Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Bove.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mike. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been working in the film business now for about ten years. I started off on lighting crews in the grip and electric departments. I did that for a while and it was mostly trial by fire, but ended up being an invaluable experience.
Around 2009 I fell in with a group that was doing a lot of work that involved traveling. For the next several years much of my time was spent on the road. We were a small crew shooting a lot of documentary content for networks such as ESPN, National Geographic Channel and Animal Planet. It was during this time I began to hone my skills as a cinematographer. It was a great proving ground and I still utilize many of the techniques I learned during that time to this day.
Then an opportunity to shoot a feature film fell into my lap – I accepted it with great enthusiasm. We shot a small indie, mostly in rural Wisconsin, and it ended up being accepted into a prestigious film festival, SXSW. From there it went on to get distribution and achieved a level of success beyond what we thought was possible. It was definitely the springboard that propelled me in to being a full-time cinematographer, which I still am to this day.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Trying to make a name for yourself in the film industry is probably the least smooth path one could undertake. Nothing is ever guaranteed and there is a lot of luck and timing involved. It’s certainly a lifestyle that you have to accept. You could be on cloud 9 and then in hell on Earth within the same day.
I think the biggest challenge that any artist or creative person has is two-fold: how to get yourself noticed and how to remain relevant stylistically.
Getting noticed is tough enough and once you do it’s easy to get pigeonholed. Someone sees you working in a certain capacity and they categorize you as that in their head and it’s difficult to move beyond it. At some point if you want to move up you have to stop taking certain kinds of work. This can hurt your bottom line in the short term and that can be difficult to cope with. It all depends on what you want to do, what risk you’re willing to take and what kind of lifestyle you want.
Working in this field is constantly a struggle. You struggle to maintain relationships, you struggle to stay on top of technology, you struggle to not make any huge blunders. I’ve had my share of the latter. But, hopefully you never repeat the mistake.
All that being said it’s one of the most rewarding industries as well. Seeing your work on a big screen, on TV…there’s nothing like it. That satisfaction is absolutely worth it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Bove Visuals story. Tell us more about the business.
My company is comprised of a single person, which is myself. I’m president, CEO, COO, CFO and janitor. I’m a cinematographer, or Director of Photography. What that means is I am the head of both camera and lighting department on whatever shoot is employing me at the time. It’s all freelance work so I hop from job to job. I’m responsible for the planning and execution of the visual style of the project in accordance wishes of the director. It’s a fantastic mix of art, craft and tech.
I can’t say I specialize in one type of thing, some DPs do, but I like to keep my horizons fairly broad. I shoot everything from commercials to documentaries to music videos to branded content and sometimes movies. Every project is a unique challenge and I like them all. I haven’t honed in on one area of specialty, I might never.
I’m proud of the type and breadth of work I’ve been able to tackle in a short time span. Some of the human rights documentaries I’ve worked on have been especially fulfilling. As a bonus, they also resulted in a couple Emmy’s. I’m amazed at all the opportunities I’ve had to travel and see the world.
Two things I value most when I’m working are attitude and speed. Sometimes things get heated on set and tempers can fly. It’s nothing personal, just the symptoms of working in a stressful environment. I try to never let that sort of thing get to me. Nobody likes working with someone who is negative and stressed so I keep myself as upbeat as possible and I find this rubs off on people around you. At the end of the day it’s just a job, you do your best in the situation and that’s that. Life’s too short to be upset about trivial things. As far as speed, I’m not a perfectionist and tend to work quickly. I know what works and won’t nitpick it for super long. In today’s production environment that is a necessity.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck is the X factor in so many things. It cannot be discounted, but the old adage of “the harder you work the luckier you get” still applies.
I think about how random it has been that I’ve met certain people who have brought me on to projects that have gone on to greatness. Or how one of my most prolific clients came from running cable for a live feed at a basketball game. It boggles my mind sometimes, because you never know. You never know how a relationship will flourish, or fail. But you have to assume nothing and put yourself out there. And maybe, just maybe, something great will happen.
Similarly, there have been so many times when a big job has either fallen through, or not gone my way or not worked with my schedule. It always happens too when you have a slow stretch, and then one job calls for a couple days and you take it, then three other larger more prestigious jobs call for the same exact span of time. It never fails.
As with anything though, I think it’s best not to be too results-oriented. Variance is a part of life, in both good and bad ways. Sometimes you ride that wave as far as you can, other times you just try to weather the storm. If I hit a stretch of bad luck, it’s upsetting but it doesn’t waver me too much. At least not like it used to! Conversely, if I hit some good luck, I try not to let it go to my ego. When the cards turn in your favor, just accept it graciously and move forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bovevisuals.com
- Phone: 4404797215
- Email: mike.bove33@gmail.com
- Instagram: boverzealous
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/boverzealous
- Other: Bove Visuals, Inc.
Image Credit:
Brian Schilling
Diego Cacho
Aaron Seldon
Jon Hamlin
Ian McAvoy
Jesse Edwards
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