Narrative Media Team Profiles: Mike Gallagher, Director of Photography and Licensed Drone Operator

We’re going to start off this team member’s profile with a little game to spark your curiosity:

Which of these things is unlike the other?

• Personal and professional development (self-awareness, meditation, journaling)
• Being the literal inspiration for a character in a book on traveling and adventure
• Cross-cultural documentation of indigenous tribes
• Walking and riding a bicycle across the country
• Corporate IT for higher ed institutions
• Team building psychology
• Modular synth artistry
• Drone operations
• Ice hockey

If you’re like most, you can probably wrap your head around combining two or three of these things in a likely way, but matching all of them (or meeting an individual who embodies all of these talents) would be unexpected. Well, today I invite you to follow along with me as I introduce you to that individual. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mike Gallagher, Narrative Media’s Director of Photography, Assistant Camera Op, Licensed Drone Pilot, and real-life unicorn (ok, maybe I’m kidding about that last one. Maybe).

Seriously though, looking at the list above – some of the adjectives that come to mind are fearless, brilliant, resilient, curious, skillful, cerebral, multi-faceted, and compelling – and that’s without even knowing Mike. After sharing approximately one hour with him on the phone, I can tell you it’s all true and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.

So how did this tech-head, hockey-playing kid (which sounds anything but stereotypical) connect with Narrative Media?

A few years ago Mike started doing drone operations for higher education and sports organizations in and around Philadelphia, and that’s how he met Clay Hereth, DP and Tom Quigley, Director and DP (read through each of their profiles for more insight). Having much in common with the two and being a licensed drone pilot made Mike a natural fit into the tight-knit team of crew-become-family that is Narrative Media.

When asked to describe his experience working with this crew, Mike speaks highly of Narrative Media’s leader, Andrew Poag, and the whole team (which comes as no surprise considering it’s been a common thread tying each of these conversations together).

On being a drone operator in the film production field, Mike explains that things don’t always go as planned, but moreseo on projects with other companies than with Narrative. “It’s a new frontier. I’ll ask a handful of questions because sometimes things don’t work out on other shoots” (for example, permissions, no-fly zone restrictions, unsuitable weather), “but Andrew is always super on top of that stuff and he’s always thinking ahead.”

Which role Mike will play in any given production “depends on the client and how Andrew envisions it,” he comments. Mike’s personal visual style is a derivative of his own passion projects, which involve [cultural work] filming indigenous tribes in Puerto Rico and South America, as well as introspective musical media. He’s very transparent, open, and flexible when it comes to what type of style is needed on any given set or project, and so he might find himself working as Director of Photography, Assistant Cam, or B-Cam when he’s not flying drones.

“What we do is not straight documentary, and it’s not straight commercial –

it’s kind of a mix – it’s like a documentary but approached in a cinematic and interesting way,” he says. A former officemate of his coined the term “documercials” for the type of work Mike frequently does with Narrative Media. In these cases, where the more esoteric and artistic styles might not align with the straightforward and linear nature of a higher ed or healthcare project, Mike might work as Assistant Cam (AC) to Clay or Tom. The AC is responsible for coordinating all of the tech-related needs of the Director of Photography, sort of like a supply facilitator. “If you’re working with a DP that you like, you have more motivation as an AC to know what they need and set them up well.” For example, Mike is very familiar with the shooting styles of the other team members, so he can innately anticipate what they are seeing (creatively) and offer suggestions on lens changes and other things accordingly.

These are roles that Mike enjoys and finds excitement in, both because of his tech background and because they can be a lot of fun. For example, when Mike is doing B-Cam work, oftentimes it’s up to him to get an alternate interview angle or grab b-roll footage from a secondary location. Other times he operates the gimbal, a camera-stabilizing device that allows for smooth and fluid footage while in motion. On Narrative Media’s feature of Brian Propp, Flyers hockey legend who completed stroke rehab with Bancroft, Mike got to operate the gimbal on the ice, skating around alongside Propp. That was an awesome experience in itself, but the even cooler thing is that Mike got to be in two places at once – there on the ice with a sports icon as well as in the mind of the lead DP, contemplating his visual style, point of view, and effortlessly capturing the mood and framing of the project so that nothing was disjointed to the end viewer in terms of perspective.

Mike credits his project management experience with being skilled in this area.

Especially coming from a background in IT in higher education where he notably interfaced with project managers on a daily basis, the parallels are evident. “It’s a test of a good producer/director,” he says. “The final product should be seamless and you shouldn’t see all the little decisions that went into making it. It takes a lof of delegation and a lot of trust. Whether you’re looking at a building that needs to be built to outfit 200+ classrooms, each with a certain amount of equipment, or a film set – there are a million decisions that need to be made in order to ensure that the final product represents one cohesive working environment.”

