Friday 29 July 2016

NEW BRUNSICK FILM CO-OP article - Peter Evanchuck & Helene Lacelle - PIGGIRL

NBFC Weekly Friday E-News

July 29, 2016
Header Image 1NBFC member Ryan Groom has exciting news to unveil, see below for more details.
Header Image 2NBFC members Peter Evanchuck and Helene Lacelle just finished a new short film. (Photo by Peter Evanchuck)

US 

FILM DIARY - RYAN GROOM, HANWELL, NB

Just signed my first contract with CBC to produce a documentary called “Maritimes from Above” about landscape aerial videography, the techniques, and regulations behind getting grand vistas with the film industry’s hottest tool, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or what many call drones.
On Saturday, my filming companions (Paul Archer & Jacob Groom) are picking up our international travel buddy Rodney McAffee from the Halifax Airport then driving to Nova Scotia to start filming. After Nova Scotia we head to a few amazing places in New Brunswick in the Sussex area, then to Grand Manan Island. We are just not taking regular aerial shots but flying through gorges, caves, and between massive trees to get unique video with our pair of UAVs.
The documentary will be shot this summer, edited this fall, and will be shown on CBC next summer (2017).
Personality I am nervous and excited (pumped!). I have been learning about broadcast TV thanks to the generous support of Bell Aliant TV1 the last 4 years and now I got a chance to expand the reach and tell a story on CBC taking all the lessons learned from past adventures and wrapping them into an educating and entertaining 45 minutes!
Special thanks to the Silver Wave Film Festival (and ultimately the NB Film Co-op who hosts the festival) in facilitating the first meeting with CBC last fall which lead to the full bloom of this project.
Well … almost time to pack the truck with cameras, drones, coffee, candy, cables, and computers to start an unforgettable road trip with some of my best friends in the whole world — to bring you, Maritimes from Above.
Ryan Groom on location somewhere in the world. 

FILM DIARY - PETER EVANCHUCK & HELENE LACELLE, CHIPMAN, NB

PigGirl is a new short drama by Peter Evanchuck and Helene Lacelle.
Marshall McCluhan always seemed to be laying down on his leather couch in his office at University of Toronto when I dropped by back in time. He was always looking for an audience to reveal his latest thoughts on pop media. 
Of course his concept of the Global Village has come true with the saturation of digital technology and all it's offspring like youtube, facebook, etc., etc., and the mightiest of all the selfie; that pathetic need we all have to show our stuff, flourished when digital gave it freedom of exposure.
Those of us who use digital to make movies are married to a heavenly SD card - 'because it costs next to nothing, one can learn all they have to learn to make selfie movies - i.e. learn to do all the jobs that used to take ten, now takes one. Well not exactly but, if you really want to make a selfie movie drama or doc. it's now possible and, in fact, rather popular.
I joined that bandwagon quickly when I returned to making movies after a decade hiatus. At first, I went back to the technology I knew and the equipment I had purchased over the years to make feature fiction movies: Arriflex, CP16, Nagra, Senni mics,  Steinbecks, etc. (the CP16 was a layover from my days shooting for the Wide World of Sports. A great simple camera that never fails weights a ton but never fails). That old technology is excellent but tedious for someone prolific and renegade It's just too expensive and, too cumbersome and too slow. Digital is the opposite, it's cheap, light and fast.
Being a solo type guy whose partner is an actor/artist (Helene), it was made for me and, others like me so, buying the new equipment was mandatory.
Armed with relatively good pro/semi pro equipment, I can make all the short docs i want for next to nothing compared to film costs. I still use/hire an excellent editor for the important docs but, for the fun ones I do all the jobs myself with my partner's invaluable assistance.
Cancer having overtaken my extreme lifestyle and made it quieter and more sober, digital's advantages have fallen right into my weakened condition; so cheap, light, fast - despite my cancer allows me to continue to make movies albeit mostly docs which take so little to make. Compared to dramas, they and digital are a perfect match. 
So, PigGirl comes along because our neighbour in Chipman had this pig on his front lawn for years. Helene bought it from him for a pack of smokes. Now I don't need much of a muse to get creating new ideas, scripts, projects. The pig was all I needed and, with Helene's marvelous help PIGGIRL was born and is now in pre-producton.
This will be Helene's entry into drama directing.


Wednesday 27 July 2016

PIGGIRL - a new short comedy by HELENE LACELLE & PETER EVANCHUCK

varied locations, from Niagara to Toronto to Kingston to Brockville to Ottawa to Montreal to Trois Rivieres

to Quebec City to Edmonston to Woodstock to Fredericton to Sackville to Alma tp St. Marten

to St John to Moncton to Grand Pre to Joggins to Halifax to Peggy'sCove and

with bucks and lucks to 'the ROCK' i.e. NFLD.



as the girl searches for her voice, she becomes a whisperer -

a pig whisperer - it's the talking pig , BABE, that guides her thru

her trauma into a great new afterlife.

'In thunder, lightening and in rain... they meet again'


photo by peter evanchuck