The series takes Canadian politicians and puts them in workplaces related directly to their own areas of responsibility and for which they set policies.  I worked on both episodes of this series that were filmed in Ontario.  The first, filmed in 2009, was with Minister of National Defence Peter Mackay at military training camp.  The second episode, filmed in 2010, featured NPD Leader Jack Layton working in the emergency room of St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, Ont.

Peter Mackay

Jack Layton

I loved working on this show because of how different it was to normal film shoots.  No takes, no waiting around while lights are being set up and actors are being staged.  It was a really lively, fast-paced set.  Everything happened once, and only once, and you had to capture it or it was  too late.  I shot the images of Jack Layton in the ER through a doorway with dozens of people moving around, trying to find a clear shot of Jack without getting in anyone’s way.  Lots of fun!

Here are some pictures from the Kenneyville premiere on October 28th, 2010 at The Royal in Toronto.

(Look familiar?)

A bunch of protesters showed up at the theatre…

After the premiere, there was a Q&A with the cast and crew, and then everyone headed to Tattoo Rock Parlour on Queen West for the after party.

I love this cast & crew picture.  From L-R, Nick Maiorino (Marshall), Alexander Narizini (Art Director), Kelsey Oluk (Kim), Dylan Argument (Sound Mixer), Irena Angeloutsa (Victoria), Brooks Hunter (Writer/Producer/Director), Vincent Galvez (Writer/Producer), and Josef Malonzo (Ben).

This is from An Insignificant Harvey, which may be released later this year!  Possibly.  I hope.

The Deaths of Chet Baker aired on Bravo!FACT recently.  It’s a really good short directed by Robert Budreau and starring the amazing Stephen McHattie.

Of course, Kenneyville.  Isn’t this creepy?

Writer/Director Brooks Hunter and Cinematographer Pasha Patriki.

This is Michael Scratch as the film’s villain, Adrian Black.  Really nice and talented guy – I didn’t get to meet him during phase 1 of shooting.

Sean Samson prepping Vanessa Broze‘s head for drilling!

Ewwww.

The effect looked really cool, from what I saw on the monitor.  Can’t wait to see it in the final film!

This Friday we’re filming a huge fight scene with multiple bloody deaths.  I’m very excited.

Yesterday, we filmed at a motel in Shelburne, ON (about 90 minutes North of Toronto).  It was great to see everyone again!

This time I’d like to get some shots of Vanessa Broze not being tied up and/or duct taped on the back of a truck.

See: examples from last September.

Doran Damon Okkema (who plays Donovan), Vanessa Broze (as Kelly/Megan), and writer/director/producer Brooks Hunter.

Vanessa tied up with Brooks Hunter, Director of Photography Pasha Patriki, and Dany Gehshan (as Charlie/Patrick).

This is one of the most fun sets (okay, the most fun set) I’ve ever worked on.  Everyone is really nice and infectiously energetic.  Also, I love working on films that actually encourage posting pictures online – most productions don’t allow it.  Speaking of which, you can see lots more pictures on the Kenneyville Facebook page.

On Friday we’re filming in Cobourg.  The key prosthetic makeup artist from Resident Evil: Afterlife has created some crazy special effect props.  There will be blood.  There will also be pictures.

For now, I’d like to share some movie stills I did for a short film called The Wedding Gift, directed by Naomi Ward and starring Rebecca Morash and Patrick Collins.  I was only there for one scene, but the script is hilarious and I’m excited to see how it turns out!

These have all been added to my Film & TV Gallery, which I’m slowly populating with images.

We’re having tons of fun so far, with lots of excitement from raccoons and bears to thwarting robberies to throwing cast members into the lake.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes pictures from this week:

Yes, that is as steep as it looks.

Director Brooks Hunter with Irena Angelousta, who is playing Victoria.

Movie-making in a boat!

Our lead, Vanessa Broze, getting taped up for her big kidnapping scene.

And apparently that’s all the middle-of-nowhere-Internet will let me upload for today.

The film was written and directed by Jeff Kopas.  Images are © Vitality Media Productions.

Art Hindle as Father Asher and Jordan Prentice as Harvey

Steven McCarthy as Lucas and Jordan Prentice as Harvey

Jordan Prentice as Harvey with Inca

Jordan Prentice as Harvey and Kristin Adams as Dakota

View the official website.

The Last New Year (IMDB) (official site) is playing at The Royal in Toronto for its last night tonight at 7pm.  I went to see it last night, and it was fantastic.

Since I only started doing film stills in 2008, most of the things I’ve worked on still haven’t been released.  It was very exciting to see something I worked on on the big screen!

They will also be doing screenings in Victoria and Vancouver and I highly recommend seeing it.  It’s a great film that has come a long way since I saw one of the early rough cuts last year.

On day 9, the snow was up to our knees.  Where was all this snow when it was needed for the luge?

(Our script supervisor Tiffany Wong trying to keep her pants dry.)

On day 10, we went into Blue Mountain village, which was really nice (and a lot warmer!).  We had a restaurant scene, a scene at the Bark & Fitz pet store, and then miscellaneous shots around the village.

The next two days were spent on “The Art Farm” in Duntroon, ON, a beautiful farm owned by an arist and a producer.  On the first day, we had a trained raccoon – apparently the only trained raccoon in Ontario.

We didn’t see many of the farm animals, but the llama did come over to say hi to our locations manager.

And that brings me to my last day on set.  Day 13, the big strip club scene.  Again, this was a closed set so I wasn’t allowed inside for most of the day.  In the morning, we did some shots outside, and then we had a green screen for a dream sequence scene.

Our strip club scene was set in an abandoned gas station turned strip club… or strip club turned gas station, I’m not really sure.  Either way, it didn’t look like anything until a few hours before we started shooting.  Brian Garvey and his team turned this abandoned building into a bar, and it looked awesome.

Overall, it was a great experience and I met a lot of awesome people.  Hopefully soon I will be able to post some publicity stills!