Mike Patterson, M.F.A.

Adjunct Faculty

213.821.4396
patte1@usc.edu
LPB 200

Mike Patterson is an experimental film artist and a commercial film director specializing in TV spots and music videos. After graduate studies with Jules Engel at CalArts, Patterson was brought to the attention of record executives with his Student Academy Award winning animated short Commuter. He began his career in music videos in 1985 by animating the epic MTV hit Take On Me for A-Ha, and teamed with his wife Candace Reckinger to direct a string of MTV hits that include, Suzanne Vega's Luka, Sting's Be Still My Beating Heart, Donald Fagen's Tomorrow's Girls, and Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract, which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 1990, plus videos for seminal Los Angeles punk band, X.

After nearly a decade in music, Patterson shifted his focus to commercials, combining his animation expertise with live action storytelling. From 1993-2002 he directed at Rhythm and Hues Studios working extensively with 2D compositing and 3D animation. As part of a hands-on style, he works as his own storyboard artist, designer, and on-set effects supervisor. He's directed award-winning spots for Nestle, NBC, FOX, General Mills, and Yoplait, as well as receiving Clios for Intel and Reebok.

In the fall of 2006, his film Commuter was added into MoMA's permanent collection along with a number of Patterson/Reckinger music videos. He remains active as a commercial director and is currently working on an animated short film.