The Art of Storytelling
We believe that magic happens when creative collaboration is given the freedom to blossom. Our approach is unique – we aren’t bound by rigid job titles – and everyone has a voice. Together we create photos, written pieces, graphic designs and cinematic narratives (videos) that have the power to educate, inspire, motivate and forge emotional connections.
Every Arrival Has a Story
From the right characters to the right cuts, a community-guided narrative in Mi’kma’ki that works wherever audiences meet it.
Project:
OQWA’JIK: On the shores of Mi’kma’ki, it was the beginning of a new life.
For others, it was a new chapter on already sacred ground and a way of life changed forever.
Elements: Strategy, video, photography, writing, social media, design, website design and build.
We set out to tell a true community story with care. That meant starting with people, not footage. We spent time listening, earning trust, and finding the right voices to lead the narrative. Our relationship with Pictou Landing First Nation sits at the heart of this work, guiding how we asked questions, where we filmed, and how the finished pieces would be used. We also brought a young First Nations woman Keira Pratt onto our team for the project, adding lived perspective, local insight, and a stronger connection to community.
From that foundation, we built a suite of storytelling assets designed to meet audiences where they are. A high-energy trailer to spark interest. A four-minute piece for quick understanding. A ten-minute film that goes deeper. A lunch-and-learn cut built for internal conversations and fundraising. Supporting materials—banners, postcards, and posters, carry the same visual language and call to action across touchpoints.
The result is a cohesive story system that moves easily from website to social to the room where decisions get made. Real people. Real stories. And a strategy that makes every minute, and every placement, count.
This 1 min trailer introduces the people of Pictou County, how community, character, and care power this series from first conversation to final cut.
A New Chapter
Arrival OQWA’JIK Ruigheachd
Our concise cut for busy viewers. Four minutes, many voices. This cut threads together Pictou County residents, Pictou Landing First Nation, ship descendants, archivists, and the shipbuilding team to show how history and community meet in the present. Designed for the website ahead of launch, it was shared broadly in newsletters, launch invitations and through QR codes on posters and banners to convert curiosity into attendance and engagement.
Posters (community placement)
Community posters for local stores and businesses, with bold headline, clear date and call to action. QR code links directly to the four-minute film and event page.
Postcards (5,000 print run)
Two-sided, campaign-aligned design with bold headline, short message, and a QR code linking to the four-minute film and event page. Printed on durable stock for community distribution and handouts.
Retractable banners (events)
Portable, event-ready banners for launches, screenings, and partner venues. Reusable design aligned to the campaign system, with a QR code to watch the film and learn more.
Program Guide (July 12 launch)
Event-day booklet we designed and curated: schedule-at-a-glance, “Where to Watch the Big Splash,” shuttle/parking, and weekend happenings, set in the campaign system with Mi’kmaw and Gaelic titles. QR links to the four-minute film and event page; printed for on-site clarity and future fundraising use.
Built for the room where decisions get made.
Built for the room where decisions get made, and the events that keep momentum going. In11minutes, this cut connects character to outcome through voices from Pictou County, Pictou Landing First Nation, ship descendants, archivists, and shipbuilders. It’s our go-to for donor meetings, board briefings, grant packages, and future fundraising events, pairing human detail with a clear call to action and easy handoff to pledge/donate materials.
This is the full short film, a story centuries in the making, and just beginning. In 1773, the Ship Hector set sail from Scotland, carrying 189 passengers across the Atlantic in search of a better life. They landed on the shores of what is known as Pictou, in Mi’kma’ki, the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people.
The Big Splash
On July 12, we covered the Ship Hector’s side launch with a full, multi-angle build: eight cameras on the ground and deck and a 360 degree camera under the boat, plus two drones overhead to capture scale, geometry, crowd size and that once-in-a-generation splash. Cut as a fast-paced, emotional piece, the film moves from hands on hull and last checks, to the slide, the roar, and the faces in the crowd, emotional shipbuilders, descendants, community, and supporters. Sound design carries the moment (cheers, creaks, water) while purposeful pacing keeps the energy high and the story clear. The result is an event film built to travel, perfect for social, websites, press, and fundraising rooms, delivering the feeling of being there, in a tight, shareable cut.
From first conversations to the July 12 side launch, this project was built with and for the community. We listened, found the right voices, and strengthened the work by hiring Mi’kmaw teammate Keira Pratt.
The result is a flexible story system, trailer, four-minute core cut, ten-minute funder version, lunch-and-learn edit, plus a high-energy event film captured with eight cameras and two drones. Posters, retractable banners, and a 5,000-postcard run (all QR-linked) carried the story from screen to street.
