Getting it done since 1982
A one-stop shop. Full service creative, video production, animation, print, audio & VR/AR. Our team works with you from start to finish.
Years
Clients Served
Projects
Women Owned
For over 40+ years, Horizon Productions has been producing branded content that inspires, educates and opens new worlds. Award-winning documentaries, marketing campaigns, promotional launches, broadcast media, 3D animations, 2D motion graphics and interactive experiences… you name it, chances are we’ve created it.
Donna Mitchell
President / Founder
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I bowl in a league and I love to go yard shopping and thrifting.
What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done, and why did you do it?
For a summer job during my college years, I was an undercover store detective - I was5’6” and weighed 111!
What's your favorite project you've worked on and why?
The North Carolina History documentary because it brought together my two favorite things - TV and History and we worked with UNC-TV on it which is where I got my first job out of college.
Over the last 10 years, we have become a leader in high-end VR, AR and immersive experiences and stayed at the forefront of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Our innovative experiences combine the thrill of going where traditional video cannot with educational and informational content that engages the user.
When you see our work, you see our skill, artistry and passion shining through. What you don’t see is the experience of working with us, which is what we pride ourselves on the most. We thrive in the world of telling stories — no matter the medium. And, our clients keep coming back because they enjoy the process as much as they appreciate the experience we’ve created.
Our Team
Tim Finkbiner
Chief Production Officer
Tell us about your experience in the industry.
I made my first film in seventh grade to avoid public speaking, and 45 years later, I still prefer my pictures to do the talking.
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
Soup by itself can be considered a meal, not merely an appetizer.
What are you most proud of professionally and personally?
I am most proud of my son. Raising Patrick has been a privilege and the most rewarding creative work I will ever do.
Jason Cooper
Chief Digital Officer
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The people and the problem solving. There's so much variety across all of the people that I get to collaborate with, learn from, learn about and the solutions we get to create together. I like finding great problems to solve and then getting resourceful with the right team, creative with the latest technology, networking to get early access, or finding the right partnerships to make it happen. I love bringing it all together.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
Sports in general or anything competitive — playing or watching. College football gamedays in particular are a big family affair for the Cooper household. Playing golf, working out with F3, coaching my kids' teams, bull riding (once was enough), etc. ... You name it, I like it all.
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?The North Carolina History Just about anything with a beat or a bass line, but I'll go with 'Pony' by Ginuwine.
Kirk Hewitt
Chief Digital Officer
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The creative and smart people I get to work with everyday. And when an idea becomes something so much better because of everyone’s contribution to it.
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
Pretty much all of them. My wife Tara and I have crashed many weddings!
What's the most exciting/scary/tense/ridiculous professional situation you've been in?
A director asked to make a few editing “revisions” to his indie film at 4 pm on a Friday. We didn’t leave the edit suite for 3 days straight. His definition of “revisions” meant editing his entire film from scratch.
Taka Yamato
Executive Producer & Director of Production
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy learning many different subjects/topics and get to meet really smart people.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
Tennis, Gardening, Cooking
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
Happy by Pharrell
John Anderson
Immersive Art Director
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy the creative process from concept through final polish.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I enjoy playing and listening to live music
Tell us about your experience in the industry.
I started out in print design and have evolved into motion graphics and 3D animation and most recently game engine technology
August Batista
Immersive Developer
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
When I'm not working I'm roasting cocoa to make chocolate or programming my own games, I'm probably just taking a walk through the local trail.
What is your favorite fractal pattern?
The rings of Saturn are my favorite fractal arrangement found in nature although nothing beats non-euclidian 3D fractals!
Where were you on the night the "accident" happened?
I was at home. No! At work! I mean... It wasn't me! I'm being framed!
Chingyao Chou
Senior Motion Graphics Designer
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
Collect figures/toys. Be a manga artist/ illustrator. Play table tennis.
What are you most proud of professionally and personally?
I got the Ivan Sutherland award for the only outstanding graduate student when I graduated from RIT. My artwork was shown as the star of month in the Preview magazine April 2007. I have 2 lovely kids in my life.
What's your favorite project you've worked on (either at Horizon or elsewhere) and why?
PPD Philanthropy - I spent lots of time creating camera movements and delivering the main idea "sharing love" by my drawing skill.
