| The Face of Lobster |
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Last week I flew to Cape Breton where my business and personal lives converged. It was surreal but pretty cool. Here’s how it happened… My production partner Pat McGowan runs InMotion, a production company based in Ottawa and awarded the contract to shoot a video clip for Agriculture Canada. Agri-Can is taking the Olympic opportunity to promote Canadian food to the world via all the venues during the games. That means big screen, jumbo-tron type visuals which have tremendous impact on the visual perspective of the breadth and scope this grand country. While I was on vacation this summer and staying with my husband’s family in Cape Breton, Pat and I were emailing about another project (yeah, yeah, crackberry girl, I’ve heard it all…) so I sent some photos of the view from my sister in law, Carla’s house. A gorgeous vista of ocean, lighthouse and fishing boats. Pat said he was hunting for just such a location for this Agri-Can thing. Too bad, he said, we don’t have a lobster fisherman there. Hah! I said, we do! Our dear friend Paul (Red to anyone who knows him) has four lovely lobster and crabbing boats just seconds away. And a plan was hatched! What would be a feat of magic in Toronto, what with all the people involved and the moving parts and permits to be pulled together, came together like a dream. The script needed three set ups 1. Kids playing near lighthouse 2. Family having a picnic near ocean and 3. Lobster fisherman doing their thing Heck, that’s nothing more than my vacation. So, friends Val and Carla pulled together the kids for the soccer game, and asked favors of the neighbors. Red pulled together the lobsters and pulled favors of other fishermen. And Dawn and Saul pulled together the picnic, complete with props, blankets and two beautiful kids. The community depicted in this story is the flavor of the east coast. While it was weird for me to fly in with my Toronto pace and all that goes with that, I am sure it was weirder for them to see me that way. My work life is worlds away from what I normally do in my husband’s tiny home town and asking those two worlds to mesh under the quick 48 hour expectation of big city life is lofty. Amazingly, the whole thing was seamless. Maybe they are on to something there. I am beginning to think that the whirlwind and stress of my everyday is completely made up. The stimulus of city life with all its noises, smells and sights can’t hold a candle to the Altantic wind that blows all your cares away and all the lobsters in. In the end, I get to be the lucky mom at the Oceanside having a picnic of lobster with her man and two kids. I got to see all my easterly pals. They got to have fun in front of the camera for a day and show the world what Cape Breton life and lobster is all about. Cool, eh? |
