META puts Alberta talent on world stage, says creative director
A Migos music video featuring hip-hop heavy-hitters Nicki Minaj, Miggs and Cardi B titled MotorSport already has more than 105 million views on YouTube — and a key player behind the release is Calgary-based production studio META Production.
Emmy Award-winning producer, director and visual effects supervisor John Cameron was contacted by RSA Films/Black Dog at the request of UK-based directors Bradley & Pablo after the duo discovered META’s work online.
He was recruited as visual-effects supervisor for the shoot in Miami, directing animation, scene development and composition for the project, working closely with Bradley & Pablo and several Los Angeles-based producers. META also recruited Montrealbased Fake Digital Entertainment to assist in the execution of more than 125 visual-effect shots required to bring the vision to life. In total, more than 30 Canadian artists and production staff from across the country worked on the show.
Cameron attended the University of Western Ontario for his undergrad in biochemistry and psychology, and graduated from Sheridan College with a degree in new media.
Returning to Calgary, his early work included ESPN projects such as the Super Bowl, X Games, College World Series, Heisman Trophy and NHL playoffs, among others, before starting his own company in 2013.
A full-service production and post production house, META works on TV, film, commercial and corporate video production, and its success is due to Cameron continually pushing the frontiers both technically and creatively.
“As a creative director, I find my inspiration not only in the concept but in the people we work with,” Cameron says. “Some of the best work in the industry is taking place right here in Alberta, and META is proud to be exposing the province’s talent to an international audience.”
The Calgary company has garnered clients such as Budweiser, CBC, ESPN, MGM Studios, Shaw and Forzani Group. It has worked on set and in post-production on the third season of Fargo, visual-effect supervision on Seth Rogers/ Sony Pictures’ Future Man for its Calgary shooting, ESPN’s Global X Games and recently completed complex air-to-air production shoots involving L-39 fighter jets.
The Jet1 production involved filming the fighter jets in loops and barrel rolls, flying out of Springbank Airport over the Rocky Mountains. This spring, the project expands to involve two jets, one with a mounted state-ofthe-art ShotOver camera on the nose cone.
The video and a classy VIP Golden Ticket designed by META will be used to entice the adventurous to sit behind the pilot in a 40-minute soar over the Yamnuska peak into the mountains.
Cameron is expecting 2018 to exceed last year’s record, helped by a relationship with a partner in Vancouver that gives him an office on the west coast, and a continuing relationship with Fake Digital Entertainment in Montreal in helping spread the word on META’s experience and quality of production across the country.
NOTES
Recently appointed Polish Ambassador to Canada, Andrzej Kurnicki will make his first visit to Calgary from Jan. 19 to 22. Before his appointment, he was head of the chair, capital markets department at Lazarski University in Warsaw. He earned a PhD in economics at Warsaw University but also has degrees from Harvard, MIT and Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. Honorary Consul in Calgary of the Republic of Poland, Zygmunt Potocki has arranged for Kurnicki to be a guest of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on Jan. 19 at the concert by famed polish pianist Krzysztof Jablonski, who is currently on the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at Mount Royal University
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