Mark and Michael met where many film fanatics might converge. Film school. Columbia College Chicago to be exact. They met by chance when Mark was Michael’s T.A. in an audio class. After Michael slowly got over the harassment Mark would besiege upon him, the two became friends. From there they would discuss films of all kind, from the French New Wave to Iranian Cinema to Star Wars, which Mark loathes and on the contrary Michael loves. After graduation when they would sit and watch films while inebriating themselves, Mark would harass Michael about making some work, short films, music videos, anything. He wanted to put the knowledge, not, of which they learned in school, but of which they learned on the couch viewing, to good use. He finally convinced him when Mark’s good friends, Chicago band Catfish Haven, approached him to do a video.

Since Michael is a working professional in the film production business, he was a bit skeptical considering, a week before shooting there was no DP, two crewmembers and little money. Regardless of the setbacks they pulled off the shoot. A two-day shoot turned into one twelve hour day, which everyone worked for free and Mark’s mother cooked to feed the crew. Made for $1,000, Catfish Haven’s “Tell Me” was in short rotation on MTV2’s Subterranean, featured on myspace.com’s Spotlight on Indie Videos and received a rave review from Pitchforkmedia.com.