A creative film, an original soundtrack, a
behind-the-scenes series and an interactive website — none of these ideas on their own are incredibly new or
inventive, but put them together to form one all-encompassing, cross-medium, new media project — and you just
might have something that no one has seen before. Canadian producer Ryan Noth, along with co-producers at
FilmCAN NPP Films Inc., Joel McConvey and Geoff Morrison, came to this
same realization just five years ago after running into a Parks Canada representative who was looking for ideas to celebrate Parks Canada’s 100th
birthday. Now, in 2011, their innovative way of thinking has finally been realized through the release of the
National Parks Project (NPP), a multiplatform media project including 13
films, an original soundtrack featuring 39 of Canada’s best musicians, a Gemini Award-winning behind-the-scenes series and — of course — an interactive website.
Lifestyler spoke to Noth in an exclusive interview about everything from the NPP’s inception,
to the Canadian film industry’s accolades.
How did the idea
for the National Parks Project come about?
It was actually
when I was in Banff attending a TV festival, and I was pitching a sitcom of all things when I happened to run
into a rep from Parks Canada there, and they were looking for new media projects that kind of reached a more
urban demographic. It didn’t’ necessarily have to push people to go parks, as much as raise a profile and
awareness of the parks through social media channels. So I came back and I was on Toronto Island with my
co-producer Joel McConvey and Geoff Morrison and we kind of hatched this idea to take our favourite
filmmakers and musicians to some of the best parks in the country to highlight them through the arts and kind
of curate the whole thing.
Describe what it
was like being on location for a shoot.
It was always fun
because in the beginning we were all just a bundle of nerves and we didn’t know what would happen and if it
would work. Sort of by the end of the first shoot in Gwaii Haanas B.C., we were all kind of at the end,
packing up, getting on the airplane back to Vancouver and everyone kind of had the feeling that this
experiment, it worked. A couple of songs, some soundtrack stuff, an amazing visual footage for the film and
everyone had a great time. It was really moving and it was just a really honest and true experience. The
first day the musicians are all so nervous and energized to do anything, but by the end of the first day or
even the second day they’re just dying to make music. Sometimes they wouldn’t be quite as interested in going
on a canoe ride or seeing other things in the park or the area. Once they got into making music and knew they
only had four days or three days left, they really started focusing on it.
Describe some of
the challenges working on the project.
There are
different challenges in each space. In the Yukon, we flew into the ice fields which basically took our whole
day. It’s a half-hour flight into these ice fields, and it’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen in my
life for thirty minutes below me. We landed there and we just made music. We were all there for two, three
hours each and we had to do four trips back and forth in a three-person plane and that’s all we did all day,
we just went to the ice fields. Whereas other days we’re driving and [the musicians] weren’t necessarily just
sitting around making music the entire time, so there are all these different little twists to each
shoot.
Why do you think
it was important for the project to be created at all?
I think that one
of the things that’s lacking in Canada is a mirror that reflects the country back to us, specifically in our
cinemas and in movies. We’re always trying to shine a light on cinema and media talent in the country. Who
better to ask to represent a vision of these natural spaces of Canada than filmmakers from the country? We
felt that we could bring a lot of interest and attention to the project through some of the most amazing and
talented musicians in this country and at the same time shine a light on some of them. While we have Sam
Roberts, we also have Jennifer Castle who, in our minds draw [as] equally amazing artists. Some have a bit
higher public profile than others.
What has been the
most exciting part of this process?
I think being in
the field, being on the shoots was just something unbelievable because they’re our favourite musicians and
filmmakers and just being able to be around them and being able to see how they plug into nature and how are
able to sort of distill it through them into some sort of artistic outlet and shape into a point of view.
It’s not, let’s say the P.E.I. film for example, is maybe not the most definitive P.E.I. film ever made, but
it’s such a unique portrait into P.E.I. you would never imagine. I think it’s really important that Canadians
get to see these and talk about them and say, ‘This is my favourite; this is the one I didn’t like.’ After
screening it’s so amazing because there’s literally a dichotomy of people who’s least favourite film is
someone else’s most favourite and they start talking and arguing and it’s really
interesting.
What has the
response to the project been like since we first spoke in June?
The films had
really great success at Hot Docs. We were able to screen two sold-out screenings and it was one of the first films to
sell out. It wasn’t necessarily one of the ones that were the most promoted…but all the reviews we got from
out of Hot Docs for the film collection were really positive….Then after that we had about an eight-week
theatrical run across Canada, distributed by us, and that did really well. Again, it was [in the] Top 5
Canadian box office for eight weeks in a row for domestic films… but I think that really speaks to the both
the fact that you can get that response with a documentary and such an arts-oriented documentary. In terms of
the TV series, well we won a Gemini Award, so that feels pretty good because there were times when we were
editing and working on the TV series that were flaws and we wondered, ‘Is this the right thing to do? Are we
making the right decisions?’ and just to hear that from someone in the TV industry as the Geminis are, is a
nice acknowledgement. It was actually picked up Discovery Canada, before it was on Discovery World HD and then with
the support of Molson, who came on board as an advertiser for the show, they bumped it up to Discovery Proper
which just gave us a bigger audience. The record has done well on the campus charts. It’s still in the Top 20
campus charts since its release in May and that’s a really great thing, that we can have that kind of
longevity and as a former campus radio DJ myself at Queens, I’m really happy about that. The website too has gotten some great online kudos, [it
was named] the FWA’s site of the day, and generally, when we get comments or talk to people they’re very
positive about everything. I’m elated at all the great responses we’ve had to the
NPP.
To learn more about
the National Parks Project, visit nationalparksproject.ca. •
Photo Courtesy: Discovery
World HD
