Once Films is a nationally-recognized video production company from the heart of Saint Louis, MO.
With immersive cinematography and thoughtful editing, our films exists at the intersection of advertising and original content. It’s work that works. Whether we’re making a short commercial or a long-form documentary, working with a Fortune 500 company or local non-profit, we create films that are accessible, engaging, and authentic. Take a look below!
A National ADDY winner for Cinematography, this film and series showcases two of Allen Edmonds Made-in-America partners; craftspeople branded Artisans of Freedom. Filmed on location throughout the country, these documentary-style films mirror the soul of American manufacturing.
It was record setting year for United Way of Greater St. Louis, shattering their campaign’s $70 Million fundraising goal and connecting to more community supporters. Our video series provided the most visceral connection to this year’s stories of persistence, resiliency, courage, and compassion.
This film follows the extraordinary efforts of the Mt. Carmel (Columbus, OH) and Mercy Care (Atlanta, GA) Street Medicine Teams, spearheading Trinity Health’s mission to care for the poor and vulnerable within their communities. These teams were recognized with the Catholic Health Association’s Achievement Citation Award in 2019, a testament to their innovation in health care.
The Spotlight Series has been a passion of ours for a long time. It’s a ten part collection of personal vignettes of craftspeople, artists, entrepreneurs, and genuinely good people. We’ve been able to bring beauty to a world of grit and determination. Barrel was awarded the AAF’s National Level ADDY for cinematography and featured in the Communication Arts publication and gallery.
Launched in 2019, theSTL.com and the STLMade movement has brought new awareness to a renaissance in Saint Louis. This launch anthem set the tone for what the #STLMade movement would become and engaged stakeholders at all levels. We’ve gone on to partner with STLMade on countless targeted variations and champion individual stories within our community.
John Boos & Co. butcher blocks have been the gold standard since 1879, and today they are still handcrafted by men and women in their Effingham, IL shop. By engaging an audience with passion and expertise, they found amazing results online, through social media, and national trade shows. We were able to articulate what makes them special in a way that’s never been done before.
Katie & Marina, Pulitzer Arts Foundation
Since our inception in 2010, Once Films was built to spread the stories of good people doing good things. We create award-winning work for our clients as our company grows and invests in our St. Louis community.
In the summer of 2019, we moved into a new studio after 14 months spent renovating a 106-year-old, history-rich building. Once and its new space have recently been featured in Entrepreneur’s Quarterly and the St. Louis Business Journal (including the Building 2020 Award) as a reference for modern creative spaces and contributing to the revitalization efforts within the city. In addition, to be good stewards of our environment, we installed a solar array to allow all building functions to operate from 100% renewable energy. That means every camera and computer we use to create film projects is powered by the sun. And taking it a step further, in 2022, we became a Certified Climate Neutral company, offsetting the impact of our travel and supply chain.
As a creative enterprise and video production company, Once Films has been honored with some of the industry’s highest awards: 5 National ADDY Awards from the AAF (and more than 60 total ADDY Awards), 4 Communication Arts Awards of Excellence and magazine features, 24 Mid-America Emmy Awards, and a Clio Award. And what may be our proudest achievement: we’ve helped non-profit organizations raise a billion (with a “b”) dollars in charitable contributions as part of video fundraising projects.
Our work positively impacts countless lives, strengthens the community we live and work in, and pushes our craft forward in a meaningful way.
We’ve designed our business in a decidedly modern way — to make your life easy and deliver outstanding service.
First, video production is the only thing we do, and we’re more than 1300 projects in. And while people are at the core of who we are, our refined process makes us unique. We’ve internalized our entire production team so that we’re always accessible and focused on your work. We’re invested in the best and latest equipment, so it’s always ready for action. Finally, our ability to coordinate the various facets of video and film production is frictionless because it’s all under one roof.
With our own internal Producers and Coordinators, the Once Films team can be more agile throughout the process because each team member sees your project every single day. It’s constantly being worked on and has our attention. And our team truly cares, knowing our reputation for quality work is at stake.
Our goal is to make the projects and process enjoyable and inclusive and ultimately make work we’re all proud of.
A great thing about living in the center of the United States, is that it’s an easy trip to nearly anywhere in the nation. There’s a running joke amongst our partners that our luggage remains perpetually packed — ready anytime, and anywhere, its needed. From large-scale productions to backpack-light travel, we’ve got it dialed.
We’ve worked in 45 of 50 states, throughout all of North America, Central America, South America, Asia, and Europe. There’s so few places we haven’t been, we may offer a sweet deal to send us there!
In all seriousness, we know how to maintain consistent quality and seamless logistics anywhere in the world, wherever the story may take us.
Our mission is to capture the spirit of our subjects, create compelling narratives, and deliver high-quality cinematic experiences. Today, we are incredibly proud to share that our commitment to this craft has led to another exciting achievement: winning a 2023 National ADDY Award for Cinematography.
How we plan for a variety of shoots near our St. Louis studio and in locations around the world. We’ll also cover how we secure our critical gear and what systems we use to internally and externally ensure that our equipment is mission-ready for commercial video production.
Modern video production is changing. Projects are rarely completed and never used again. Instead we regularly work with clients to develop a visual library of work that they can pull from again in future projects.
Julie M., Provident Behavioral Health