Built above the trees. Captured every step of the way
Malahat Skywalk
The Client
Malahat SkyWalk is a tourism attraction on Vancouver Island, located between Victoria and Duncan on land within the traditional territory of the Malahat Nation. Since opening in 2021, it has welcomed close to one million visitors from around the world, anchored by its TreeWalk through the forest canopy and its ten storey Spiral Tower.
The Overhang is the attraction’s biggest addition since it opened: a glass cube suspended 250 metres above sea level at the top of the Spiral Tower, extending seven feet beyond the summit’s edge. It’s the first structure of its kind in Canada, built for visitors who want the view with nothing between them and it.
The Challenge
Malahat SkyWalk was building something new: the Overhang, a launch-ready expansion of the attraction. A project like this only gets one opening day. Everything before it, the construction, the install, the final walkthrough, either gets documented as it happens or it’s gone. They needed a partner who could show up early and stay through to the event itself, capturing a build most visitors would never see, then turning it into a hero video, web and social content, and a full event gallery in time for launch.
Our Approach
This project ran in phases, not one shoot day. We were on site through the construction, filmed the install as it happened, and covered the opening ceremony when the SkyWalk finally welcomed its first guests.
That range is what makes the hero video work. It isn’t just footage of a finished attraction, it carries the weight of everything that went into building it. The timelapse and behind the scenes clips give Malahat SkyWalk a record of the build itself, something most attractions never get on camera. And because we were there for the opening, the event highlight video and the full image gallery came from the same eye that shot everything before it.
The hero video itself needed a different feel than the rest. A polished, high-end look would have sold the attraction. It wouldn’t have sold the feeling of being up there. So part of the hero video was shot on disposable film cameras, the kind with a bit of grain and light leak built in. That texture reads as memory rather than marketing. It’s the difference between a video that shows you the view and one that feels like a photo a friend took the day they were there.
Our Process
1. Discovery & Planning
We mapped out the project’s timeline with the Malahat SkyWalk team early, since a multi-phase shoot like this needed a plan for construction, install, and event day before any of them happened.
2. Production
Multiple site visits across the build. During construction and install, we ran a fixed timelapse camera to capture the Overhang coming together over time, alongside handheld footage of the install itself. Drone shots gave us the scale that’s hard to get any other way: the walkway against the forest canopy, the build against the drop below it, and the Saanich Inlet stretching out past the site. When opening day came, we covered the ceremony live, capturing the guests, the reveal, and the reactions in real time.
3. Post-Production
From footage shot across the entire build, including the timelapse and drone material, we cut a hero video, a set of web and social lengths, a timelapse edit, a behind the scenes piece, and an event highlight video, plus a curated gallery of stills from opening day.
Deliverables
1x Hero video of the experience
Photo library covering both farms, for web, social, and print use
Set of short-form video assets, cut for social
Set of short-form video assets, cut for social
Set of short-form video assets, cut for social
The Outcomes
Malahat SkyWalk walked away with more than an opening day video. They got a full record of how the Overhang came together, from empty ground to a finished walkway, plus a set of assets built for every place they needed to show it: the website, social, and the event itself.
That’s the advantage of being there for the whole build. The story isn’t just what the attraction looks like now. It’s everything that went into getting it there.