Bob Kamholz
Enterprise Relationship Manager
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Being part of the collaborative process; working with a client to develop a scope, and watching the creative department turn it into something extraordinary, exceeding the client's expectations.
What's the most exciting professional situation you've been in?
Early in my Air Force career, I was selected to fly in the rear seat of a T-38 Talon for an incentive flight. We spent an hour flying around Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands, New Mexico, including a pass over the landing strip used by NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in March 1982.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I've been playing drums for over 35 years and enjoy photography and tinkering with my RC car.
Eva Mancil
Producer/Editor
What do you love most about your job?
I love learning more about our community through our clients.
Tell us about your experience in the industry.
After getting my start producing and directing a PBS documentary in South Florida, I spent over 15 years producing non-scripted television in Los Angeles. Now at Horizon I’m continuing to explore the world through a lens and share meaningful narratives.
What is a passion activity you pursue outside work?
Paddleboarding, but I’m still too afraid to stand up!
Brian McPherson
Lead Sound Designer
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
Black olives are totally communist.
What’s your game plan in a zombie apocalypse?
Eat more brains.
What's the most exciting/scary/tense/ridiculous professional situation you've been in?
Recording onboard sounds for a flight simulator when the engine died.
Jonas Monanteras
Immersive Developer
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I am able to be on the front lines of bleeding edge technology with near limitless boundaries on my creativity alongside the brightest, creative, and most positive people I know.
What's the most exciting/scary/tense/ridiculous professional situation you've been in?
While traveling to the SuperComputing conference in Dallas, I had to make a decision between stealing an elderly woman’s overhead bin space or checking my suitcase which contained thousands of dollars worth of GPUs and risk the setup of our high-end VR experience… What happened next is up to your imagination.
What's your favorite project you've worked on (either at Horizon or elsewhere) and why?
Ducks splashing in water I gaze at the sun peeking behind the clouds and suddenly I realize I’m wearing a headset and was playtesting MX3D VR.
Jen Moreland
Project Manager
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The diversity of my responsibilities and ability to collaborate with some of the most creative people I know (clients and colleagues alike), make my daily grind fulfilling and gratifying.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
Interior renovation and redesign, building furniture and landscaping.
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
"I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor because the motivation and confidence that song exudes is second to none!
Jason Price
Director of Business Development
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I'm just here to help make your life easier, at least until the Zombie Apocalypse. Even then, let's talk. Whether it's through coffee, lunch, Zoom, or bad karaoke, I love connecting with people.
What do you like?
I'm a big fan of my wife and kids (they told me to say that), sports, the great outdoors, CAFFEINE, all types of music, and dad jokes. Also, Keanu Reeves stan.
Dislikes?
Not a fan of winter (why am I always cold?), decaf coffee (such a tease), and boredom (it's just boring, okay?).
But enough about me, how can I help you?
Zach Prichard
Creative Director
What's your favorite project you've worked on (either at Horizon or elsewhere) and why? Oh it's definitely [REDACTED/Under NDA/Black Bars]
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
It bugs me that, in every single episode of all 10 seasons of Friends, Joey *never* wears a belt. WHY!?!?!
What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done, and why did you do it?
Probably uprooting my family out of our comfort zone, selling our house and moving - during a pandemic - to NC... in basically the span of a month! Ultimately it was to give ourselves and our kids better opportunities. Worth every bead of anxiety.
Giff Ransom
Senior Programmer
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I love the outdoors and have been known to start a fire in the pouring rain with just wet wood and a bit of tinder.
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
People can memorize far more than they think. Regular churchgoers shouldn't need hymnals or song sheets.
What’s your game plan in a zombie apocalypse?
Head over to my wife's family's cabin in the blue ridge mountains, stock up on food and ammo, and wait it out. It's on the lake, so we'd have an escape route. Can zombies row boats?
Sebastian Diaz
Audio II
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I truly enjoy both the creative and technical aspects of my job. Mixing, sound design, problem solving, collaboration, and the variety of projects keeps this job interesting and fun.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
Songwriting and training Muay Thai. I find immense joy in creating, writing and composing music. I’m equally passionate about Muay Thai. The discipline, focus, and self-control that Muay Thai instills are invaluable in both my personal and professional life.