We also designed and built a new landing page for the Ship Hector Society, unifying watch, learn, and give in one place:
https://www.shiphectorcampaign.com
Together, these pieces move audiences from curiosity to commitment, supporting community, education, tourism, and fundraising while deepening the relationships that make the work possible.
Nova Scotia Power
Project: Meet The Peckham Family
Elements: Video, photography, script writing
To tell Nova Scotia Power’s innovation/clean energy story, we produced a four-part series focused on one Halifax family that is embracing electrification by installing heat pumps, an electric water heater, an EV charger and other products. Using an authentic family that is genuinely passionate about doing everything they can to live sustainably enabled the series to connect with audiences: it is not preaching from above - it is the story of electrification as told by a real family.
Video examples:
Chapter one
Chapter three
Chapter two
Chapter four
Photography:
Project: Reliability
Elements: Video, photography, script writing
Nova Scotia Power’s objective for this campaign was to dispel the myth that they are reactive, not proactive. They wanted to reassure consumers that they have a reliable and safe source of power and that this is being achieved by the ongoing work of their dedicated employees. We knew that a video featuring a passionate and approachable employee would resonate with audiences so together with NSP, we identified Adam King as the main character for the video. We have heard from many NSP employees that this is their favourite video because it captures the heart of the company.
Three minute version:
60 second cut down
30 second cut down
Photography:
Project: Reliability
Elements: Video, photography, script writing
We produced a video aimed at building trust amongst customers that Nova Scotia Power has a broad vision and is innovating and updating the grid for the future. The narrative shows how Nova Scotia Power is an essential service and they are committed to working with communities to address their needs. The story is told through the eyes of Lia MacDonald, Vice President, Transmission, Distribution and Delivery and Jennifer Daniels, a dedicated firefighter for the Hantsport Volunteer Fire Department as well as a long-time business owner in the community.
Video:
Photography:
Project: Powering a Green Nova Scotia
Elements: Video, photography, script writing
When Peter Gregg, the new CEO of Nova Scotia Power, stepped into the job, NSP partnered with Clothesline Media to produce a video that would introduce him to Nova Scotians in a way that humanized Peter and encouraged an emotional connection with him.
Photography:
Sobeys Inc. & The Sobey Foundation
Project: Sobeys 110
Elements: Graphic Design, Writing, Photography, Videos
As Sobeys approached their 110th birthday in 2017, we were asked to do a large project that celebrated the contributions made by employees who were newcomers to Canada. The eight-month project, which coincided with Canada 150, included designing and building a website, creating all the content in the website, including written stories, photography and cinematic narratives. We also researched, designed and built an interactive timeline that compared important dates in Sobeys’ history with important dates in Canadian history. The website and content is in both English and French.
We designed and built this website and produced every piece of content: stories, videos and interactive timeline.
Project: Frank H. Sobey Awards
Elements: Graphic design, writing, photography, videos
Since 2018, our team has produced the videos and a Keepsake booklet (writing, design and photography) for the annual Frank H. Sobey Awards for Excellence in Business Studies. This booklet, along with accompanying videos that we also produce, is the centrepiece of the annual Awards Luncheon.
Keepsake booklet:
Videos examples:
Project: Sobeys National Gala
Elements: Graphic design, writing, photography, videos
The Sobeys National Gala was an evening to celebrate Sobeys employees who embody Sobeys’ core values. From 2016 until 2020, when the pandemic cancelled the event, our team produced all the content. Prior to each year’s Gala, we crossed the country, interviewing hundreds of Sobeys employees, taking their portraits, shooting videos. We then wrote bios of every Value Champion and Quarter Century Inductee, and these were placed with their portrait in a booklet that was given out at the Gala. With the footage we captured and the voice-over we recorded, we also produced videos that were the highlights of the Gala evening. Our team also helped with the event planning, including writing key speeches. We also designed the accompanying website that we continue to manage.
Sample videos showcased at the Galas:
Project: Magical Wishes
Elements: Videos, script writing
The Magical Wishes campaign gave Sobeys employees an opportunity to make a direct impact
on their communities. Employees were encouraged to vote on what Magical Wish they wanted to see granted for communities; five of those wishes were then brought to life across the country. Our team captured those events and produced a video for each one.
Video samples:
Halifax Partnership
Project: Talent Attraction & Retention
Elements: Photography, video, script writing
Halifax Partnership wanted to focus on talent attraction, particularly in the tech industry. To communicate with people thinking of moving to Halifax, we created two videos and photography highlighting all the great things about living and working in Halifax, as told through the eyes of people who have chosen to do so.
REDspace
Photography:
NOVONIX
Photography:
Project: 20th Annual Report & 25th Annual Report
Elements: Design, writing, photography
For the 20th Anniversary, we gathered 20 of the top CEOs in the city, bringing them together for a memorable photo shoot on the waterfront that resulted in a very well-received and unique photo. For the 25th anniversary report, we looked to the past to gain a sense of perspective and designed a report with an energetic look and feel to reflect the Partnership’s forward-thinking approach. For both reports, we also wrote success stories and took portraits to be used in the report.
