About Movie Mike

Michael has spent his life chasing positivity. At his core, Michael J. Rudolph is a lifelong artist. For the last 18 years, Movie Mike has been learning and perfecting his eye in Cinematography for camera angles, composition and lighting, and has transitioned into the photography space with the same passion. He believes that once you understand Video Production, you can take those same principles and ideas and apply them to Photography and thats what makes Movie Mike a valuble player on any team, knowing the best of both worlds makes Mike one of the best hybrid shooters in his field.

Michael was born in Syracuse, N.Y. and spent his whole childhood in Broome County, NY. While in foster care, Michael would often spend hours drawing pictures in his sketchbook to capture the images he would see in his mind. However, it wasn’t until his teenage years that he would find his calling in film. Wielding an over the shoulder VHS camcorder, and inspired by the culture and power of reality television, Mike would film various stunts in his backyard with his friends. By his Sophomore year in High School, Michael would make a decision that would impact his whole life; he made the move into the Video Production program at BOCES and out of traditional schooling.

While at BOCES, his love of filmmaking took him from making short videos with friends into creative filmmaking and eventually working with musicians to create music videos. It wasn’t long after Mike began his Music Video career that he was invited to work on his first feature length film as an assistant cameraman on “Demon Messenger” Directed By Ted Nappi and Doug Bush. It was on the set of “Demon Messenger” that Mike met Monster Suit Actor Joe DeMuro, a soon to be Director of a feature film called “Tales Of Dracula”.

Under his new team Wolfbain Productions, Movie Mike gained first hand experience as the films Director Of Photography. Mike started working with light to create emotion and compositions that could pass as pieces of art and after several long months of artistic labor, Movie Mike had another film under his belt. Soon after that, Mike met an upcoming film Director Redouane Elghazi and the two would go on to make several short films together. After a decade of shooting music videos, short/ feature films and many other projects in between, Movie Mike has forged his way into becoming an outstanding Director Of Photography on the independent level.