Spore

About the making of the film

On a Friday night, at the start of a 48 Hour Film Project, you draw a genre, character, line of dialogue and prop at random. By Sunday evening, you need a finished film. Spore was my third time taking on that challenge as a team lead. Aidan Broderick directed and produced alongside me. We’d met making Ambivalence and spent weeks calling between Calgary and Kelowna to put a crew and a plan together. We just couldn’t know what story we were planning for yet. On Friday night, we pulled sci-fi and spent about four hours throwing ideas around. By 11 p.m., we’d landed on Spore. The film’s lead audio technician, Stéphan Shannon, Aidan and I worked through the story’s key moments; then Aidan began writing while I built the shot list and hunted for props and a location. I found the burned forest where we shot by searching the Okanagan on Google Street View. Once we were on set, Aidan’s acting background and my camera background gave us different ways to guide each scene together. The shooting location came with one surprise: ticks. Before long, everyone had taped their pant legs and tick checks had become part of the routine. Even on a sleepless weekend, the crew found a way to laugh about it and keep the energy up. Many of us were meeting for the first time, and that spirit is what stays with me most. I’m proud of the film, and just as proud of the friendships and creative connections that came from making it.

Credits