We’re a video production outfit based in the Pacific Northwest that specializes in video production for the outdoor industry. With the mountains in our backyard and the saltwater in our front yard, we’ve spent the last eight years telling stories, and helping brands make meaningful connection to their audience. Our mission is simple: Tell stories that move people.
While every project is unique, here are a few types of projects we’ve helped our clients with in the past: documentaries, commercials, product videos, brand campaigns, and social content. Take a look at the following Case Studies to see examples of how we’ve helped other brands solve specific problems.
A Note From Our Founder:
For the latter half of my life, I've peered through the viewfinder of a camera, constantly pursuing stories, unique camera angles, and immersing myself in the natural beauty of our world. I prefer to remain behind the camera, which is why I've tried to limit personal mentions on this website, except for this section. However, in the spirit of practicing what I preach, here's my story.
I grew up in Bellingham, Washington, and was fortunate to spend my childhood amidst the San Juan Islands and the mountains of the North Cascades. From a young age, I was the kid who dedicated his summers to building go-carts, treehouses, or tweaking my mountain bike to shave off a few grams. Yet, it wasn't until a friend brought his camera to our local mountain bike hill that I discovered the world of filmmaking. A YouTube channel and a million views later, I realized that filmmaking seamlessly merged my love for creativity into a format that had the power to truly move people emotionally.
Today, Port Side appears drastically different from its early days. We've collaborated with leading outdoor industry brands, started a podcast featuring interviews with 145 marketing industry veterans, and shared impactful stories that have reached across the nation. But, as I think about it more, not much has changed. I still feel like that kid running through trails with a camera in hand. To this day, my drive is fueled by passion, curiosity, and the unwavering goal of captivating and moving people through compelling storytelling.
- Cole Heilborn, Producer and Creative Director
The beginning of every project starts with a lot of questions. We need to understand your goals, marketing strategy, call to action, audience, timeline, and budget. We’re a results-driven production company which means every project we create should be working to achieve your goals.
With our goals in place, now we can begin the creative process. We work with our clients to develop project briefs, treatments, and scripts. Need help to figure out the creative? We can do that too.
Film production is a logistics puzzle. We handle all of the logistics in-house to ensure a streamlined production. In this phase, we manage things like crewing projects, talent, locations, permitting, schedules, call sheets, etc.
We design each production to fit the needs of the project. A typical crew size ranges from three to twenty people on set. Much like your crew might change depending on the activity, so does ours. Every project requires a slightly different skill set depending on the activity unfolding in the viewfinder. We have an extensive list of collaborators we hire per-project to ensure the right team for the right job. Need a crew who understands the nuance of mountain biking? Check. How about rock climbing? Yup, we can do that too.
With the footage in the can we handle post-production in-house to shape your vision into reality. In this phase, we handle the details like sound design, mixing, and coloring. Our job ends once we’ve handed you the media files.
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