Video production and music are two of Doug Darling’s favourite things. The owner of Winnipeg video production company, Tripwire Media Group, the 34-year-old is living the dream. He has a sustainable cinematic career and still has time to rock out on the side.

Tripwire creates testimonial, promotional and music videos, TV commercials and mini-documentaries. He and his employees basically shoot whatever a client can throw at them. Yes, everyone and their dog is a photographer/videographer, but Darling believes Tripwire has some aspects to it that set it apart. 

“I think the one thing we really pride ourselves in is the customer experience of it,” Darling says. “I honestly believe that half the importance of video projects is the product and then I think the other half is the client relationship. 

“I think we do a really good job at storytelling. It’s not just about making a video that explains their details or their information, or just people with cameras who just put it all together and there’s really no flow to it.”

By night, Darling is the bassist in The Civil Disobedients, a hard rock band that is set to release its second album in the spring.  

“It’s some of my favorite music that we’ve ever written,” Darling says. “We have one of our longest songs ever and one of our hardest songs ever.” 

All in all, Darling says the band is just for fun. 

“It’s a lot of goofiness,” he says.

1. Music wall

“It’s got albums and stuff like that. One of my favorite things that people seem to like the most is our concert ticket frame.”

2. Penny

“She’s 16 weeks old. We’ve had her for four weeks. She’s been our biggest time consuming hobby.”

3. Arcade Fire poster

“It’s a poster for the concert that came here in 2012 that my brother got for me. They’re one of my favorite bands. I always love getting rarities like that.”

4. Dad meeting the Queen

“My dad had an audience with the Queen because he’s part of the 48th Highlanders. The funny thing I always joke about is that you always aspire to be like your dad or to do something as impressive as him, so I’d have to meet an alien world leader or something to beat that. That’s a pretty big shadow.”

5. Record collection

“We just started collecting records in the last half year. I used to collect CDs, but have just been losing interest in it because I always lose the CDs or break the CDs or the case goes in my car. When I buy music online or download it I don’t feel like I own it. I’m not doing it to be a hipster, I just really like being able to look at a tangible product.”

6. Camera gear

“This was the technology that basically launched us. We just picked the right time to start using it.”

7. Denise (Darling’s wife)

“Denise is my biggest inspiration. We met when we were in the infancy of our skillset and throughout all of college and the years after we really learned from one another. We didn’t even start dating until three years after school.”

Published in Volume 68, Number 15 of The Uniter (January 8, 2014)