Christmas at Wapos Bay (D.O.P.)
16mm film / video post and effects, 42 minutes, 2001: (additional image 1)
This is a one hour television special directed by Dennis Jackson. Dennis was a student when I taught my first course at the University of Regina in 1997 and we kept in touch talking about animation. In the fall of 2000 Dennis got the money together for this stop motion film and hired me as director of photography. This fully animated puppet film was shot in about 45 days in the summer of 2001. We shot with 16mm Bolex cameras at 30 frames per second to accommodate the digital effects added in post. Although it was set in the winter, the shoot was unbelievably hot with temperatures outside reaching 31-35 degrees daily and the tin box studio sitting consistently a degree or two above that. The snow was made of icing sugar which sticks to your sweat to make you feel like a glazed donut by the end of the day. Although uncredited, I also animated numerous sequences. It was an incredibly fun experience. The film has been quite successful. The festivals have been so interested that a 35mm print was made from the digital video masters. It has played at the Sundance Film Festival, (Utah), Reel to Reel Festival (Victoria),Reel World Film Festival (Toronto), Schlingel International Children’s Film Festival (Chemnitz, Germany), Oulo Children’s Film Festival (Finland), Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, and Native American Film and Television Alliance (Los Angeles). It airs each Christmas on APTN and SCN. Dennis and Melanie Jackson have gone on to create a television series based on this project, the ongoing adventures of characters at Wapos Bay through their company, Dark Thunder . It is produced simultaniously in both English and Cree.