Yesterday John wrote on his facebook that it feels like he's on a rock tour. I've never been on a rock tour myself, but it feels like we're on something, that's for sure. We'd been out of internet range from Winnipeg til now, and I wasn't a good little blogger keeping record of what we did when, even if there wasn't net access. As a result, I'm sitting here furrowing my brow trying to remember what happened when.
Everything blurs. At some point, after a very successful screening in Winnipeg, we left through the night. We managed to make it to Fiske. Once there, we played with a hyperactive many-toed cat, successfully got the car mount shot, ate summer sausage with the no longer a stranger Darren, and headed on our merry way.
With all the Jurassic Park references that are being thrown around all trip, (Hold onto yer butts) it was only fitting that we drive through Drumheller. We got some over the shoulder shots in the car, gawked at the world's largest dinosaur, and picked up some groceries while being stared at by a pretty awesome statue of a JP style t-rex breaking out of the IGA wall.
We bypassed Calgary and headed into the mountains. For me, it felt like I was heading home. Rob was seeing mountains for the first time.
Banff was a whirlwind. Somewhere in all that, we mapped and filmed another action sequence, Rob and I climbed the same mountain at different times (I took a trail, Rob didn`t), we filmed the emotional climax of the film, Rob had a birthday, and we made a whole bunch of new friends.
Some of us stayed with a ranger named Simon, finding spots to sleep on between the lamps and balancing objects. The rest of us stayed with an awesome young woman next door who`d just moved to Banff three weeks earlier.
Our days were long, our sleeps were short, and I kept lying down on the couch thinking I`d conk out, but the energy, the atmosphere kept me on my toes. This has been the most physically active we`ve been all trip. Filming, hiking, art shows, drinking, long conversations into the night.
More than any other place we`ve stopped, it feels like we were absorbed into the culture of Banff. I think the nature of the town made this easy... It`s a mixture of itinerant students stopping through for a summer job, parks staff that have settled for longer, and artists from the Banff Centre staying for various lengths of time.
The screening went brilliantly. Our hosts and friends brought in all their connections, and we had many more people than we were expecting. We showed the movies in a hair salon, and the conversation and questions after each piece were as vibrant and informative as any of our stops yet.
After a beautiful sunny driving day through the mountains, we`re in Abbotsford. I got to sleep in my own bed, and spent a day taking care of business at home while the rest of the guys did some scouting and filming in Vancouver. I confirmed that I do still have a job waiting for me when I come back in a couple weeks, picked up my next script (Victoria Fringe, here I come!), and hugged many of the people that make this place home for me. The guys got lost in Vancouver, went swimming in the ocean, and got some amazing footage.
We`ll be filming a couple pick-ups in Banff, but in terms of actual scenes, we`ve got two we`re filming today and that`s it. Finito.
There are some pictures from Quebec up on our facebook page. Because of my broken camera, I haven`t had any newer pictures to post, but hopefully we`ll get other people`s photos up soon. Dave has been taking some absolutely amazing black and whites. Keep your eye out for them.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
June 11th -15th
For this post, I'll be crunching a bunch of days together. There are lots of memories from them, but for the most part, not a lot of filming. We're in transition. On the 11th, Bert and Paul got inserts in the morning (inserts are non-story specific shots to add background and flavor, for instance, shots of bakeries, cars driving by, Quebecois landmarks, etc.) while the rest of us slept in, felt sick, or explored. I like having alone time, so this was a much needed day of solitary exploration for me, wandering in and out of markets, churches and art galleries, interspersed with lengthy sits on benches reading my book. (As well as finding two 7 year old video game magazines lying on the sidewalk in mint condition. I enjoyed reading some scathing editorials on the Virtual Boy)
On this day, my beloved camera of six years, and three continents turned on for the last time. Therefore, there will be one last batch of photos on the facebook page soon, but after that my contribution to photos will be done.
We met up for dinner, and went once more to the same restaurant. The food was fantastic and relatively cheap as it was before, but our cheerful server mistakenly overbilled us again in the same way she did before, leaving us with bittersweet memories of the place. I'd probably go again, but will make sure I triple check the bill before paying.
