December / 2002

president’s report
“Merry Christmas!” . . . Cut and Print

by Joan Hutton csc

Judging by the number of Christmas movies that are shot in this country each year, including the current hit The Santa Clause 2, the North Pole must truly be part of Canadian sovereignty. And Santa is just another jolly Canuck with a good agent.

Editor Don Angus even discovered a Christmas angle when he interviewed director of photography Bruce Worrall csc for this month’s feature story on the shooting, on reversal film stock, of the sci-fi MOW Deathlands. Worrall, it turned out, received an ASC nomination early this year for his work as DOP on the USA Network cable movie Prancer Returns, which was shot in and around the Toronto area.

A scene from Prancer Returns. Photo: Steve Wilkie

Don says the possibility of a December cover photo immediately sprang to mind, seeing that there was little other Christmas material available for this issue of the CSC News. Worrall, he reports, was happy with his work on Prancer Returns and the film “had some good performances from people like John Corbett (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and Stacy Edwards.” It also starred the venerable Jack Palance (see cover).

Prancer Returns was Worrall’s second collaboration with Deathlands director Joshua Butler, so “there was a trust already built in. He knew I could give him what he wanted, but if I moved a light here or there it would look better. I was allowed to do that. As a result, there wasn’t one shot that I think I did badly. We had just a lot of good shots. It was in 35mm, and it had a good look to it.

“You need luck as well,” he admitted. “I needed cloudy as opposed to fighting the sun, and I got overcast days for the big set-up. It was shot in February (2001), but we had to truck in quite a bit of snow up at Rattlesnake Point (conservation area).”

Brave crew, shooting outdoors in Ontario in February. More than a few Christmas productions have been shot in the spring, summer or fall.

Winter is for the real thing, and all of the executive and staff of the CSC wish you a very Merry Christmas on Dec. 25 and extend our best wishes for the whole holiday season. Stay safe and warm.

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