Editing

It’s been said by pretty much every filmmaker, there are three movies that you make: the one you write, the one you shoot and the one you edit. When you shoot a film, you often discover that elements within the script are not as practical as you thought.  Maybe the weather wasn’t cooperating that day, turning the scene into something else (possibly even for the better). If you’re lucky, you may discover something far more interesting on set than you originally imagined -- a unique adlib or performance by the actor which adds a whole new flavor that wasn’t on the page.

When it comes to the art of editing, the process will redefine the film once again. A film editor’s job isn’t to just cut every scene together. With hours of footage and multiple takes of a scene, a film editor needs to creatively find the rhythm of the movie, working within the layers of images, story, dialogue and performances. That being said, I don’t think we could have found a better editor for this film than Mark Shearer. With a strong artistic eye, and tremendous energy to boot, Mark considers himself more of a story editor as he asks tough questions and raises excellent story points that reflect a changing film. I’m very pleased to work alongside such a talent these last two months.

The greatest joy however, is just seeing the movie come to life. A few private screenings we’ve had over these last few weeks have helped to shape the editing process, by letting us know where the film’s pacing needs to be readjusted, where the story needs more clarity or elements that come across as a little too obvious. These next 5 days will allow us the opportunity to adjust any remaining areas we’d like to improve, and make the film the best it can be.

Next stop - music score, sound design, visual FX, and colour correction.

Congrats Bruce!

Congratulations to Bruce Greenwood who will be honoured with the ACTRA award of excellence in Los Angeles on Jan 27^th. The prestigious award recognizes a member's career achievements and contribution to fellow performers and the Canadian industry. 

Read more here.

Wrapped

After many long days, multiple locations, and an overall tremendous group effort - production has wrapped on ‘Donovan’s Echo’ (Actually, it wrapped over a month ago…)

With early mornings, 12-15 hour days of shooting, and late night prep for the next day’s work, filmmaking is an exhausting experience – both mentally and physically. Everyone has a job to do, and even with schedules planned well in advance, every day is a race against the clock. Fortunately, we were blessed with an incredible team – from the extremely talented performers to an amazing crew behind-the-scenes. There seemed to be a real overall synergy.

In pre-production, there were many hours of discussion with all the creative departments as they worked to bring every little detail off the page. Wardrobe used unique colour palates and accessories to help suggest the mood and personality of each character.  Hair and makeup tackled multiple time periods. Set design completely transformed each location with the perfect décor, and props went to great lengths to determine what each important piece should look like – such as Donovan’s journal.

After many auditions, we were grateful to have found such a gifted array of actors. Sonja Bennett’s audition for Sarah wowed the room with both her purity and passion. David Lewis, who had previously nailed his auditioned for a different role, later inspired a call back for the pivotal role of Kit – where he nailed it again. We were excited to welcome the talented Ian Tracey on board as Ray, who brought a new dimension to the character not on the page. And Natasha Calis, an amazing young performer, was just destined to be Maggie. As for all the other characters, each individual managed to bring a little something special in their own way, and really added an overall texture to the film.

Meanwhile, we can’t say enough about Danny and Bruce’s chemistry on screen. Both gave tremendous performances that really brought the characters of Donovan and Finney to life in ways we never could’ve imagined.  

Now with hours of footage to sift through, a new phase has begun – editing (More on that soon...).

In the meantime, DE has continued popped up in new sources including The Hollywood Reporter, Playback, and Moviehole.

DE In The News

Vancouver's "The Province" newspaper published an article about Donovan's Echo in the Sunday Entertainment section.

Click here to read.

Production

The last couple weeks of production have been jam-packed with long, busy days. Countless hours have been dedicated to finding perfect locations, sourcing props, designing wardrobe, and more.

While an outsider might comment that the set looks like chaos, it is in fact very organized chaos. Each person knows their job, and does it very well.

The beautiful lighting, shots and performances are bringing Donovan's Echo to life in ways we couldn't have imagined. Even the rain has helped to create a moodiness that really suits the tone of the film.

We look forward sharing the final product with all of you.

Pre-Production

Every movie production is like a puzzle, with elements that fall together in their own unique way. Over the past few months, we have been piecing together the puzzle for Donovan's Echo, slowly pulling the story off the page and bringing it into action. That said, while crickets have been chirping on the blog front (as usual), plenty of hard work has been going on behind the scenes as we tweak, cast, scout, and more.

Since opening our production office at Vancouver Film Studios a couple weeks ago, our team has quickly grown in size, with new faces coming on board every day. We are really excited about this group of great people we are collaborating with, as everyone is using their own special talents to help us bring this ambitious project to life.

Speaking of new faces joining us, we feel very fortunate to have attached two very respected actors to star in the roles of Donovan and Finnley. We are thrilled to finally announce Danny Glover as Donovan Matheson and Bruce Greenwood as Finnley Boyd.

Now that the ball is gaining momentum, and we are almost a week away from production, we plan to update this blog more often with all kinds of behind the scenes news as it develops!

Stay tuned!

PACKAGING

Over the last year we have been working with producers Trent Carlson, Andria Spring, and Mary Anne Waterhouse (all of The Thaw and Fido). They have challenged us to bring the Donovan's Echo script to a whole new level. We’re very thrilled by their involvement and enthusiasm.

The last couple of months have since been spent in a Packaging phase. During this time, we have created great new support materials, storyboards and animatics for promotional purposes.

We apologize for the large gaps of time between blog postings, but filmmaking is a time-consuming process... and things are finally about to get very interesting.

Stay tuned...