As soon as dinner was over, we headed back to the motel, packed up, and set out on the road for an overnight journey to Timmins. The nights were dark, foggy and rainy, but through taking shifts and driving cautiously and alertly through the dark we arrived safely in Timmins the next day, where we were treated like royalty by Craig and his parents. After a well needed sleep, and a very hearty breakfast, we left early in the morning for Winnipeg.
Thanks to construction, we arrived much later than expected. It wasn't fun watching the hours tick by and the sun sinking in the west while the distance to Winnipeg remained dishearteningly far. It wasn't all bad news though. I got within pages of finishing Storm of Swords, and have now finished my first book of the trip.
The following day was purely recreational. More sleeping in, more reading, with Pool playing, snippets of Halo and a very loud dog., in the very Mennonite Zimmerly household. Dinner was home cooked stir fry, finished with fellowship at a place called 'Cousins' and another good nights sleep.
Finally, today, we got back to filming. We drove out to near Camp Assiniboine, looking with trepidation at the looming storm clouds. There was a faint drizzle, so we set up the car mount and decided to get the glidecam shots of an important dialogue scene first. After successfully capturing them, we fixed the camera on the carmount (a bizarre futuristic looking contraption that attaches a camera to the hood of a car with suction cups) just in time for the skies to open up.
We succeeded in keeping the camera dry and not broken, but we didn't get the footage and we got completely drenched. It's the first day the weather's been against us, but considering how the forecast has been doom and gloom pretty much the whole time, and this is the only time we've had to stop production due to weather, I'd say we're winning.
The rest of the day was more relaxation, numerous discoveries of food the dog has eaten, and filming of a video blog. You can check out previous entries here
Tomorrow we're going to try for that carmount shot one more time. After that, it's our Winnipeg premieres of the Love Doc and Sumu, We'll decide whether we're going to do another night drive, or leave in the morning. Either way, Banff is approaching.
Ben
EDIT: Jon just asked me if I mentioned the bears. There were bears! We saw three, all very close to construction zones. We also saw 2 moose, a slew of deer, and Paul saw some baby foxes.
On this day, my beloved camera of six years, and three continents turned on for the last time. Therefore, there will be one last batch of photos on the facebook page soon, but after that my contribution to photos will be done.
We met up for dinner, and went once more to the same restaurant. The food was fantastic and relatively cheap as it was before, but our cheerful server mistakenly overbilled us again in the same way she did before, leaving us with bittersweet memories of the place. I'd probably go again, but will make sure I triple check the bill before paying.
As soon as dinner was over, we headed back to the motel, packed up, and set out on the road for an overnight journey to Timmins. The nights were dark, foggy and rainy, but through taking shifts and driving cautiously and alertly through the dark we arrived safely in Timmins the next day, where we were treated like royalty by Craig and his parents. After a well needed sleep, and a very hearty breakfast, we left early in the morning for Winnipeg.
Thanks to construction, we arrived much later than expected. It wasn't fun watching the hours tick by and the sun sinking in the west while the distance to Winnipeg remained dishearteningly far. It wasn't all bad news though. I got within pages of finishing Storm of Swords, and have now finished my first book of the trip.
The following day was purely recreational. More sleeping in, more reading, with Pool playing, snippets of Halo and a very loud dog., in the very Mennonite Zimmerly household. Dinner was home cooked stir fry, finished with fellowship at a place called 'Cousins' and another good nights sleep.
Finally, today, we got back to filming. We drove out to near Camp Assiniboine, looking with trepidation at the looming storm clouds. There was a faint drizzle, so we set up the car mount and decided to get the glidecam shots of an important dialogue scene first. After successfully capturing them, we fixed the camera on the carmount (a bizarre futuristic looking contraption that attaches a camera to the hood of a car with suction cups) just in time for the skies to open up.
We succeeded in keeping the camera dry and not broken, but we didn't get the footage and we got completely drenched. It's the first day the weather's been against us, but considering how the forecast has been doom and gloom pretty much the whole time, and this is the only time we've had to stop production due to weather, I'd say we're winning.
