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Shadowing Director, Anita Doron, in action has been an exercise in understanding which short moments of her time I can steal.  Much of my time is spent observing the following: How the scenes are blocked, or choreographed in other words, how scenes are then translated into shots, what choices are made for coverage, and how the actors are guided to get the best performances and ensure the emotional truth of the characters.

Various stills from the production

Week two is now finishing, and we were sad to see the writer of the Lesser Blessed, Richard Van Camp, return home to Edmonton. He dropped in on production for a few days, to observe and provide morale as only he can. One of the crew asked me afterward, “Who was that guy? He seemed really important and enthusiastic”. If you've ever met Richard, this is a very good description.

A week ago I arrived in Sudbury from Yellowknife, to begin a mentorship on the set of the feature dramatic film, the Lesser Blessed, based on the novel by NWT author Richard Van Camp. I'm being mentored under Director Anita Doron, who carefully lifted Richard's classic Northern coming-of-age story from its pages, and translated it into the visual world of a screenplay. The film adaptation has been six years in the making, a journey embarked upon by Anita, Richard, and producer Christina Piovesan.