Case Studies
An inside look at a selection of our projects and the inspirations behind them.
Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, 2024
Client: City of St. Albert
For the 2024 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts in St. Albert, Holly Mazur Productions was commissioned to create a series of videos to introduce each award recipient and their work.
This series was part of an effort to bring exposure to the award recipients, and share their work with the broader community. To achieve this, our key goal was to reflect each artist’s unique personality in their video. We created a framework that brought a cohesive look and branding throughout the series, but ensured each artist profile was specifically tailored to be reflective of the individual artist.
To watch all videos in this project please see: https://stalbert.ca/exp/arts-culture/mayors-celebration/
Evening in the Garden
Client: Fern’s Flower Garden
This film was created simply to give viewers the experience of creating a bouquet at Fern’s Flower Garden. The goal was to let audiences slow down as we listen to the birds chirping, and the grasses swaying, while we take in the visual beauty of the garden. This film will act as a marketing tool to entice visitors to come and experience it for themselves.
Arab Women Say What?!
Client: National Film Board of Canada
Role: Co-Director of Photography (with Tamarra Lessard)
Directed by Nisreen Baker
“With unadulterated truth and complexity, Arab Women Say What?! paints an unparalleled portrait of Arab women living in Canada. The film offers a counter-mainstream narrative that embraces the unique experiences and perspectives of eight Arab women sharing their insights, cuisine and laughter. Amid the rhythm of poetry and music, they tackle issues of feminism, politics, exile and the yearning for a sense of belonging.”
It was a privilege to work on this film, meeting and being welcomed into the home of these women as they shared their unique stories and experiences. The bulk of this feature was filmed during one dinner gathering, which required a complex behind-the-scenes choreography of multiple cameras and lighting. In addition, we filmed interviews at each woman’s home, with a focus on conveying their personality and individuality with detail shots, and the interview setting.
Heartbeat of a Nation
Client: National Film Board of Canada
Role: Director of Photography
Directed by Eric Javier
Filmed in the small Northern Alberta community of Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation, Heartbeat of a Nation follows a father as he teaches his child how to craft a caribou drum. The drum was once a staple of the community, but many cultural practices, including the drum, were lost due to the introduction of residential schools and other forms colonization.
I was honoured to be brought on as the Director of Photography for this film and worked alongside the most lovely and talented group of people.
Welcome to the St. Paul & District Arts Foundation
Client: St. Paul & District Arts Foundation
This video was created in part of a larger consulting project for the St. Paul & District Arts Foundation. Holly Mazur Productions was brought on to fulfill an Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant with the goal of increasing the organization’s “Digital Capacity” (meaning working to expand the overall digital presence, literacy and effectiveness of the organization’s digital tools). This video was an important step along this process in helping to introduce the community to what the Arts Foundation offers. It also was created to be a helpful tool in communicating their vision, goals and offerings, to help when partnering with partners, sponsors, neighbouring communities, and grant organizations.
Along with this film, Holly Mazur Productions created a comprehensive “digital guide” to help new hires, students and board members get up to speed on the organization’s digital resources, along with an organizational audit creating recommendations for improving digital capacity in the future.
Filming in St. Albert
Client: The City of St. Albert
These two videos were created to showcase filming locations in the City of St. Albert, in order to complement the city’s new initiative to attract film productions to the area. For this project, we created two films, as well as several photos to show each location in their best light. Inspired by the holiday-ready feel of many of the locations in the city, we also released a holiday themed video with several short scenes inspired by Hallmark holiday films, to showcase the potential of several locations in the city.
This initiative’s main site can be found at: https://stalbert.ca/dev/business/stalbert/film/
Amplify St. Albert
Role: Mentor Filmmaker
Since 2015, I have worked as a Mentor with Amplify St. Albert (supported by the City of St. Albert's Cultural Services Department) to help create music and poetry videos for emerging youth artists. Each video is a collaborative effort between a youth artist and a young filmmaker, guided by myself. The goal of each video is to help teach the basics of filming and editing, as well as to create a portfolio piece to help boost the emerging artists involved. To date, this program has created over 25 videos for youth artists.
All videos from Amplify St. Albert can be found at:
amplifystalbert.ca
iDOC Project
Client: Just Powers - University of Alberta
2017-2018
Holly Mazur Productions recorded over 100+ interviews across Alberta for this muti-year project based out of the University of Alberta.
“iDoc is an intermedia documentary project tracking energy-transition research, discussions, and developments in Alberta, Canada, and beyond. In a series of over 100 interviews with scholars, policy makers, activists, and community members, iDoc records, archives and shares critical conversations about current and future energy systems”
- source iDOC website
Please visit the Just Powers Vimeo Page to find a collection of some of the interviews and media from this project.
Kakesimokamik - The Healing Garden
Client: The City of St. Albert
This short documentary, commissioned by the City of St. Albert, was created to tell the story of St. Albert’s Healing Garden, or as it is known in Cree, Kåkesimokamik. This film is created to be an honest look at St. Albert’s history as the home of two residential schools, and the city’s goal to take steps towards “learning, understanding, and walking towards the right path.”