisters were born to African American parents, but through a unique twist of fate, Ella was born with fair skin. After a childhood of prejudice and bullying due to their “blackness" Ella saw her chance to change her destiny when schools were desegregated. That year Ella decided to become white.
In the film we witness two sister's struggles, the incident that drove them part, and how their relationship has maintained over the course of 40 years.
Conception
I wrote this film with Emmy Award winning super producer Kimberly Y. James. We both drew on our own experiences as minorities and growing up in a world where things were different on the other side of the tracks.
Our Initial script blocking w/ index cards
This film is not without its challenges. We've broken almost every rule in the book that pertains to shooting a short film. Traditionally you shoot a short that can be done relatively easy, a simple script, a couple of friends who have a weekend free, a VERY small budget and a location that you can easily get to from where you currently live. But our story is anything but traditional...
Instead we opted to embrace the hurdles that are ahead of us, and bank on the simple notion that this is a film that people will want to see. The rest would fall into place, and so far we've had a streak of amazing luck and support in getting Across The Tracks up and going.
LOCATION
We're shooting this film in Arlington, Ga. A small town close to the edge of the state, where my grandparents were born. Its a very picturesque town that still maintains some period piece charm of the late 60s. We took our story infront of the town council and immediately they green-lit us for production. With their blessings in tow, we began location scouting.
CURRENT STATUS
We've gotten alot of support early on and our team is strong. Across The Tracks has received 501(c)(3) non profit status through From The Heart Productions and we're currently gearing up for crowd-funding through Seed&Spark. I'll be updating on all other production details as we draw ever closer to principle photography in October.
Michael Cooke Director/Co Writer - Across The Tracks
Arrow Clothing 2014
Quite a busy month, its so often I forget that those visiting my site may like to know what has been happening between now and then. The latest has been my arrow clothing commercials have finally launched.
We shot these micro spots over the course of two days in the Hamptons and Rye Playland in upstate New York. Check out a few of my favorites and some of the BTS photos that were captured from the set. Oh and on a personal note.... Those swings at the end were not as fun as you might think.
-Mike
Director: Mary Crosse
Director of Photography/Editor: Mike Cooke
Colorist: Jordan Bramlett
Client: PVH
Shot on RED EPIC with Canon EOS lenses.