The rest of the day was more relaxation, numerous discoveries of food the dog has eaten, and filming of a video blog. You can check out previous entries here
Tomorrow we're going to try for that carmount shot one more time. After that, it's our Winnipeg premieres of the Love Doc and Sumu, We'll decide whether we're going to do another night drive, or leave in the morning. Either way, Banff is approaching.
Ben
EDIT: Jon just asked me if I mentioned the bears. There were bears! We saw three, all very close to construction zones. We also saw 2 moose, a slew of deer, and Paul saw some baby foxes.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
June 10th, 2011
Wake up at 3:30 AM. Pack up equipment and leave motel by 4:30. Arrive at the old city, and set up our cameras, do make up, and be ready to start at 6 when Mathieu showed up.
And everything went perfectly. All that nervousness, all the images of being shut down by police, or people getting angry, it was all for nothing. It was hard work, and everyone was exhausted by the end of the day, but we were ahead of schedule the whole time.
Today was special. Everyone rose to the occasion and gave it their all. Thanks to all the hard work that went into planning the shots last night, we were able to show up, set up, and get right into filming, and be done in what felt like no time. We moved from Place Royale, to the fortifications, to residential streets, to various chase inserts seamlessly.
After we were done, we headed back to the motel to get changed and look quickly over some of what we'd filmed. It was amazing seeing what we'd been doing translated onto the computer screen. It looked cinematic, professional, and above all, special. We felt so proud of what we'd done. Bert hadn't had extensive experience with a glidecam before this trip, and everything he's filmed, especially what he captured today has looked incredible.
We then met up again with Mathieu, following his car on what felt like a wild goose chase through the rest of Quebec City, adding more and more cars to a convoy that ended at his apartment in the suburbs for a brilliant BBQ with new friends, fantastic steaks and pork chops and salads, and a beautiful dog.
We're going to bed feeling on top of the world. It's been a long day, but we're done the chase scene, it looks amazing, and tomorrow morning we get to sleep in.
And everything went perfectly. All that nervousness, all the images of being shut down by police, or people getting angry, it was all for nothing. It was hard work, and everyone was exhausted by the end of the day, but we were ahead of schedule the whole time.
Today was special. Everyone rose to the occasion and gave it their all. Thanks to all the hard work that went into planning the shots last night, we were able to show up, set up, and get right into filming, and be done in what felt like no time. We moved from Place Royale, to the fortifications, to residential streets, to various chase inserts seamlessly.
After we were done, we headed back to the motel to get changed and look quickly over some of what we'd filmed. It was amazing seeing what we'd been doing translated onto the computer screen. It looked cinematic, professional, and above all, special. We felt so proud of what we'd done. Bert hadn't had extensive experience with a glidecam before this trip, and everything he's filmed, especially what he captured today has looked incredible.
We then met up again with Mathieu, following his car on what felt like a wild goose chase through the rest of Quebec City, adding more and more cars to a convoy that ended at his apartment in the suburbs for a brilliant BBQ with new friends, fantastic steaks and pork chops and salads, and a beautiful dog.
We're going to bed feeling on top of the world. It's been a long day, but we're done the chase scene, it looks amazing, and tomorrow morning we get to sleep in.
June 9th, 2011
Quebec overwhelms. The city is beautiful. I've now been in most cities in Canada from Halifax to Vancouver, and there's nothing that matches the age, the history, the culture. It's like a whole different world.
We found a parking spot, and began filming in the old city first thing in the morning, wandering around to interesting spots and filming inserts of John and Paul exploring the city. I discovered the difficulties of balancing my inexperience with French with informing passerby's that we were filming while trying to be respectful of the fact that we were anglophones invading their city.
Early on we met up with Mathieu, who'd participated in the Love Doc, who helped us out with translation and crowd control issues.
Midway through the day, it was time for Paul, Rob and Bert to plan out the complicated shots we'd be filming the next day, so David and I were able to take some time to explore, looking in old churches, chatting with artists in the alleys, wandering the streets with the oldest buildings in the city, and riding an elevator up the cliff side the city's built on.
