Minneapolis Video Production Team

Your Video Production Posse

When you work with 1Light Films you don't just get a film crew, you get a team of friends who have been working together since we met in film school. With over 30 years of combined experience in the film production industry, our small crew brings big ideas to craft a film that will tell your unique company story.

We cut our teeth in video production by working on hip hop music videos with Rhymesayers Entertainment and have expanded to corporate and narrative video production for a variety of businesses.

Add state-of-the-art gear to our expertise and your brand to create a film you can use to share your story with the world.

As a team of friends who work together, we love what we do and look forward to crafting new content with you.

JAKE GARDNER.
FOUNDING MEMBER OF 1LIGHT. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, CINEMATOGRAPHER, THE NUMBERS GUY.

Jake is a founding member of 1Light. Projects that energize him include the expressive and experimental. From music videos to documentaries and commercials, Jake loves what he does because he works with his best friends.
He wants to tell stories through the camera lens that move beyond a linear narrative. That is why he considers Atmosphere’s music video “Camera Thief” to be one of his favorite projects. For the project, Jake and the 1Light team traveled to the high desert in California with the Minneapolis hip-hop group to capture footage in an airplane graveyard.
In addition to his work with 1Light, Jake has a diverse background as a freelancer. His freelance work includes filming episodes for HGTV, The History Channel, and The Travel Channel.
These projects have led Jake across the entire world, most recently to Jerusalem and Amman, Jordan with “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.”
Jake is Minnesota born and raised on the waters of Lake Minnetonka. Every summer weekend he takes the pontoon out on the lake. When the water freezes over, he trades the boat in for a snowmobile or skis. His three-year-old son is the world to him.

Victor Rukavina. director and editor

Victor met Jake and Stevie while collaborating on music videos in the Minneapolis area. He joined the 1Light team in 2009, and feels lucky to work with some of his closest friends. He is motivated by working to bring each project from vision to fruition through hard and collaborative work.
He spent his childhood on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota with ninety acres of forest behind his house. Victor’s mother taught art, so he grew up in a creative home. Recalling his childhood Victor says, “My parents had a camcorder and I used it more than they did to make short films.” Interested in many forms of art, Minneapolis College of Art and Design was a natural choice to test out different mediums before landing on film and video.
His work with 1Light includes music videos, industrials, ads, documentaries and feature films. Whether clients want to promote a brand, narrative or song, Victor aims to help clients communicate their vision creatively through the film medium.
As a Minnesota native, camping in the Boundary Waters remains a big element in Victor’s life. Having visited nearly 40 countries, he loves to travel for leisure and work. While filming, Victor has worked in Latin America, Asia and Europe. Like the rest of the 1Light team, Victor considers himself a dog lover and owns a Bull Terrier/Staffordshire Terrier mix named Bozko.

Stevie Kane. Founding member of 1 light. Director, writer, producer.

Stevie has been with 1Light since the beginning. He works hard for the moment when clients look him in the eye and say they are glad they chose to work with him.
Originally hailing from Ireland, Stevie has called the States home since 2003. His future with 1Light first clicked while working on a project in film school with Jake and Melby. They jived well as a crew, and the rest was history.
For Stevie, 1Light’s best projects connect with meaningful work in their lives and community. Recently, Stevie and the 1Light team worked on a documentary of a man skydiving to raise awareness for Parkinson’s disease. Stevie is a skydiving instructor himself, and his family has been personally impacted by Parkinson’s. The convergence between film, family and skydiving made this documentary one of Stevie’s all-time favorite projects.
As a skydiver, Stevie has over 1,000 jumps under his belt. Like all the guys at 1Light, he considers himself an animal lover and brings his two rescue dogs to the office. Stevie aims to go above and beyond on every project with 1Light. He wants most to work with clients who are doing innovative, new and good work in the community, whether technical or creative.

Bozko aka basquiat. office canine companion.

Although he looks a tad intimidating, Bozko is a fun loving office dog that wants nothing more than a little attention and if you're offering...a treat. Hailing from Chicago, Bozko moved to Minneapolis to live with Victor and his family in September of 2013. His favorite past times include chasing squirrels, playing tug of war and taking care of his human sibling, Serafina. If he had opposable thumbs, he would be a Director of Photography.

Trip. office canine companion # 2

"Bark"

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