Annual Reports:
Project: Game Changers
Elements: Design, writing, video production
In 2015, Halifax Partnership tackled the issue of youth out-migration. We were at the table from the start, helping to create Game Changers, a three-year campaign aimed at bringing awareness about the issue to employers, students, and the general public. Work completed for the award-winning campaign included design, videos, writing and photography. Please see examples of our design, photography, writing and videos in our Game Changers case study.
Halifax Stanfield International Airport
Project: Arrivals Journey
Elements: Video, photography, script writing
Following the pandemic, Halifax Stanfield wanted to entice travellers back with a video showing the entire passenger journey from airport, aircraft to arrivals/exit at curb. The video was aimed at increasing air traveller awareness and confidence, and to highlight that people are travelling to reunite with family and friends. Our team knew that the best way of creating an emotional impact was to find an authentic family and film the actual reunion. Working with the airport team, we sent out posters to contacts that described the project and the ideal character we were looking for. We were patient and when we found Shelley, we knew we had found the ideal person who could carry the emotional message. As you will see, it’s all about choosing the right person who is authentic, passionate and articulate.
Photography:
Bear River First Nation
Project: Seven Paddles Branding and Development
Elements: Video, design, photography, writing, strategy
Bear River First Nation is developing a brand called Seven Paddles. Initially established to revive traditional Mi'kmaq canoe routes for ecotourism in Nova Scotia, Seven Paddles has grown into much more. It now serves as a framework for guiding L'sitkuk (Bear River First Nation) community members back to their ancestral lands and traditions, which are rapidly disappearing. By adopting the Seven Paddles way of life, people can strengthen their connections with the land and culture and ensure that this knowledge endures for generations to come. Additionally, businesses can adopt the guiding principles of Seven Paddles to create new opportunities.
This project is ongoing and includes developing the brand look and feel, writing the brand narrative, developing a PR, Social Media plan, Media plan, photography, and producing a brand video. We are also helping with a clothing line. Because this is a work in progress, we are unable to share the entire project. However, below is the Seven Paddles brand narrative.
Brand Narrative: Echoes of our Ancestors
In the deep country, surrounded by wilderness, breathe deeply. Fear nothing. The answers that you seek await along the path that’s been etched from where our people of L’sitkuk have walked before.
This ancestral route crosses both forested lands and pristine lakes, with moss-covered boulders acting as guideposts. It is here that our connections to the past and our hopes for the future intersect. Each careful stroke of your paddle creates a swirl in the clear, cold water, a movement that breathes life-giving air into the waterways. Lakes, rivers and streams in turn, guide us on a journey that provides nourishment. By following the route, you become an intricate part of putting life back into the water system, just as the water system gives life back to you.
On your journey, there will be a moment when you know for certain that this land is home, and always has been. Our people were here before us and will always be here. We are the blood running through the veins of trees and the drops of water.
Our relationship to the land is as ancient as Mother Earth herself.
Seven Paddles embodies that way of life — it guides our every interaction, our every decision. It represents who we are as a people together and individually, and how we build each other up. Seven Paddles is also a way of doing business. It provides the guidelines to grow and flourish while respecting the land and each other.
We draw the Seven Paddles pillars from the Seven Sacred Teachings of love, respect, humility, honesty, truth, wisdom and courage. These are the guiding principles that inform who we are, what we do and how we do it, ensuring that when we make decisions that will impact our lives and the lives of the next generation, we do it thoughtfully and carefully.
We seek answers from the land, where the well-worn path of our ancestors guides our journey.
Stand in the forest, in the enveloping silence, and just listen. To be silent is to connect with a realm that carries the stories of our People in the rustling of the leaves and the songs of the birds. Your story is now part of the history of our land, your chapter now shared by others.
We belong to the land. It is from Mother Earth that we draw our strength and we are responsible for stewarding it, not exploiting it. We are intertwined with, and supported by, Mother Earth and her many gifts, and it is our duty to honour this relationship.
To embody the Seven Paddles way of life is to recognize that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. It is a respectful way to live with others, treat people and interact with them, build businesses and view all sources of life.
The Seven Paddles way of life builds resilience for when the waters are rough. Its foundation of love, respect, humility, honesty, truth, wisdom and courage teaches you to stay calm and keep going. Know that your strength, and that of the community, will keep you on course.
Ground yourself in the stories of our ancestors who embodied the Seven Paddles way of life. Embrace the land and all that Mother Earth provides.
All the answers are there. All the elements to the answers are there.
All we must do is be still and listen.
