News Archives: Steps to the Greater Alumni Award Recipient 2013 Michael Reeve
Tuesday, May 28th, 2013
Michael Reeve was born and raised in Grande Prairie by parents Kerry and Cheri Reeve, along with his brother Matt. When they were children, Michael’s father would take the boys snowmobiling in the backcountry – an activity that sparked a love of combining the outdoors with sport in Michael. This led to a passion for snowmobiling specifically and for extreme sports in general. His dream was to someday incorporate his love of the sport into his career, along with his keen interest in cinematography.
After graduating from Grande Prairie Composite High School in 2003, Michael joined the work force as a roughneck on a service rig under one condition set forth by his mother, which was that he enrolled in College for the following semester. Cheri worried that he’d like the pay cheques so much it would sway him from pursuing further education.
Michael had a passion for entrepreneurship, therefore he chose to take the Business Administration program at GPRC. He continued to work as a roughneck in the summer breaks and worked the winter months part time at a local sign shop; he credits much of his early entrepreneur mentorship to the owners, Dave & Jennifer Metituk.
In one of his business courses at GPRC, students were tasked with writing a complete business plan for a fictitious company as an assignment. Mike chose to base his business plan, on a company that he was hoping to start after completing his post-secondary education involving extreme sports filmmaking. He graduated from GPRC in 2004 with a Business Administration Certificate and a fully actualized Business Plan. In September of 2005, at the age of 20, Michael incorporated, Velocity Video Productions Ltd.
Right off the bat Michael realized there was a demand for safety and training videos in the oil & gas industry in the area. With his first hand experience in the oil & gas industry, the productions we’re a great fit for him. This demand expanded into the files of Commercial Business, Government and Not-For-Profit agencies to name a few. Most recently Michael produced an educational film series for the Alberta-based grade eight science curriculum, a project that was partnered with the Science Alberta Foundation. Not only does Michael film and direct the videos, he also creates the scripts, storyboards, performs the editing, digital design, and duplication.
During the winter months, Michael returns to his original passion of filming professional snowmobiling for several large American companies in the remote B.C. backcountry around Valemount, Revelstoke, and Whistler. In the summer months, he can be found hanging out of a helicopter chasing race boats down the river at speeds over 200 kilometers per hour for the Canadian circuit of jet boat racing. In 2011 he produced the World Jet Boat Championships film and based on its success was later invited to New Zealand to film their races on the south island.
In 2007, at the age of 22, Michael was nominated for “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce. Michael credits GPRC, it’s faculty and staff with kick-starting his career and business, allowing him to live his dream.
