Meet the Team - Jesse Werkman

Jesse is our in-house Project Coordinator, drone specialist and sometimes extra in our videos when needed. He started with Cineflair back in April 2021.  Mostly his job is to make sure everyone else has the tools they need to do their jobs. Acting as a Video Producer coordinating shoots and facilitating communications with clients and talent that may be required. When you decide to produce a video with us, he will be the one you are communicating with, from the design of the storyboard to final revisions of the project. Jesse will even jump into other creative elements like editing, storyboarding and filming when needed. 

What was his career journey to get to Cineflair?

Jesse started taking video classes at 12 years old at Victoria School of Arts in Edmonton. He has always been passionate about telling stories and creating visual content, taking video studies until grade 12. After graduating from High school, Jesse went into an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta in Political Science while still doing freelance video work in his free time. After graduating from university, he bartended for several years. Being named a top 10 bartender across Canada, and went on to develop cocktail menus for some of the top bars in Edmonton. Jesse even still works once a week as a bartender while at Cineflair because he loves it so much. Along with bartending before joining Cineflair, Jesse did freelance videos for clients and continued to work on creative, passionate projects. One of his creative passion projects was a documentary that was accepted in several across Canada film festivals. 

Jesse came to work with us at Cineflair through his incredible freelance work projects with Nigel, our Creative director. When the video producing role was created at Cineflair, he decided to take the opportunity to work full time in video production. 

What is his biggest piece of advice for those looking to enhance their video production content?

Jesse says good lighting is critical.  "It makes a huge difference, and you can make any video look way better with the proper lighting." For example, "the product videos recently shot for MediaCart (Cineflair's sister company) took the video to another level because of the lighting used." Jesse says it can truly show off all the product details that would otherwise be missed without seeing it in person. 

Jesse also says having a good story is also extremely important.  When filming our recent videos for Explore Edmonton, he talked about how the use of local Edmontonians created a more compelling storyline for the audience. Each of the people featured felt passionate about the places they were talking about and could best show them off.

What does he like to do outside of work?

Jesse said he likes to do "too many things." He loves to stay active by playing hockey, long-distance running and working out. He also still takes on creative projects outside of work and is working on developing his screenwriting skills. He also loves to hang out with his girlfriend as much as he can, and as mentioned, he still works as a bartender once a week at a bar downtown. 

What is his favourite part of his job?

Jesse said his favourite part of his job is all of the friends and connections that he has made along the way. He loves the people that he gets to work with at Cineflair and the opportunity to be creative every day. Jesse said Cineflair also has a “very fun” work environment and is excited he "gets to make videos 9 to 5 every day."