Known for his bold and colourful style, Sheffield-based visual artist Marcus Method is keen to celebrate the value of his craft, championing the importance of public art and staying true to one’s authentic, creative self. With the streets as his canvas, Marcus has refined his style across many public spaces in Sheffield and beyond, making art open and accessible to all.
Now the subject of a new short documentary, filmmaker Aidan Joseph explores Marcus’ creative process, highlighting similarities between the work of a filmmaker and the visual artistry of a street painter. Aidan spoke to Exposed about the new project.
What inspired you to create a short film celebrating local art?
The main source of inspiration for this film was another short documentary by a local filmmaker called Jess James. His short film ‘Make It Work’ was similar in length and approach and I found that it really stuck with me. It was such a beautifully put together short film that I ended up watching over and over again. This ignited a creative spark in me that inspired me to get out and create something similar and to put my own spin on it. I’ve always loved filming people creating things with their hands as the way it looks lends itself so well to cinema.
Why did you choose Marcus Method to reflect Sheffield’s art scene?
I’ve been following Marcus’ work for a long time, and I worked on another video with him when he was commissioned to paint one of the ‘Bears of Sheffield’ a few years ago. Since then, I have noticed his signature style all over the city, some of his artwork can be seen on a shopfront literally 10 seconds from my front door. I had reached out to a few of my artistic friends looking for a subject and my good friend Grace (also a prominent artist in Sheffield who goes by Fem Sorcell) was kind enough to put me in touch with Marcus. I think the other bonus is that Marcus’ work is, in his own words, bold and bright. I felt that his style well suited my approach as a filmmaker, allowing for quite a playful tone and a perfect match for the musicality and rhythm that I like to inject into my films. Marcus is also Sheffield born and bred, has an impressive resumé of work that spans the nation and is a lovely guy to boot.
Why is highlighting Sheffield’s art important to you?
Sheffield is my home and a city I am proud to be a part of. It is a vibrant city full of creatives that constantly inspire me. I find that the culture here is one of community and support, any hint of competition is totally overshadowed by the overwhelming support and collaboration that I see by fellow artists in the city. During the production of this film, my office was broken into, and all of my camera gear was stolen. Within hours I had offers from 20+ other filmmakers to let me borrow their equipment until I had my own kit replaced. Although I walk this city as an independent filmmaker, I feel part of a community that walks hand in hand. I love the city of Sheffield for its artistic scene and creating a short film that celebrates that is my way of contributing.
In your director’s statement, you explained the challenge of condensing hours of footage into just a few short minutes. Why do you choose this short style instead of a traditional, longer documentary format?
I would love to create longer form documentaries, and producing this film is part of an overall strategy to move more in that direction, but there are many aspects of micro-documentaries that really inspire me. I have always loved to think of my work as a musical composition that is supported by the visuals. Everything from the spoken word in the interviews to the strokes of a pencil contribute to a soundscape that becomes a musical composition in itself. Creating a short film that is around 3 minutes in length is essentially the same length as your average song, and can be consumed in a similar length of time. So much meaning, narrative and emotion can be elicited in that amount of time and part of the challenge is being very intentional with every moment that is included. I find that this limitation in production breeds a lot of creativity in my process, and ultimately ensures that a project gets finished – especially a passion project such as this one. The last thing I would want is for an over-ambitious project to stay on a hard drive where nobody can see it.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
I’m working on several documentary projects at the moment, mostly in the sports industry. These will be larger in scope with bigger teams which is really exciting. I also work as a freelance camera operator and am often collaborating with major brands on a wide variety of video work which you can keep track of over on my socials. I aim to continue to build upon my documentary filmmaking toolkit and capture stories of inspiring people doing amazing things all over the world.
You can find Aiden Joseph’s work on his Instagram and website, and watch the short film here: https://www.aidanjoseph.co.uk/marcus-method.
