Adrian Sutherland music video filmed on virtual set in Manitoba

WINNIPEG — The latest music video from Indigenous artist Adrian Sutherland is bringing people together. The animated video for his song "Respect the Gift," was a truly cross-country affair.

Sutherland, a Cree artist, lives in Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario. The producer of the video RoseAnna Schick, lives in Winnipeg, and the animator lives in Toronto.

"We knew that it would be difficult to shoot a live action dance video because of the (COVID) restrictions," said Schick, adding she decided Manitoba offered the perfect solution – shoot the video in Ile-des-Chênes.

The small community south of Winnipeg is home to the Chroma Ranch. It's a film production facility with several green screens used in film production. Last February it was used for the Liam Neeson movie, "The Ice Road."

READ MORE: Liam Neeson movie shooting in Ile des Chenes, Man.

For the "Respect the Gift" video, they used the fully enclosed ‘Chroma-dome,’ a repurposed shed that's completely blue.

"We put in a little stage, and blue screened it so it was smooth for the dancers," said Chroma Ranch owner John Mysyk.

The Winnipeg-based dancers were shot one at a time in silhouette. Each had been given the song beforehand to prepare their choreography, and then they would come in and perform.

Source: RoseAnna Schick

"One dancer in particular showed up and she freestyled the whole thing," remembers Schick. "It's just amazing what they did. I'm just in awe of the dance talent."

From there, the footage was sent to Toronto for an animator to take over to "turn it into something cool and groovy and funky, inspired by 1970s retro graphic design," said Schick.

Source: RoseAnna Schick

Schick said she's happy with how the video turned out, and she's getting very positive feedback on it.

"It wasn't intended to necessarily have those kind of dancers, that kind of style, and that kind of design. But it all came together in a really cool way."