Farmers of the Pontiac: Episode 1
The Farmers of the Pontiac series is very special to us. It represents a strong blend of cinematic qualities with a documentary style of storytelling. All of this combined tells an honest story of the potential for the region to grow. Born out of the mind of Brittany Morin of the SADC Pontiac, the series was strongly received from all SADCs across Quebec due to its honest approach in growing the business community in the region as well as showing that the region has great agriculture to offer.
Farmers of the Pontiac: Episode 1 from FIVE2NINE on Vimeo.
We are on the cusp of completing the second episode for release in mid-June. Despite how much we love the first episode, we feel that editor Dylan Page really captured the spirit of the region and the young farmers that have taken up residence in Quebec’s Pontiac region.
We have since adopted this style of using two opposing techniques with characters and locations to not only continue the series but to find ways of getting unique, unscripted, honest, and authentic content from our more corporate type work.This has gone on to influence our work with Level Six, our TV work and various other local projects.
We are very proud of this piece because it was an experiment that worked. It is such a great authentic and human feel to an otherwise corporate topic; business development.
One of the coolest techniques we have been consistently doing is micing up a subject that is otherwise uncomfortable with sitting in front of the camera. It is pretty easy to know who these people are.For example, in this video Mike was very reluctant to allow us into his world. After two visits on separate occasions I offered to simply have a mic on him and we had a camera operator simply film the discussion he and I had as friends.
What you see in this piece is the outcome of that.It becomes more natural and even modern to a degree.While we feel movement with the camera, we feel like we are there and there is something human about it.We see Mike sweating away to make a product he is truly proud of.You can almost smell the work.
In contrast to the brewery, with the wide open spaces of the hop farm we had a lot of beautiful lines to work with. With the interview we wanted something unique and decided to break the rules of the traditional interview framing.We essentially did the opposite. At first I was very unsure of this choice but now I absolutely love it and couldn’t see it any other way.
Charles was very comfortable on camera.This made it easy for us to get the info we needed to frame up the story of hops and beer in the region.Shooting early morning provided us with amazing natural light and all we needed to do was reflect a little light on his face to get the composition we needed.
The morning light also provided us with the beautiful hops shots that you see and a stockpile of beautiful aerials that could supply 10 more videos about hops in the region.
This was shot in late August which is such a wonderful time for shooting. Almost everyday provide beautiful and ample light to accomplish everything you need. Colours are lush and vibrant.It is a wonderful time in the Pontiac.
Now that it is June 2019 we are prepping for the shoot for the third video. Things should be getting in motion soon with the apple blossoms coming out at the cidery in the Pontiac. We are all very excited to get moving on the third episode as this is one of our favourite project of the year!