Current ads
Jobs
Tenders
Notices
General

Click below

Filmmakers go back to school in Iqaluit

Editing course at Arctic College draws do-it-yourself movie-makers

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Philip Joamie, a 37-year-old technical director for Inuit Communications Systems Ltd., said the course will allow him to work on editing raw footage while he’s still traveling around the territory. (PHOTO BY GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS)

---

Nunavut’s movie and documentary makers, often rich in ideas, but short of cash, predict filmmaking will become more affordable in the territory now that Nunavut Arctic College has a cutting-edge multi-media facility on its Iqaluit campus.

Seven filmmakers learned to use computer editing software late last month during a week-long workshop to give them more control over their films. The $1,500 tuition fee was a deal compared to the cost of traveling south to use similar equipment.

Workshop students said filmmakers in Nunavut lack technical skills and equipment to edit their own work, and as a result, pay professionals in the South thousands of dollars a day to do the job for them.

If Nunavut filmmakers insisted on doing the technical work themselves, they would have to buy expensive plane tickets to fly down south, rent pricey editing studios and pay travel expenses, like food and housing.

Tony Romito, a 31-year-old filmmaker who took the workshop, said taking the course and using the college’s equipment will allow smaller-scale, independent Nunavut companies to save time and money.

Romito, a partner in Atiigo Media, explained the savings come from learning a computer program that can create a virtual film studio on a small, portable laptop right here in Iqaluit.

“We’re being taught how to do this stuff ourselves,” said Romito. “All we need is a computer and software and we’re ready to go.

“We can open the door for people who had the interest but never the opportunity.”

During the workshop, Romito showed the power of the college’s facility, as he edited footage of a feature-length film on a computer in the classroom, a task that used to be handed over to hired help.

On a small computer screen, the silhouette of a man stumbled across the snow-covered tundra, as Romito dabbled in special effects to enhance the picture. The film, a thriller called Mahaha, is a work in progress that recounts the tale of a mythical creature in Inuit lore who tickles its victims to death. Romito hasn’t set a release date, citing a lack of financing for distribution.

The workshop’s teacher said small-time independent filmmakers like Romito are growing in numbers all over the world, thanks to the declining cost of sophisticated editing technology.

Joel Taylor, who taught the workshop during a break from work in the Montreal film industry, said he’s seen small-time filmmakers flourish, in part because local artists, directors and support staff learned how to use the technology themselves.

“It isn’t such an elite practice anymore,” Taylor said. “What’s happening in video is it’s brought us the cheap technology, and made it accessible to everybody.”

The new multi-media lab, which cost $17,000, will benefit more than the film industry, according to the college’s head of information technology, William Minnis.

Minnis said students in the Nunavut Teachers Education Program will also receive instruction in how to make mini-films or documentaries with their future students.

He added that with the new facility, students in the college’s language and culture program will now design and format books of Inuit stories, learning new computer skills and saving the bulk of production costs associated with hiring experts in the South.

The multi-media lab also promises to improve long distance learning opportunities in Nunavut, by transmitting video recordings of classes taped in Iqaluit to the communities.

“From an educational perspective, I think it’s important that Nunavut and Nunavummiut be exposed to the tools and the technology to see what’s possible,” Minnis said. “We’re giving them the tools of putting their imagination on video.

“We can show them this stuff is not as scary as they think.”

TOP

Advertising
Specs, rates,
& maps
Multi-paper
buying services
About the market
E-mail ad dept

More Information