C's Take: Day 10: Avonhurst

Today feels like the last day of the shoot, although we do have some pickup shots tomorrow. This is the big day, the climax of the whole summer. We are headed out to Avonhurst to shoot Chris St. Amand's ship skeleton that he built on his acreage, which is actually an abandoned homestead. None of us have seen it yet and we are all really excited about the moment when we first see Tom's dream sitting out there on the prairie. It's become a spiritual thing for those of us who have been working so hard all summer and all we can do is pray it's not going to rain.

The day dawns beautifully! We head over to the University to get the gear out of my studio.

"I swear, Andrew, it really is going to be a light day."

After getting a little lost we eventually see the ship sitting out there on the rise and find the right dirt road to the homestead. As we walk up to the ship Don and I both lose it and get pretty choked up. Don put it best: "I've been raw all week and now to see this ship, I can barely take it."

Our Sontiainen

Don and Clara experiencing the ship

After we got our hearts back in our chests we started setting up. Kali and Dauminique got an awesome lunch spread going while Andrew and I scoped out the hayloft for a long shot of the ship, which turned out great.

Andrew: "Lunch looks pretty good from up here..."

C: "Keep on target....."

We got a number of different shots of Tom working on the ship throughout the day, using the changing light and a great number of costume changes supplied for us by Candace (thanks Candace!) and our stand-in wardrobe girl, our makeup and hair artist Clara (thanks Clara!) to get a variety of different shots that will hopefully read like different days and times.

Don did a great job using tools he'd never even seen before.

He was a great sport too about climbing rickety ladders in questionable situations, in spite of his fear of heights.

Since I am holding Don's ladder the boys have to get the shot without me. B-Unit!

We also shot the scene where Constable Fisk (Rod McLeod) drops by on an unofficial visit out of uniform.

Rod waits for his close-up while I play director...

Raul's boards showed Tom in the dark interior of the ship talking to the constable who is standing in the light. We rigged up a huge piece of black duvateen (thanks U of R Theatre Department!) and the Dowler family held it in place against the crazy prairie wind. Luckily we did not sail off with the ship although the whole structure was really creaking at times, especially with that big black sail hoisted.

"We didn't lose Dylan in that last big gust, did we?"

Our magic hour shot was coming up, where the nurse 'finds' Tom on the deck of the ship. For this shot Chris had built a section of deck on a trailer he had, which was great because we were able to hook the 'set' up to Kevin's truck and place it perfectly for the ideal lighting.

"How would Tom look in this pose?"

Too bad we can't use this in the film: Tom is supposed to be standing on the deck of the ship so it couldn't be in the background, but how cool does this look?

Although supper was ready we just couldn't get enough of the ship against the changing sky. I was waiting for the shot I'd been dreaming of for the past ten years: the bones of the ship's skeleton raised against the prairie sunset.

"Waaaait foooor iiiiit...."

Finally it happened. The sky bloomed an amazing purple/pink and the black ribs of the ship cut across it just like in my dreams and paintings.

Incredible.

Finally when it got too dark to shoot, the camera crew and Don came down to base camp for supper, just around the time Kevin got back with the wine! We sat around our make-shift 'campfire' (an emergency light aimed at one of our reflector boards) and toasted the whole project. Minna Harmala, the Finnish reporter from Vapa Saana who had joined us for the day, interviewed a few of us, and then we slowly packed up in the dark.

What a day.

I discovered later that I was not the only one who made a private pilgrimage to the ship in the dark under the full moon. Pretty much everyone in the cast and crew sneaked out for a few moments alone with the ghostly Sontiainen.

Ghost ship in the moonlight....

I had hoped to go back out in following weeks for more shots of the ship, but found out from Chris that the prairie winds took it down within three days.

Tomorrow's shoot should honestly be light!

Until next time... Sisu!!