First of all, I want to welcome you to our humble production blog! This section of the site is meant to give you, the loyal and potentially excitable fan, the “in the thick of it” production scoops as we, the
filmmakers, continue through our journey of creating this historical documentary, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.
So you may be asking yourself, what is this documentary even about?
The site (which you may or may not have accessed this blog from, but for sake of reference is www.thelightdoc.ca) has a short write-up about what the film is about, but if you missed it or don’t want to look, here it is:
The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a feature-length documentary that explores the deeply personal stories of individuals living in the Southwestern Ontario region during the 1800’s. We began this journey in January 2013, when Steve Charles (director, producer) discovered that an Escaped Slave Chapel built in 1848 in London, Ontario, needed to be moved from its original location to where the congregation now resides, a few blocks down the road. He quickly joined forces with filmmaker Mark Drewe (director, producer) to tell a unique historical story. What began as a simple documentary that was focused on the move of the Chapel itself, rapidly grew into a series of compelling stories about one of the first areas in Canada to be truly multicultural, at a time when both the United States was reeling from Civil War and Canada was just an infant as a country. By focusing on the people that came to the area as outsiders to the country, and their intimate and
personal stories of their lives, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL is dedicated to not just remembering these long-forgotten people, but to express their lives and display the impact these new settlers had on forming a civilized society at a time when a country was being born. The stories we have discovered are engaging, heartbreaking, inspiring, and so much more.
The full-length feature film will portray 5 stories of individuals that lived in the region during the 1800’s, while the site is dedicated to portraying many of the smaller stories we find in addition to the documentary itself.
These are their stories.
To date, we’ve filmed two complete interviews with local historians, as well as having lined up a research team consisting of a professor and a few undergraduate students.
Steve and Mark will be the primary writers of the blog, and we will be sharing our personal insights throughout the process. Both of us come from very different backgrounds; Steve grew up in a small town in Southwestern Ontario, just outside of London, Ontario, and as a young man played professional baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system. After finishing his playing days, he became an advanced scout with the organization, often travelling from city to city in the US. When he eventually left pro baseball, he became an architectural drafter, eventually starting his own company, The Iron Pencil. It was through his work as an architectural drafter that he got involved with the Chapel, and it was his friendship with Mark that got the documentary off and running.
Mark, meanwhile, is 11 years younger than Steve, and grew up in a small own just outside of Burlington, Ontario. He moved to London as an 18 year old and went to the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) for Film studies. After getting his Honors BA, he left University and started his own production company, Mosaic Mind Pictures at 24. He met Steve as a 21 year old playing recreational baseball, and the two forged a friendship right away.
The birth of the film came from both Steve and Mark’s interest in the craft of storytelling. Right away both had a clear vision of the kind of film that the Slave Chapel’s story could create – but it was the explosion of interest from the community (which I’ll have to touch on in another blog), including city officials itself, that really put the film’s gears into motion. Since that initial test interview we shot in June 2013, the region’s largely untold multicultural history has really taken on a life of its own. While there are literally 100’s of stories to tell, and nearly every day we find more, we are committed to finding and telling the 5 most compelling stories in the documentary. These stories will outline the rich, diverse history that the area has – stories that have inspired, infuriated, scared us and given us hope; but all have the common thread that simply isn’t well known.
We aim to change that, and we are delighted to give you a peek into this region’s fascinating history.
This won’t be any ordinary journey.
-
Mark
filmmakers, continue through our journey of creating this historical documentary, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.
So you may be asking yourself, what is this documentary even about?
The site (which you may or may not have accessed this blog from, but for sake of reference is www.thelightdoc.ca) has a short write-up about what the film is about, but if you missed it or don’t want to look, here it is:
The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a feature-length documentary that explores the deeply personal stories of individuals living in the Southwestern Ontario region during the 1800’s. We began this journey in January 2013, when Steve Charles (director, producer) discovered that an Escaped Slave Chapel built in 1848 in London, Ontario, needed to be moved from its original location to where the congregation now resides, a few blocks down the road. He quickly joined forces with filmmaker Mark Drewe (director, producer) to tell a unique historical story. What began as a simple documentary that was focused on the move of the Chapel itself, rapidly grew into a series of compelling stories about one of the first areas in Canada to be truly multicultural, at a time when both the United States was reeling from Civil War and Canada was just an infant as a country. By focusing on the people that came to the area as outsiders to the country, and their intimate and
personal stories of their lives, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL is dedicated to not just remembering these long-forgotten people, but to express their lives and display the impact these new settlers had on forming a civilized society at a time when a country was being born. The stories we have discovered are engaging, heartbreaking, inspiring, and so much more.
The full-length feature film will portray 5 stories of individuals that lived in the region during the 1800’s, while the site is dedicated to portraying many of the smaller stories we find in addition to the documentary itself.
These are their stories.
To date, we’ve filmed two complete interviews with local historians, as well as having lined up a research team consisting of a professor and a few undergraduate students.
Steve and Mark will be the primary writers of the blog, and we will be sharing our personal insights throughout the process. Both of us come from very different backgrounds; Steve grew up in a small town in Southwestern Ontario, just outside of London, Ontario, and as a young man played professional baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system. After finishing his playing days, he became an advanced scout with the organization, often travelling from city to city in the US. When he eventually left pro baseball, he became an architectural drafter, eventually starting his own company, The Iron Pencil. It was through his work as an architectural drafter that he got involved with the Chapel, and it was his friendship with Mark that got the documentary off and running.
Mark, meanwhile, is 11 years younger than Steve, and grew up in a small own just outside of Burlington, Ontario. He moved to London as an 18 year old and went to the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) for Film studies. After getting his Honors BA, he left University and started his own production company, Mosaic Mind Pictures at 24. He met Steve as a 21 year old playing recreational baseball, and the two forged a friendship right away.
The birth of the film came from both Steve and Mark’s interest in the craft of storytelling. Right away both had a clear vision of the kind of film that the Slave Chapel’s story could create – but it was the explosion of interest from the community (which I’ll have to touch on in another blog), including city officials itself, that really put the film’s gears into motion. Since that initial test interview we shot in June 2013, the region’s largely untold multicultural history has really taken on a life of its own. While there are literally 100’s of stories to tell, and nearly every day we find more, we are committed to finding and telling the 5 most compelling stories in the documentary. These stories will outline the rich, diverse history that the area has – stories that have inspired, infuriated, scared us and given us hope; but all have the common thread that simply isn’t well known.
We aim to change that, and we are delighted to give you a peek into this region’s fascinating history.
This won’t be any ordinary journey.
-
Mark