Pandemic what? While the pandemic did have a negative impact on many industries, it seems that the film and television production industry was able to navigate these unchartered waters AND THRIVE including our crew here at Sugar Cube Entertainment (SCE).
In what was our busiest years to date, SCE worked on many productions in both the public and private sectors AND even opened a brand new fully-equipped studio, expanding our portfolio of services available to our valued clients.
Here are just some of our top ten highlights of 2021!
1. West End Cultural Centre: Tune-In – Safe At Home
The West End Cultural Centre is a non-profit, charitable organization that promotes local, national, and international artists by fostering artistic development. Like everyone else living through a pandemic, they had to get creative with how they offered their important programs in the safest way possible.
The Tune-In – Safe at Home program offers free music lessons to youth virtually. The SCE crew used a multi-camera set up for these tutorials. Having multiple cameras allows students to see the musician at different angles making it easier to learn how to play any given instrument. Scott, Wes, Jeremy and Steven worked together to shoot these incredible tutorials. They were also edited by SCE and uploaded to Vimeo and YouTube. Check the final videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8250315
The clients were thrilled with the final results, talented kids got to continue their music lessons… All in a day’s work!
2. Chief Ken Chalmers Re-Election Campaign
Sean, Jeremy and Scott brought film magic to the heart of The Forks when they shot promotional videos for Chief Ken Chalmers of Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation in his re-election campaign in March.
The crew used a locked off camera and steadicam to achieve the desired look for this shoot. A beautiful setting and interesting subject didn’t hurt either! The videos were edited in-house as well.
3. Live Streaming for The C-Weed Band concert
SCE provided the live streaming for a concert featuring legendary Manitoba musicians The C-Weed Band! This was a 5-camera shoot for the Indigenous Country Jamboree 2021 which was a co-production with Red Roots Productions.
Live streaming has become extremely valuable during the pandemic when people can’t connect in person. Large or small events, SCE has the equipment and crew to make your event run smoothly.
Our Crew was Scott, Sam, Sean from Red Roots and Jeremy.
Here is the Indigenous Country Jamboree 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-hp8aPLYvI
4. Ebb and Flow First Nation Elections
SCE was excited to take part in the Ebb and Flow First Nation Elections, providing a hosted live streaming event. By live streaming the event, the council could remain as transparent as possible as results were tabulated.
With host Chantelle Ducharme in front of the camera, the production was executed with the utmost detail and professionalism. The clients were pleased with the way they were able to provide their constituents with video in real time during an important election.
5. Volunteer Manitoba
The world would stop turning if we didn’t have volunteers! Volunteer Manitoba’s programs, services and partnerships help non-profit organizations and individuals to enhance their capacity to meet the needs of their communities.
Volunteer Manitoba held its annual awards ceremony virtually this past year and that’s where SCE came in! For two weeks, our team of professionals with Scott and Sean at the helm shot interviews and segments that were compiled into a virtual online video presentation that recognized the outstanding achievements of volunteers in our community.
Here is the presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY73f__RTu0&t=46s
6. CWE Wrestling Presents Cruel Summer: A Live Event from Lilac Resort
A fun summer destination spot + pro wrestling… yeah, we were game! SCE provided a 5-camera live stream production for this event put on by Canadian Wrestling’s Elite which, in particular, is near and dear to Scott’s heart. (If you know, you know.)
This event was available through Pay Per View Broadcast. Fast-paced, athletic, entertaining – it’s a production company’s dream to shoot live events like these. Getting paid to do what you love… very lucky.
7. Birdtail Sioux First Nation – Healing Garden
SCE ventured to one of the most beautiful parts of Manitoba this summer to shoot footage and photos of Birdtail Sioux First Nation as they prepared to unveil their new healing garden in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Scott and Sean spent two days shooting around the community and the ceremony itself, compiling footage and images to produce a video commemorating this important event. The drone was also used and captured the most stunning images as the colours of summer faded to fall. Needless to say, we were proud to be part of this historic event.
More images from this shoot can be seen in this blog post.
8. Frontier School Division Corporate Documentary
This was without a doubt our biggest project of the year and was a complete pleasure to bring together! Frontier School Division wanted us to create a video to help encourage teachers to make the move to Frontier School Division. By showcasing its schools, programs and the natural beauty of the area, we highlighted what makes working at Frontier School Division so great.
We had 2 crews, Scott and Mel went to Churchill and Ryan and Chantelle went to South Indian Lake.
Along with footage provided by multiple cameras, including the drone, we were able to also capture still images leaving them with a large catalogue of images they can use for future marketing purposes.
The completed video will be released early in 2022.
9. The Caper – Short Film
Scott was excited to work on the short film The Caper this fall – produced by Anita Dahe, written by Jeff Eyamie and directed by Jeff and George Orallo. Scott was the Director of Photography during the shoot. It was his first time working on a scripted project as a DOP in a very long time.
Getting the creative juices flowing on the film side of things is always a great way to stir things up. We also got to work with a great crew of people which is always an added bonus! Working with “old” friends and making new ones is always a good way to spend some time. This film is currently in the editing phase and will be submitted to festivals for competition.
10. Theory Mesh Promotional Video
The agricultural world is always evolving and Theory Mesh is one of those companies that is revolutionizing the way agricultural data is tracked. They are building a digital platform for producers that allows them to track data for certification and through the supply chain. From land history to seed information, all of that data will be at the fingertips of those who need it the most. Pretty cool, right?
Sean and Scott spent a few days gathering footage to bring back to SCE headquarters to develop a video that will highlight their “groundbreaking” work which they can use in various marketing applications.
11. Bonus Highlight – WE OPENED A STUDIO
Wait… wasn’t there only supposed to be ten highlights? Yeah but this one is too good NOT to share.
In what was one of the busiest years for Sugar Cube Entertainment, we decided to open a studio. Who needs to sleep anyway, right? 24/7 hustle.
The new studio is located at 354 Marion Street, we have set up a beautiful studio space which is available for film or photography. But there’s more! We also have an inventory of items that comes with your studio rental including backdrops, lighting, props, etc. And, if you still need equipment, our various à la carte items and package rentals will fill in any gaps you might have within your own equipment needs.
We can also support your live streaming events in-house if you do not have the space for it within your organization. And we have experts you can hire to run the event if you need that too! We are here for you, people. We really are.
The studio space also includes a fully-furnished greenroom and makeup area within the studio. We are super proud of this new space – can you tell?
We have more details on our Studio Rental page.