The type of collaboration and flexibility required to support a smooth on-set experience are unifying elements of crew compatibility and job satisfaction. When putting crews together, Mike likes to think in terms of “What’s the stress level going to be with this person?” because a relaxed and happy crew is much more conducive to confidence in the overall product. Mike commends Andrew’s organization and efficiency as “the things that stand out the most after working with a lot of other production companies.” He goes on to say “Andrew is one of the better leaders in the city. With him, it doesn’t matter what your role is because he lays out what’s going on for the day and how it’s going to be done, but he also leaves a lot of room for creativity. Being articulate and well prepared, on top of being a good listener, gives you time and space to allow for suggestions and questions and feedback to come in.”

Perhaps another reason Narrative Media is as much in-demand among its clientele as with its crew and others who might aspire to come onboard is its reputation for high morale, “all-around respect,” and being the type of company that people want to work with. Mike describes the team environment and creative process as “really professional but also casual at the same time so it feels like there’s not a lot of pressure on us,” highlighting the fact that everyone’s “sort of even walking in.” Another byproduct of that is the motivation it infuses. “It kind of doesn’t matter what the job is at this point, I’m going to walk in with more motivation than usual and my brain will be more alert because it’s Andrew. He instills a desire to do well because you respect him and because you can trust his crew.”

A typical work day on set with Narrative Media is jam-packed, ambitious, and exciting. Andrew wants to accomplish a lot but, because of his efficient and level-headed approach, “it never feels like it’s too much and it’s never a drag. There’s always a sense of ‘alright, cool, what’s next?’ because everyone is very knowledgeable and truly a high-end professional at their task. It sets the crew at ease.” Mike also explains that Andrew acknowledges the pressure that each crew member puts on themselves to perform at a high level, making him one of the most “laid-back” directors in the industry.

Consistently laid-back, low stress productions? Is that even possible?

You may wonder, where does all the energy go, then? Well, there’s an answer for that too. Mike is able to divert his energy to influencing the group dynamic. He brings a high level of motivation and excitement to “just about everything,” Andrew says. When asked about this, Mike modestly explains that he simply tries to elevate the energy on set by paying homage to one of his favorite people to work with. Through his foundational work in professional development, Mike has adopted the philosophy of “surrounding yourself with the people you want to emulate,” and he channels a musician friend who consistently “brings personality plus” to everything he does. Mike demonstrates the value of being someone who can uplift the team during the ebbs and flows of a project, whether through effort or comedic relief, aside from whatever talent one might bring to the table. To Mike, forming bonds and establishing camaraderie with crewmates are key components of achieving a beautiful result.

Having “people who are like-minded and enhance the environment” means everything. “That’s what I like to do the most, is to build out crew,” he says. “I really enjoy taking personalities and matching them together and seeing how they work and play off each other, which is a super important part of any crew – to have someone else who’s sort of like a universal blood donor is invaluable.”

It’s not surprising, then, that Mike still does a lot of professional development work. For the past several years he’s worked with a mentor he met while at St. Joe’s. Much of cultivating leadership skills can be traced back to self awareness, or deep listening to self and others, but understanding personality types and taking in what people are really saying in order to translate it and communicate well are paramount. “You have to question and challenge everything,” he explains. The psychology of understanding other people is one of the most crucial parts of being on set, Mike affirms, and he does plenty in his personal and professional realms to hone that. The most meaningful exercise in his personal life is a daily meditation and journaling practice that he transfers and adapts to being on-set. He likes to do “group problem-solving: there is a prolonged silence to start, and then a case is presented by single person for five minutes without interruption. The other people in the circle then share their thoughts,” (with careful distinction between thoughts and advice here), “leading the presenter in another direction of their own volition.” So it’s like an embodied, conscious, collective case study playing out in real time. Super cool.

In his personal world, Mike is an avid modular synth instrumentalist.

He cites modular synth as his “lockdown therapy” at the height of the pandemic to stand in for the camera work he was missing. This started him on a fascinating path of aspiring to do film scoring in the future. You may have heard it said that multi-passionate people and those who are always creatively evolving in their own lives are the most productive and influential artists. Mike’s mentality of mentorship carries over into his love of music, as he regularly gleans knowledge from personal friends who are gurus in the experiential and technical aspects of whatever it is that Mike wants to accomplish.

His diverse passions don’t end there, though – another intriguing fact about Mike is that he walked and bicycled across the United States ten years ago, traveling on foot from Philly to Iowa and then pedaling from Seattle to San Francisco (sidebar – this is where Mike became the basis for a character in the book, The Road Headed West: A Cycling Adventure Through North America,” by Leon McCarron.) You may recall this outdoorsy, adventurous motif from reading the profiles of Clay Hereth and Tom Quigley as well, reinforcing common threads that, although not particularly related to film production, make the group even stronger as a whole.

“After understanding that we’ve all been through similar experiences, I can now connect with them on a way deeper level. There’s just something that happens when you exert your body in that way, there’s a mental toughness and strength that come from accomplishing a goal like that – and it helps you throughout life and especially on set. With those guys it’s hard to get stressed or lose your head because we can compartmentalize and break up a problem to figure it out. It’s like a huge superpower that the three of us have.”