Cody Coyote & Vision Quest - Northern Lights

Last summer I was at a small grocery store on the Sunshine Coast shopping for wine when my phone rang and a random Ontario number popped up. I answered and discovered an aboriginal hip hop artist named Cody Coyote. He mentioned he would be in the Yukon in a few weeks and wanted to shoot a Hip Hop video with his collaborators, local Whitehorse group Vision Quest. I was hesitant at first but excited once I heard the song. I hadn't done a music video in a while and I've always loved doing them as it's a chance to flex your creative muscles and work with other creatives/artists to make something great. 

Check out the video here: https://vimeo.com/202851742

*** Big shout out to Robert Postma for the Northern Lights overlay footage (http://www.distanthorizons.ca)

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Council of Yukon First Nations - Working on Wellness Campaign

The Yukon Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) got in touch a few months back looking to create a video promoting their Working on Wellness (WoW) campaign - a program that helps incorporate & promote healthy practices in the work environment. Making engaging and creative videos of this kind can be somewhat challenging. While they can be done effectively, they take a somewhat large budget to do well (ie. large cast + crew + lots of lighting = large budgets). And even then, at the end of the day you have people around an office doing office-y things like eating an apple, stretching, smiling wile they hang out at the water cooler, and having a grand old time. So the answer? Animation! Animation gave us the flexibility to get the message across in a playful and engaging way. With animation, we can have the elements (ie. clock, computer) bounce and jiggle into screen; we can over emphasize facial expressions that in Live Action (using real people) would seem glib or sarcastic - the options really are somewhat limitless. In the end it's just a much more dynamic way to get this particular type of messaging across. Could we have done it using Live Action? Sure. But it's about the most effective  (and cost effective) tool for the job and for this project I think we made the right choice! Check it out for yourself at the link below.

https://vimeo.com/191847886/c4e1102e32

 

CYFN MASTER ANIMATION v1 480p.00_00_12_01.Still001.jpg

To compliment the animation, we also did a number of interviews with participants in the WoW pilot project. The aim was to get a sense of the challenges and successes of the program. This video was more in depth and geared towards workplaces that were in the early stages of implementing the WoW program.

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Golden Predator Inc.

Golden Predator Inc. invited me out to their 3 Aces site a few months back to create a short marketing video that would give potential investors a sense of the area and the operations. This was a part of the Yukon I had not explored before, so it was a real treat to fly in with Archbould Photography and the fine folks at Alkan Air. As we skimmed the tops of the Selwyn Mountain Range on our way home; gazing out the window at the landscape below, I couldn't help thinking we live in one of the prettiest places on earth. 

Video here (note: they were only interested in capturing drone footage for this one): https://vimeo.com/182027732

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Cody Coyote Music Video

Cody Coyote, a First Nations Hip Hop artist based out of Ottawa was in the Yukon last week to shoot his new music video "Northern Lights" with local collaborators Vision Quest. We decided on a  concept that would show the beauty of the North (Cody had never seen a real mountain before coming to the Yukon) and highlight some of the Yukon FN youth in their traditional regalia. Our first location was Emerald Lake (a 45 minute drive from Whitehorse), known for the emerald-like soil that shimmers below the surface. I suppose it could just as easily be called "Northern Lights Lake" as it fit pretty nicely with the title of the song. Here are a few BTS pics from the shoot. The final video should launch in a few weeks.

***An article on Cody Coyote for CBC News "Aboriginal hip-hop artist Cody Coyote visits Yukon for music video shoot": http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cody-coyote-yukon-video-aboriginal-hiphop-1.3604571?cmp=abfb

****Interview with Dave White for CBC Radio: https://soundcloud.com/cbcyukon/coyote-brings-urban-indigenous-hip-hop-north