Having an eye for creativity and aesthetics doesn’t come naturally to most people. For some, honing a camera for photography and videography comes as easy as talking does for most, or walking.
The creative industry, as we’ve seen in the past years, has grown from photo studios and camcorders to high quality pictures and top notch equipment like DSLRs, Cinema cameras and aerial drones. Capturing your best moments in still life is great, but capturing them in real time is equally as satisfying.
Anyone can hold a camera and press record, sure, but there’s arguably more to videography and cinematography than most people care to understand. There’s the simple act of capturing movement from your iPhone, and then there’s aesthetically pleasing visuals that use expensive equipment, talent, focus and the ability to see things in ways most people don’t.
Eyekast, or Eyekast- Beyond Vision, is an example of talent, focus and the natural ability to make something simple look magical on screen. Eyekast joined us to discuss just how they got into videography and what we should expect from them next.
The videography duo; Dwaine Tobierre and Wyndell Neptune, began their creative journey together in 2016. Before that, alumni from Sir Ira Simmons Secondary and Saint Mary’s College respectively, the duo transitioned from the British Army and banking to explore their talent and passions in videography and their willingness to give nothing but the best shows through their mission statement.
Eyekast is dedicated to delivering imagery that personifies excellence worldwide. We believe in providing solutions and creating ideas that are radically open to the creative collective; new and innovative to brands and culture.
“When we started we were solely focused on drones,” They offered in the introduction. “Then we later got into doing weddings, events, documentaries, and 3D mapping.”
With their feet in the corporate world as well, their reach in both the local and international creative industries sparked our curiosity.
“We started out because of my background in the army,” Dwaine explained. “I worked with a lot of drones and then it became something I did on my personal time. I wanted to learn more—do more, so I started buying my own. I got in touch with Wyndell, and we realized the need for videography here in St. Lucia, so we continued to invest in better drones, and birthed the company known today as Eyekast.
As in recent years, Eyekast has made a name for themselves in the local, creative industry. They’ve transcended the scope of videography in Saint Lucia.
“Since we do so many aspects of videography, like weddings, events, documentaries and music videos, there’s no particular style to our production. We do so much that there’s no set way to produce, but one of the things that stand out is the quality of work that we do,” Wyndell shared. “We lean more towards the cinematic side of things and if you look at our work, you’d be able to tell that it was ours. There’s a look and feel that you don’t get anywhere else.”
While Dwaine mentioned their inspiration for starting Eyekast was each other, Wyndell expounded on that and explained their inspiration came from their passion for creativity and their desire to further explore what they could do with it. “I was an artist back in Saint Mary’s College and I’ve always had a passion for art and creativity and we wanted to take it to the next level and see how far we could take that love for art and digitize it. That’s when we got into media production.”
Since their introduction into production, Dwaine and Wyndell have worked with quite a showcase of people, both locally and internationally. “Since I live in London, I’ve worked with a few mainstream artists like Popcaan, Taurus Riley, Dexta Daps and Shenseea.” Dwaine added. “We’ve also worked with Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano and Skinny Fabulous to name a few.”
In addition to their work in entertainment, Eyekast has also done production for carnival bands in the UK, Trinidad and in Saint Lucia.
Their extensive list of collaborations comes as a result of frequent travel; one of the many opportunities that videography has awarded them.
“We’ve done work for bands here and overseas and we’ve travelled to Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Dubai among other places.” They shared, “We’ve also done a lot of corporate work like we mentioned before, so we’ve worked with Discovery Education and major telecommunications services providers in Saint Lucia as well. We’ve worked with the Government and most recently did both Playlist 42 and Playlist Volume 2.”
Their extensive portfolio, both locally and internationally is one of the many reasons Eyekast stands out from other competing businesses.; Sugar Beach, Government of Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia National Trust and others. We’ve worked with almost everyone. We don’t limit ourselves to doing just one thing that’s what makes us different.
But even with a will and a way the last year has been hindering everyone; physically, emotionally and financially. The limitations that Covid-19 has imposed have been detrimental to some and a huge inconvenience for active workers, like Eyekast.
“It was kind of a perspective shift for us because we do a lot of field work. When it came to weddings, events, interviews and even corporate work, it was difficult to fit the brand into all of that during the pandemic.”
“We saw a major decline in March through to June and then we shifted our perspective into the digital market and it’s where we began to see a more successful approach. It’s also when we began working with larger companies like Discovery.”
While the challenges during the pandemic are endless, we wanted to know about those pre global pandemic, despite knowing they’re avid problem solvers.
“Before Covid, one of our biggest setbacks in Saint Lucia was the lack of investment incentives and limited access to finance and support in obtaining equipment. They explained. “We’ve also had a few issues with expectations versus reality. When it comes to the quality of work and it’s worth, we realize that it’s hard for some people to understand the value of what we’re giving them.”
Starting out as just a hobby, the brand itself and how much it has grown is one of their biggest and noteworthy achievements. “It started off as a hobby and then expanded through the army because I did a lot of jobs like weddings, and from there I left the army to do it full time,” Dwaine answered. “That there was a big achievement and a huge step in the right direction for me.”
Their quality of work, as compared to when they first started Eyekast, has improved tremendously over the years. Their main focus is “excellence personified” and in harboring that goal, they always try to outdo themselves and make something better than it was the last time. Their only competition is themselves.
In the hopes of growth, the future for Eyekast is about expanding and improving on what’s already there.
“We’re hoping to expand the business to other international markets, to be more prominent in the UK as it pertains to corporate work in the international and digital spheres.”
With a long journey ahead of them, Eyekast left us with some encouraging words for any future entrepreneurs who might need them.
“A lot of what we learned is self-taught. Whatever you need, you have the internet at your disposal so don’t let anyone tell you there’s something you can’t do.”
We wish Eyekast all the best in their future endeavors!’’
