During my time at film school in Regina, SK the RCMP museum got a massive overhaul. I remember going when it was located in a small and cramped building on the Depot Division compound. The difference between that and the impressive new RCMP Heritage Centre is night and day.
The RCMP Academy is located in Regina, Saskatchewan so the brand new heritage centre is a multi-million dollar investment intended to create a new tourist attraction and historical showcase for the city. I visited the new centre in the summer of 2007 when my parents came to visit. I always get inspired by history, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to share a bit of Canadiana.
For a long time I've had it in my head that I'd share some of the notes that I've held onto since film school. Given that all of these assignments have now been uploaded, I figured the syllabus from Film 486: Experimental Film Production, was as good a place to start as any. Check out the list of projects we were assigned in the fall semester of 2006, and then check out my links below to see what I did for each one.
Video Collage
For this one I took it upon myself to bring new meaning to time travel. Check out The Other Time Machine.
Formal Film Project
Shot on 16mm and presented at the Sask Film Pool, for this assignment I created X.
Media Diary
My goal with this assignment was to create a photographic quilt of my past using cropped images and textures from my childhood. What I made was, from 84.
Over the last couple of weeks I've started working on a new video project with Stream Media. What makes this one noteworthy however, is that for the first time in months it looks like we're going to get to create something that won't feel so obviously corporate. If our meetings so far have been any indication, it's actually going to be a lot of fun to pull this off.
Between rough storyboards, discussing techniques for shooting with a DSLR, sharing music, and fine tuning our concept, I'm finding myself wading more in the creative end of production for a change. Part of it is that our message isn't as didactic as other projects we've done either, so there's room to play and make something that actually feels more cinematic.
My role in acting solely as an editor has been changed up given the nature of this project. Like I said, I've been involved a lot more in the pre-production and concept than I usually am, and will play a significant role in how our promo is shot. It's been a few years since I've been reminded of so many different film school exercises.
I don't want to give anything away while we're in production, but I thought it would be nice to mention that corporate video isn't always as cold as it's sometimes made out to seem. And while I feel it's always been a creative outlet, it's not quite so often that I've felt like we get the chance to make something with some art behind it. Who couldn't use a bit more work that doesn't feel like work?