Later on, John joined us, and we explored the walled fortifications, running up the hills, skipping along the wall, and engaging in various ninja-like activities as the sun set over the Chateau Frontenac.
The day was a perfect mix of doing things I'd never thought I'd do (filming a movie in Old Quebec) while still whetting my appetite with the sights and sounds, architecture and happenings that we can't experience while focusing on filming. We have to come back, I think we all feel that way, but we also don't feel like we've missed out on experiencing the city.
We ended with dinner at a restaurant recommended by our painter friend. The food was fantastic and reasonably priced, and very Quebecois. I had Cipaille, a meaty dish that's traditionally eaten at Christmas.
We're turning in to bed with feelings of excitement and anticipation. Tomorrow we're filming a complicated chase scene through the streets of the old city. We're getting up at 3:30 in the morning so we can start filming with the sun, before the crowds arrive. It will easily be the biggest test of our skills so far, and could be the hardest day of our whole trip.
We found a parking spot, and began filming in the old city first thing in the morning, wandering around to interesting spots and filming inserts of John and Paul exploring the city. I discovered the difficulties of balancing my inexperience with French with informing passerby's that we were filming while trying to be respectful of the fact that we were anglophones invading their city.
Early on we met up with Mathieu, who'd participated in the Love Doc, who helped us out with translation and crowd control issues.
Midway through the day, it was time for Paul, Rob and Bert to plan out the complicated shots we'd be filming the next day, so David and I were able to take some time to explore, looking in old churches, chatting with artists in the alleys, wandering the streets with the oldest buildings in the city, and riding an elevator up the cliff side the city's built on.
Later on, John joined us, and we explored the walled fortifications, running up the hills, skipping along the wall, and engaging in various ninja-like activities as the sun set over the Chateau Frontenac.
The day was a perfect mix of doing things I'd never thought I'd do (filming a movie in Old Quebec) while still whetting my appetite with the sights and sounds, architecture and happenings that we can't experience while focusing on filming. We have to come back, I think we all feel that way, but we also don't feel like we've missed out on experiencing the city.
We ended with dinner at a restaurant recommended by our painter friend. The food was fantastic and reasonably priced, and very Quebecois. I had Cipaille, a meaty dish that's traditionally eaten at Christmas.
We're turning in to bed with feelings of excitement and anticipation. Tomorrow we're filming a complicated chase scene through the streets of the old city. We're getting up at 3:30 in the morning so we can start filming with the sun, before the crowds arrive. It will easily be the biggest test of our skills so far, and could be the hardest day of our whole trip.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
June 8th, 2011
This morning we all bid farewell to the East Coast, which more than lived up to its friendly reputation. By the end of our stay, we feared we were taking advantage of Halifax drivers proclivity to wave us in and let us do whatever we want on the road. No matter what wrong turn or crazy maneuver we made, there was not a single horn honk heard while we were there.
The beginning of our trip to Quebec was the liveliest we've been with conversations bouncing back and forth through the van, a far cry from our usual sedate half-sleeping repose. Most of the day, it was absolutely gorgeous out, with shining sun, and blue sky dotted with clouds. We got a number of shots filmed of our protagonists hitchhiking on the side of the road.
The day ended with a huge rainstorm, preceded by a spectacular display of lightning. The rain had diminished to a spatter by the time we pulled into Quebec City at around 11PM. As we drove around looking for a place to stay, I was overwhelmed by what the city looked like at night. This is going to be an amazing city to get to know. There was no room at any inns downtown, and their prices were outside of our budget anyway, so we've settled in a motel on the outskirts of town.
There's lots of work to do here, including some very dynamic shots. It should be fun.
Ben
The beginning of our trip to Quebec was the liveliest we've been with conversations bouncing back and forth through the van, a far cry from our usual sedate half-sleeping repose. Most of the day, it was absolutely gorgeous out, with shining sun, and blue sky dotted with clouds. We got a number of shots filmed of our protagonists hitchhiking on the side of the road.
