Capitol Theatre = AWESOME
I had an absolutely brilliant day! :D
Firstly: the weather was nice for most of the day - sunny, with a brief patch of showers to briefly cool everything off before the heat got oppressive. In fact, afterwards the sun came out so strongly that you could see mist drifting off of the wooden roofs and boardwalks in the fort as the water evaporated. Very cool.
Secondly: When I got into work today, I was given some nice fresh (but extra) oatmeal by some of the ed programmers who had made up a huge batch for breakfast for the day camp that slept over in the fort overnight. Yay, free food! Immediately afterwards, though, when I got upstairs in Rowand House to the changeroom/lunchroom/breakroom, I was approached by one of my coworkers. Turns out, he dropped something down the couch in our breakroom (a book or some money or something) and he noticed a rip in the fabric where his thing had fallen through. So, he tipped the couch upside down and banged on it... and what should fall out but the iPod touch that I lost in my second week of work this season! :DD I'd already long since replaced it, but that solves the mystery: the couch was the last time that I distinctly remember holding it my hands. Anyway, he's actually willing to buy the old one off of me second hand, so bonus! :D
Thirdly: I work at Fort Edmonton Park! HOW COOL IS THAT? :D I KNOW, RIGHT?
ON A RELATED NOTE, fourthly: one of the amazing ed programmers who once worked at a similar interpretive site, Fort William, taught a bunch of us towards the end of the day how to do several really invigorating and fun traditional fur-trade era dances. Almost all of us interpreters and volunteers who remained at five o'clock learned, and we were all laughing and sweating towards the end. One of our volunteers, Arwen, plays the violin, and so provided us with some awesome violin music. :D An excellent way to end the day and get in the mood for...
THE FIFTH AND MOST AWESOME THING: the private Fort Edmonton employee screening of the new movie and the (nearly, almost finished, really getting there) Capitol Theatre on 1920s street: "The Northern Light". For and explanation and a trailer that can give you the feel of the movie, go here. :) What an amazing feeling! We were the first audience to watch it in its entirety, start to finish. It was exhilerating to watch, and there were no glaring historical errors we will be forever having to correct visitors on. They trod the fine line between historically accurate, cheesy, and entertaining, and they did very well! You really got a feel for the history of Edmonton (as much as you can in ten or fifteen minutes), without being told everything. (That's what we costumed historical interpreters are here for!)
Yes, there were rumble seats, and even snow falling from the ceiling, but the interiors were very much classically 1920s, and beautiful. I wish LJ was working well enough for me to upload one of a few photographs I took of the interior and exterior. Trust me when I say that it's gorgeous in the inside. In fact, there are a few fake windows inside with a sort of rosy hue, like the sun is setting right outside.
We may also be a bit biased because two thirds if not more of the people appearing on the screen were people who worked for the park sitting in the audience, so it was a thrill to see our own faces and the faces of our friends on the big screen in front of us. We all cheered when Will appeared on the screen as John Rowand (and ordered people about!), when the train arrived, etc. There were somber moments as well, particularly when talking about the effects of the death tolls of the Great War (the First World War) and the Spanish Influenza epidemic, as well as the hardships the native people of this region underwent in the late 1800s.
I really loved the transition in the beginning... which I don't want to spoil for those who will actually go out and see it. In essence, I was told that they were going to be including one thing, didn't see it when I walked in and assumed that it was a rumor of something that had since been cut from the final plan... and so when it did appear I was completely surprised. :3
I also really loved the part near the beginning with the man telling a story in Cree in a tipi on one side of the screen, then a white fur trader on the other side telling (presumably) the same story in French (similar gestures)... and the French was NOT Parisian, as is always the temptation for filmmakers who don't know French, but a genuine, Métis-sounding (almost Michif) French. I was very pleased to hear that. :)
Oh, and remember the day of filming that I did in January? It was not all for naught! I was not cut from the final film! :D I think I briefly appear in a crowd scene in the front of the bustling fort, on the far left of Rowand House, but I do appear for a good three or four seconds, gigantic, right in the middle of the screen, scraping a bison hide. I know my image was flipped, and it's not immediately apparent in its sepia tones that it was filmed in the middle of January, but... I am in the film! :D
Also, there was free food afterwards and much merriment and animated discussion afterwards. :) Lovely!
