Troy Shantz
The owners of a local production company say they jumped at the chance to produce a trio of short videos that highlight Sarnia as a great place to live, work and play.
“When we got the contract we thought, ‘This is it.’ We can showcase the city how we’ve never seen it done before,” said Anne Lannan of Dragonfly Media Inc.
City Hall commissioned Dragonfly last year to produce the professional shorts aimed at families, businesses and retirees looking to settle here.
The company worked with city staff to write the scripts and collect footage from various events and institutions, including Lambton College, Bluewater Health and Artwalk, combined with aerial drone footage of beaches and parks.
“There’s so many more things we could’ve included but we just didn’t have enough time,” Lannan said.
The two-minute videos — Live, Work and Play — feature cameos by astronaut Chris Hadfield, musician Eric Ethridge and entrepreneur and author David Chilton.
“They all were thrilled” to participate, Lannan said.
To view the videos visit www.sarnia.ca.
Lannan co-owns Dragonfly with business partner and fellow Sarnia native Mark Bandura. They launched in 2015 and had long hoped for a chance to create a “love letter to Sarnia,” she said.
Before Dragonfly, Bandura spent more than 20 years at CityTV in Toronto while Lannan worked 25 years with the Ontario Community Newspaper Association.
Lannan said many of the amenities featured were the reason they returned to the city.
“We both wanted new challenges in our career. We started talking about this new business and knew that Sarnia would be the perfect place for it.”
They have also produced promotional videos for Point Edward and Bluewater Power.