2008 -- Oct 9 | Apr 27 | Mar 5 -- 2007 -- Dec 10 | Nov 20 | Nov 12 | Nov 3 | Oct 17 | Oct 3 | Sept 3 | Aug 11 | May 27 | Apr 29 | Apr 14 | Mar 11 | Feb 19 | Jan 27
2006 -- Dec 19 | Nov 26 | Nov 20 | Nov 11 | Nov 6 | Oct 30 | Oct 15 | Sept 23 | Sept 16 | Sept 4 | Aug 27 | Aug 20 | Aug 8 | Aug 1 | June 29 | June 21
Hi everyone,
I realize in hindsight (it's always 20/20) that I should have done an update a week ago. Too much has happened in the last two weeks, but I'd rather have that problem than the alternative. It's hard to believe we have less than four weeks of filming to go! When we started this massive journey a year ago we dreamed "what if" not realizing that we couldn't have dreamt up a better script. Life truly is art!
Enough philosophizing (for now). Two weeks ago we had our busiest week to date, filming five days in succession. It all started on Wednesday (October 18th), we traveled to Hague to film a practice and to catch some footage of Mitch Fehr with his family. When we got there the football team was literally shoveling the football field. Sixteen players and two coaches cleared an entire football field of snow. I asked coach Kirby if this was unusual, he nonchalantly stated that they usually do this three or four times a year. You gotta love rural Saskatchewan.
After practice we followed Mitch home, filming him as he walked down the street (dolly shot). It was our way of paying homage to an amazing sports documentary, "Hoop Dreams". The funny part is that Mitch lives half a block from school so the shot is really short, oh well. As we interviewed Mitch in his bedroom I noticed a piece of tape hanging form the ceiling with a piece of paper attached to it. The paper hung down about four feet from where Mitch's head would be when he sleeps. I turned the paper around to see what it said on it. There was one word on the paper, "pray". I asked Mitch what this was for and he replied, "It reminds me every morning and every night what to do".
We had the privilege of meeting five of Mitch's six siblings and his remarkable mom, Debbie. She's raising these terrific kids on her own. Some of the most meaningful footage we've filmed this year came out of that home on October 18th.
Thursday October 19th was busy with a capital B! We drove down to Regina to film the undefeated Riffel and Sheldon football teams play at Taylor Field. It was an amazingly intense game with some interesting side notes. Riffel hadn't lost a regular season game in over three years. The quarterback of the Sheldon team was Ron Lancaster's grandson, Mark Mueller. Riffel won 29-20 but not before Sheldon gave them a serious scare going up 20-6 midway through the third quarter.
At halftime we interviewed Rob Vanstone, sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post. Rob was funny and self-depreciating. We appreciated his candor and thoughtfulness. Before the game we interviewed Greg Johnson, athletic director of Regina high school athletics. Greg is a kinder, gentler, more soft-spoken version of Kelly Bowers. Then again, everyone is a more soft-spoken version of Kelly! Before Greg's interview we interviewed Bob Hughes about his book on the history of the Regina Rams. Bob was nothing short of terrific. He's knowledgeable and fascinating to listen to. When we arrived in Regina we immediately went to the Ryan household to interview the Ryan family. Their son, and brother, is Jon Ryan. Jon is the punter for the Green Bay Packers. Jon's parents were generous and thoughtful. We interviewed the kids separately, thank goodness. Erica and Jill were hilarious, they love talking sports and they can't hide their pride over Jon's accomplishments. We left the Ryan's feeling fortunate that we met them.
Friday night (October 20th), we filmed Holy Cross' final regular season game of 2006. If they won they'd end up first in the south conference, if they lost they'd slip to third (the game was important). The Crusaders won handily, 38-0.
Saturday, we drove to the middle of nowhere, Eston Saskatchewan. Why did we go to Eston? We wanted footage of the Stubble Bowl, and to watch grown men playing flag football on a field of stubble. They really should call it the 'Mud Bowl'. We interviewed Don Moorman, he's been playing in it for nearly thirty years. We also got a chance to use our new 14' crane that we bought from Canadian Tire (just kidding). We did buy a crane, but it's from Louisiana. The shots we got from our crane are 'pure gold'!
Last Sunday we hid in the bushes at Holy Spirit Church and filmed the Olver family coming out of mass. It took a while, the Olver's have 13 kids! We went to their home to interview them and Peter, he's the young man who was (and is) considering the priesthood. We interviewed Peter's parents while they attempted to eat lunch. The conversation was lively and the footage was everything we'd hoped it would be.
We took two whole days off before we covered the 1/4 finals for Saskatoon high school football. We witnessed Mark Klause of the Aden Bowman Bears rushing for 330 yards (that's with two 80 yard runs called back for holding). If Holy Cross wins this week they'll probably be playing the Bears. Speaking of Holy Cross, they had a heart-stopping win against the St. Joe Guardians. They eventually won 27-20, but it was a barnburner. I hope we can do justice to it in the editing process.
This past Saturday we traveled to Hague for the Provincial 1/4 finals. They played the Porcupine Plain Bears, and they were huge! Their fullback was 6'4'' tall and he weighed 260 pounds, I'm not kidding! The Bears were up 14-0 midway through the first quarter. Hague hadn't been down all season and there they were getting schooled on their own turf!
By halftime the Hague Panthers took the lead 20-14, but it was a nail biter right to the end. Leading 22-20, they punted on the last play of the game. The return guy for Porcupine Plain almost returned the punt for a touchdown. We realized after experiencing two exciting playoff games that it's going to be painful watching these teams lose (if that happens), we really have come to respect and care for them as people.
Yesterday we filmed the Saskatoon Kinsmen Bantam League final between the Ledingham Steelers and the Arndt Falcons. Scott Farmer, coach of the Steelers graciously allowed us to mic him up for the game. Evan Hardy, Holy Cross, Walter Murray and Aden Bowman should all be paying these teams for the terrific job they do preparing these kids for the next level (high school football).
As you can see we've had an eventful two weeks. We want to finish strong, and we have lots of work to do. Thanks for your support and kind words. I'll talk to you soon. Go Riders!
Regards,
Tom Simes
Five Stones Films