The day ended with a huge rainstorm, preceded by a spectacular display of lightning. The rain had diminished to a spatter by the time we pulled into Quebec City at around 11PM. As we drove around looking for a place to stay, I was overwhelmed by what the city looked like at night. This is going to be an amazing city to get to know. There was no room at any inns downtown, and their prices were outside of our budget anyway, so we've settled in a motel on the outskirts of town.
There's lots of work to do here, including some very dynamic shots. It should be fun.
Ben
June 7th, 2011
Another day, another shoot. We spent all of our filming time in Peggy's Cove today, filming an important conversation on the rocky shore, as well as some running scenes. Bert got some great first-hand knowledge of what it's like to try and run with a glide cam.
Start filming something, and everyone gets interested. Sometimes it seemed like people were taking more pictures of us than they were the scenery.
During the evening, we went to The Company House, where we were treated like royalty. The staff were SO helpful, and somehow, without us having any idea, we had a little write-up in 'The Coast', Halifax's equivalent of NOW magazine or the Georgia Straight. Lots of people came to see us because of the little blurb (in the same sidebar as X-Men: First Class!) and what we thought would be one of our smallest screenings ended up quite the happening event with mostly strangers.
Which isn't to say there weren't familiar faces there as well. My old friend Greg Wagner showed up to make sure everyone knew who I was, as well as our extremely generous host Jane, and Andrew Classen, who displayed some of his paintings.
We came home to a wonderful dessert prepared by Jane, to send us to sleep to prepare for our next big drive tomorrow.
Tomorrow, it's off to Quebec City!
Ben
Start filming something, and everyone gets interested. Sometimes it seemed like people were taking more pictures of us than they were the scenery.
During the evening, we went to The Company House, where we were treated like royalty. The staff were SO helpful, and somehow, without us having any idea, we had a little write-up in 'The Coast', Halifax's equivalent of NOW magazine or the Georgia Straight. Lots of people came to see us because of the little blurb (in the same sidebar as X-Men: First Class!) and what we thought would be one of our smallest screenings ended up quite the happening event with mostly strangers.
Which isn't to say there weren't familiar faces there as well. My old friend Greg Wagner showed up to make sure everyone knew who I was, as well as our extremely generous host Jane, and Andrew Classen, who displayed some of his paintings.
We came home to a wonderful dessert prepared by Jane, to send us to sleep to prepare for our next big drive tomorrow.
Tomorrow, it's off to Quebec City!
Ben
June 6th, 2011
Today was the first day of filming, and we're off to a good start. We got some shots of walking around in downtown Halifax, as well as lots of great material in Peggy's Cove. Through knocking on doors, and being led on a treasure hunt through most of the town, John got in touch with a fisherman who took some of out to get some footage out on the water.
Many people would stop and chat with us as we were filming, including the deputy mayor of Markham! Run halfway across the country, and you still can't get away from municipal politics.
We finished our time in Peggy's Cove with an epic battle with lobsters. I got lobster goo in my eye multiple times, while John dissected and dismantled his like a pro.
Overall, it was a very encouraging start to our film making endeavours. Even though the sun wasn't shining, and there was an occasional drizzle, we got everything filmed that we wanted, and we seem to work well together. Our spirits are high.
Tomorrow, we're back to the cove during the day, and off to our first 'on the road' screening at The Company House during the evening. The day after that, we drive to Quebec!
Ben
Many people would stop and chat with us as we were filming, including the deputy mayor of Markham! Run halfway across the country, and you still can't get away from municipal politics.
We finished our time in Peggy's Cove with an epic battle with lobsters. I got lobster goo in my eye multiple times, while John dissected and dismantled his like a pro.
Overall, it was a very encouraging start to our film making endeavours. Even though the sun wasn't shining, and there was an occasional drizzle, we got everything filmed that we wanted, and we seem to work well together. Our spirits are high.
Tomorrow, we're back to the cove during the day, and off to our first 'on the road' screening at The Company House during the evening. The day after that, we drive to Quebec!
Ben
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