Projecting the right image: video production company finds travel marketing niche.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: THUNDER BAY

A Thunder Bay video production company found some southern comfort in Central America.

Costa Rica and Mexico's Baja Peninsula have become the new cinematography stomping grounds for Westfort Productions, comprised of the uncle-and-nephew team of Bryan, 39, and Matt Popowich, 29.

The decision to reach into international travel marketing was a deliberate act.

After shooting a demo of aerial cinematography of Thunder Bay and northern Minnesota with their quadcopter drone, they sent the footage to hotels in Cabo St. Lucas.

Within minutes, one resort operator bit and offered to fly them down.

For two weeks in December, they shot videos at two resorts: Parador Resort and Spa, and Asclepios, a health and wellness retreat.

"You can see the difference in those two resorts in getting the feeling of what they offer," said Bryan. "One was very quiet--with yoga and massages--and other is a very Costa Rican experience of actually being in the rain forest with sloths and monkeys around your feet."

Bryan worked for 10 years at Mercury Filmworks in Ottawa, an animation company that serves as a supplier to Disney Studios.

Co-founded by his brother, ferry, Bryan rose quickly through the ranks to become vice-president of production, handling the scheduling and budgeting as the company grew from 10 to 150 employees.

Meanwhile, Matt was back home honing his skills shooting wedding and music videos under the banner of Westfort Films.

Largely self-taught, he began shooting video at the age of 10, experimenting with a Sony Handycam with family and friends as cast members in school projects.

"I got a reputation in high school for getting good marks because I would do videos for my projects and everyone loved them."

His breakout moment was his viral 2010 hip-hip video, My Hometown, of local rap artist Jordan Burnell's gritty and celebrated homage to Thunder Bay.

Its widespread exposure was a confidence booster for Matt. "From that music video, I knew I wanted to take a crack at this. I knew that it could turn into a fulltime job for me."

"When My Hometown came out, it really clicked in me that he's more talented than I thought," said Bryan. His award-winning colleagues at Mercury acknowledged Matt's composition, timing and use of lighting was fantastic.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

With the pull of returning home to raise his young family, Bryan felt Matt's emerging talent offered a now-or-never moment.

"I knew he had the talent and if I could bring some of my business...