M² · ground from the air
Treatment by M2ONE Carmel
October 2026
The Founding Generation
Rotate your phone
The Founding Generation · ONE Carmel
The founding films record ONE Carmel as it is today: 891 acres of the historic September Ranch, before the first groundbreaking. The ten Founders' Estates are the characters, and each is filmed in the hour its light belongs to, from first light to the last of the sunset.
Everything in camera. Nothing generated.
When the first house rises, targeted for July 2027, the land as it stands today is gone for good. The founding films keep it: an archive of the untouched ground, shot on cinema cameras, that every later film cuts back to.
Before and after, from the same frames.
Ten estates, grouped by the light each one owns. First light: The Gift, The Heirloom, The Peak. Day: The Vista, The Sanctuary, The Legacy. Golden hour: The Treasure, The Panorama. Last light: The Sunset, The Pinnacle.
Ten short films, each opening on its own title card. Together they are the spine of the founding films.
A 120-degree southeast aspect: the eastern sunrise first, the Pacific sunset last. We hold the sun clearing the hills in one unbroken take.
A winding drive opens onto a level site facing southeast. The approach is the shot: one continuous move until the land opens.
A private hilltop drive to a site high above the hills, the Santa Lucia Mountains beyond. The day begins here.
A private hilltop over the valley floor, which can be combined with The Panorama. We travel from the valley floor up to where a house will stand.
Native grasses, tucked away from every neighbor, with full southern exposure. Wind in the grass and no people in frame.
Its own hilltop in the heart of the property, out to Carmel Valley and the Pacific. Filmed from the center outward.
A plateau on its own peak, with a long downslope to the valley and the Pacific. A slow push to the edge, and over it.
A private knoll staged for the sunset over the Pacific, which can be combined with The Vista. The sun held until it is gone.
An ocean-view crest with a panorama of the whole property, west-facing through the long late light.
A site that seems to float above the landscape. The last of the sunset, and the final frame of the day.
Art is the founding identity of ONE Carmel. The art film follows the program James Pihakis is building: works sited across the property, commissions as they arrive, the residency at work. Its own film, cut alongside the founding films.
The clubhouse, the equestrian center and the historic barn are rebuilt alongside the first houses. The equestrian center stays open to the public, and the barn becomes a home for exhibitions and performance. One film for buyers and for Monterey County alike.
Cinema cameras and lenses: on sticks, on dolly, in the air. One idea per shot. Natural light only, with dawn and dusk scheduled like talent.
We build sound the way we build the picture. Rego and I cut the sound design and the music as one piece, recorded on location and scored to the frame.
For ONE Carmel, the land is the instrument. Wind, grass, hooves, water, recorded on the property, then scored.
Sound plays in the live version.
Shuga Films set a bar for light, texture and stillness in finished villas and hospitality. The pages that follow pair that level with work we have already made, pointed at 891 acres of raw land becoming estates, across seasons, groundbreaking and completion.
Films for Rimac, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Michael Andrews Bespoke and Doug Bihlmaier, made the same way we will make yours. Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti and founder of Rimac, shared our New York film on his own Instagram story. Our four Rimac films drew 35.9 million views on Instagram alone.
The Bridge is invitation only. So is the Monticello Invitational. M² has filmed both, The Bridge three years running. And when Rolls-Royce opened its Manhattan flagship, M² filmed the reveal, with Daniel Boulud in the room.
When ONE Carmel hosts during Car Week, the cameras in the room should already be trusted there.
After the shoot, we cut the films to the music and let the long takes breathe. Later films cut back to the archive: the same ground, before and after.
The color is graded by hand, to the light we shot in. The sound is mixed with the score. Nothing is generated.
The founding films, the land as it is. Filmed by March 2027.
The groundbreaking. July 2027: the first house begins, filmed against the archive.
The build. From July 2027, with a short dispatch from the land every week.
The estates. Each home filmed finished and cut against the land it was built on.
Also proposed: the September Ranch film as the rebuild begins. The Ferrari event, when dated. Car Week and hosted evenings, filmed as they happen. Every film subtitled in Traditional Chinese, with vertical cuts for WeChat.