In fact, you know what, here, watch the trailer/sneak peak/making of video:
Firstly: the weather was nice for most of the day - sunny, with a brief patch of showers to briefly cool everything off before the heat got oppressive. In fact, afterwards the sun came out so strongly that you could see mist drifting off of the wooden roofs and boardwalks in the fort as the water evaporated. Very cool.
Secondly: When I got into work today, I was given some nice fresh (but extra) oatmeal by some of the ed programmers who had made up a huge batch for breakfast for the day camp that slept over in the fort overnight. Yay, free food! Immediately afterwards, though, when I got upstairs in Rowand House to the changeroom/lunchroom/breakroom, I was approached by one of my coworkers. Turns out, he dropped something down the couch in our breakroom (a book or some money or something) and he noticed a rip in the fabric where his thing had fallen through. So, he tipped the couch upside down and banged on it... and what should fall out but the iPod touch that I lost in my second week of work this season! :DD I'd already long since replaced it, but that solves the mystery: the couch was the last time that I distinctly remember holding it my hands. Anyway, he's actually willing to buy the old one off of me second hand, so bonus! :D
Thirdly: I work at Fort Edmonton Park! HOW COOL IS THAT? :D I KNOW, RIGHT?
ON A RELATED NOTE, fourthly: one of the amazing ed programmers who once worked at a similar interpretive site, Fort William, taught a bunch of us towards the end of the day how to do several really invigorating and fun traditional fur-trade era dances. Almost all of us interpreters and volunteers who remained at five o'clock learned, and we were all laughing and sweating towards the end. One of our volunteers, Arwen, plays the violin, and so provided us with some awesome violin music. :D An excellent way to end the day and get in the mood for...
THE FIFTH AND MOST AWESOME THING: the private Fort Edmonton employee screening of the new movie and the (nearly, almost finished, really getting there) Capitol Theatre on 1920s street: "The Northern Light". For and explanation and a trailer that can give you the feel of the movie, go here. :) What an amazing feeling! We were the first audience to watch it in its entirety, start to finish. It was exhilerating to watch, and there were no glaring historical errors we will be forever having to correct visitors on. They trod the fine line between historically accurate, cheesy, and entertaining, and they did very well! You really got a feel for the history of Edmonton (as much as you can in ten or fifteen minutes), without being told everything. (That's what we costumed historical interpreters are here for!)
Yes, there were rumble seats, and even snow falling from the ceiling, but the interiors were very much classically 1920s, and beautiful. I wish LJ was working well enough for me to upload one of a few photographs I took of the interior and exterior. Trust me when I say that it's gorgeous in the inside. In fact, there are a few fake windows inside with a sort of rosy hue, like the sun is setting right outside.
We may also be a bit biased because two thirds if not more of the people appearing on the screen were people who worked for the park sitting in the audience, so it was a thrill to see our own faces and the faces of our friends on the big screen in front of us. We all cheered when Will appeared on the screen as John Rowand (and ordered people about!), when the train arrived, etc. There were somber moments as well, particularly when talking about the effects of the death tolls of the Great War (the First World War) and the Spanish Influenza epidemic, as well as the hardships the native people of this region underwent in the late 1800s.
I really loved the transition in the beginning... which I don't want to spoil for those who will actually go out and see it. In essence, I was told that they were going to be including one thing, didn't see it when I walked in and assumed that it was a rumor of something that had since been cut from the final plan... and so when it did appear I was completely surprised. :3
I also really loved the part near the beginning with the man telling a story in Cree in a tipi on one side of the screen, then a white fur trader on the other side telling (presumably) the same story in French (similar gestures)... and the French was NOT Parisian, as is always the temptation for filmmakers who don't know French, but a genuine, Métis-sounding (almost Michif) French. I was very pleased to hear that. :)
Oh, and remember the day of filming that I did in January? It was not all for naught! I was not cut from the final film! :D I think I briefly appear in a crowd scene in the front of the bustling fort, on the far left of Rowand House, but I do appear for a good three or four seconds, gigantic, right in the middle of the screen, scraping a bison hide. I know my image was flipped, and it's not immediately apparent in its sepia tones that it was filmed in the middle of January, but... I am in the film! :D
Also, there was free food afterwards and much merriment and animated discussion afterwards. :) Lovely!
In fact, you know what, here, watch the trailer/sneak peak/making of video:
Click to view