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
Contrapunto (Los Que Vivimos). It’s an obscure song with a sound that I can best describe as Spanish “Jefferson Airplane”. When the song reaches the zenith and breaks over its musical peak I can’t help but bust a move.
Brendan Hoekstra
Production Associate
Tell us about your experience in the industry.
I am a photographer and videographer born right here in Durham, North Carolina. It's been about 10 years since I first started in multimedia production, and I've covered everything from music festivals and sporting events to local businesses and emerging artists.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
When I'm not in the field, I get inspired by practicing drums, exploring nature, or spending time with close friends.
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
No matter where I am, I can put on some Sly & The Family Stone if there's ever a need for an emergency dance party.
Keith Kunstmann
Director of Photography
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I enjoy cooking, and it's always refreshing to get outdoors and do some landscape photography.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love using video as a way to tell the stories and preserve a moment in time.
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
Anything by Hall and Oates.
Patrick Dunnagan
Producer / Director / Writer
What's your favorite project you've worked on (either at Horizon or elsewhere) and why?
I got the privilege of shooting a doc with someone going through cancer and followed them around for almost a year watching the highs and lows of their life with leukemia. He beat the odds and is still doing well today.
Tell us about your experience in the industry.
I have had the pleasure of doing almost every role possible from PA, sound, camera and directing / producing on all sorts of projects from promo videos, commercials, documentaries and have even worked on feature films for a short time in LA and NC.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I love spending time with my family, going on hikes and rucking, and we love cooking where we make a lot of different new cuisines and even took a Master Class with Gordon Ramsey one time.
Morgan Hayworth
Office Manager
Tell us about your experience in the industry.
I’ve always dabbled in creating media — podcasts, sketch shows, screenwriting, hosting online spelling bees… the usual things — but never in a professional capacity until now. I’m proud of and appreciative of my experience in the industry I come from, but being in a creative environment feels like coming home.
What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done, and why did you do it?
I sold my business in 2023, left where I’d lived my whole life, and drove across the country in a truck with two dogs, a parrot, and a 12-year old to Durham - a city where we only knew one person! It's been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for the happiness and well-being of my family.
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
I could give a 30-minute TED-style talk with no preparation on how gas station hot dogs are essentially inoculations against contagious illnesses and why everyone should eat at least one a year.
Gideon Ransom
Programmer
What’s your game plan in a zombie apocalypse?
To be honest, I probably caused it, so I'll be getting my karma as patient zero.
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
The fact that Grief hasn't been banned in Legacy is an absolute joke, and no one is laughing.
Where are you from and do you wish you were back there or happy to have left it?
I spent the better part of a decade in China, and I wish I could go back but couldn't be happier to have left.
Andrew Fletcher
Programmer
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
On the weekend you can find me on the tennis court or disc golf course.
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
Pineapple DOES belong on pizza, it's not my fault your taste buds are wrong.
What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done, and why did you do it?
Going back to school in my 30s, It was time to change careers and I'm glad I did!
Missy McLamb
Business Development Strategist
What’s your game plan in a zombie apocalypse?
Head to Costco, lock the doors, and live off free samples forever!
What’s a fun fact about a family member?
My daughter’s a digital star. She’s got followers, and I’ve got... her autograph.
What's your favorite project you've worked on and why?
My favorite projects included having Stephen King and race car driver Jimmie Johnson as clients. Seeing that even the rich and famous can be genuinely kind and earnest was heart-warming.
Ben Domogala
3D Artist
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Learning how to apply my skill set in new scenarios.
What's your favorite project you've worked on and why?
Working on -NDA- was so fun! I learned so much from it!
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
Connecticut pizza rivals New York pizza.
Adam Betts
Programmer
What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done, and why did you do it?
Got chased off a USDOD-secured airfield. Felt like an action hero.
What's your most controversial opinion about something mundane?
Cheesecake is too cheesy
What song always gets you out on the dance floor?
4'33" by John Cage
Noah Dunnagan
Programmer
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy the opportunity to continuously learn and grow while being surrounded by talented people.
What is a passion/activity you pursue outside of work?
I’m all about disc golf and try to get out and play with my dad and friends whenever I can.
What’s your game plan in a zombie apocalypse?
Find a nice laid back cave somewhere in a mountain and camp out there.