For a brief moment last week, a small area behind the Parks Canada compound resembled a Hollywood movie set, with cameras, actors and a burning car to boot.
Yes, you read that right, a burning car.
The special effect was part of a class project organized by Nathan Clark鈥檚 Grade 9 language arts class, in collaboration with the Jasper Fire Department.
鈥淎s a whole class we brainstormed and pitched ideas for the movie and then we took those ideas and refined them,鈥� said Clark, explaining the original plan was to burn a plane. 鈥淲e had to scale it down to get to something a little more realistic.鈥澛�
The film is called Diamonds and Ice and follows a newspaper journalist who is investigating the disappearance of polar bears in Alaska.
Without spoiling the scene, the car ultimately ends up going over a cliff and exploding into a burning inferno.
鈥淭his is the biggest action scene of the whole movie,鈥� said Clark, prior to shooting the scene on March 14. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the real deal.鈥�
To make the scene a reality, last fall, high school student Severin Golla, the film鈥檚 unit production manager, contacted the Jasper Fire Department to pitch the idea.
After setting up a face-to-face meeting with Fire Chief Greg Van Tighem, the fire department agreed to work with the class to make it happen.
During the shoot, Van Tighem was on site along with four other volunteer firefighters, helping the students get the car into position and safely carry out the special effect, which lasted less than 10 minutes from the time the car was lit to the time the fire was out.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a lot of fun,鈥� said Liam Lewis, the assistant director of the film.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done anything this big yet. We鈥檝e done a couple of small shoots in the school, writing the storyboard and the script, but tonight we鈥檙e actually seeing it in motion, which is really cool.鈥�
In October the students worked in pairs to write different story lines before they collectively decided which story they wanted to turn into a movie.
Once the class agreed on the story they wanted to shoot, Clark posted a job description for an assistant director and asked his students to submit their resumes so he could find the right student for the job.
From there he sifted through the pile of resumes to assign a student as the unit production manager.
Together the two students and himself assigned the rest of the class to other positions, such as art director, director of photography and casting director, among other positions.
鈥淓ssentially we had everybody slotted into a position,鈥� explained Clark.
To help fund the project, the class put a proposal forward to Mark Crozier, principal of Jasper Junior/Senior High School, so they could buy things such as a camera crane, jibs, and dollies.
According to Clark, the money to buy the equipment came from leftover funding the school had when it moved from its old building into the new Joint School Facility in 2014.聽
鈥淭he school鈥檚 been exceptionally supportive in helping us get what we need,鈥� said Clark, explaining Crozier is the executive producer on the project.
鈥淲henever we need more funds, my unit production manager goes to him, has a meeting, and asks for more and he ultimately decides what we get.鈥�
Once the film is completed, Clark said he expects it to be five to 10 minutes long.
Both Golla and Lewis said shooting the film has been a huge learning experience and they both have a new found respect for the amount of time and effort it takes to shoot a Hollywood film.
Paul Clarke [email protected]
