They were in a big hurry because the - whisper whisper - client wanted to zip this one through. Whisper, whisper – government – whisper – now damit... so we all rushed into a room, locked the door and were introduced to the project by the agency producer. The Prime Minister had realized that the public was tired of paying the budget overruns of the government run airline and had decided in a moment of genius to sell Air Canada to the Canadian public. The Canadian public was not yet aware of his intentions ergo - whisper whisper- and the law said it was not legal to advertise or sell shares before the privatization had taken place. The Prime Minister, however, figured he could load the dice a bit and suggested a commercial be made that would make the shares more attractive and have the title “Share our Tomorrows”.
The communication concept was that a group of passengers would get on a 1940’s DC 3 aircraft, enjoy a pleasant flight and land magically in a supersonic vehicle in the year 2050. We all went to work for the PM with great enthusiasm.
Air Canada had revamped a DC 3 with the latest flying aids and comfortable seats for the transport of not-in-a-hurry executives. The director flew to Calgary where his crew had commandeered the DC 3. The first search was for an airport that was visually similar to a 1945 - 1950 airport. Claresholm, (south of Calgary), had a good one with three runways in a triangular formation so it was easier to find a wind direction to lift a DC 3. The designated pilot refused Claresholm – It was apparently twenty feet too high in altitude and a DC3 thing needed twelve more feet of runway. The search continued and a rambling location manager called to say that Swift Current, aka“Speedy Creek, Saskatchewan looked good. By this time someone with knowledge and power over pilots got rid of the fellow who needed twelve more feet and gave us Mister Cool, a 747 pilot just in from Bangkok. The head grip fixed the aging hangar doors so we could store the old DC 3 overnight. At three in the morning we gathered to set up the shot for the early morning loading of passengers. They were all there, the sun rose, passengers in costume climbed aboard, the sun flared perfectly in the lens and we had our principle moment. After an interior shot we covered a glimpse of the handsome man waving in the window and the complementary shot of his wife with toy doll wrapped in the motel owner’s antique table cloth with an answering wave. We now arrive at a critical moment when the new pilot is asked to lift the flying thing off the runway. He giggles and lifts it off in one hundred feet.
Two pilots both the same but quite unlike each other.
In the early days of air travel a DC 3 could not achieve enough altitude to fly over the Rockies so it had to travel in the valleys. In deciding how to do a follow shot through the Bow Valley (Banff) we learned that helicopters can not fly fast enough to fly with the DC 3 even at its slowest speed so we hunted up a plane that matched the DC 3’s speed and had a 2X2 ft. door at the rear for the camera to protrude. Takeoff was again 3.00 AM because we wanted morning light on the face of the mountain behind the subject aircraft. It’s wonderful how many things there are to learn in life. When you fly along the face of a mountain, the subject air craft flying side by side with the camera aircraft are subjected to violent downdrafts that curl over the mountain and shake and rattle you in a frightening manner (and make the assistant cameraman lose his breakfast. The director’s job was preparing and passing barf bags - pass in for empty, pass out for full). We shot a lot of film and did not have a piece of useable product longer than two seconds. We came close to disaster and also saved the day when a violent down draft threw the two planes together. The DC 3 panicked and peeled off. The shot of the plane peeling away was smooth and useable. We were on time - a few more shots were slipped into the schedule; the DC 3 chasing the sun’s reflection and a prairie kid looking up at the plane.
Back in Toronto, a superb craftsman prepared the supersonic aircraft and the landing port. The production house rented a defunct pipe factory because there wasn’t a studio large enough to do the job. An excellent crew prepared a huge star field by poking holes in black back drops. The hero of the set construction however, was a fellow who painted moons. The largest moon was a 40 foot circular structure mounted high in the studio on which my hero painted moon craters with spray guns. He had not been told where the light source was going to come from so he painted one side of the moon with shadows on the left and the opposite side with shadows on the right. Genius.
The cut spot read well. Shown on the air, the only complaints were - next time you chose to zip about in the air over Canmore, (Banff National Park) could you wait until after breakfast please. A complaint from an antique car buff in Saskatchewan claimed that the 37 ford sedan parked beside the waving wife had two too many chrome strips in its grill.
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Bill Irish is a 40 year veteran of Canada’s Communication Industry.
