The story of finding the canoe on the lefthand side of this shot is quite a fun little saga.
By the time we were shooting this canoe scene, all of the big sets were done and all we had to do was hang a line of laundry.
I was chilling and enjoying life.
the line of laundry which was the main set for that day of filming for the set decoration department.
it was fun compiling period fabrics and wardrobe let us borrow some period clothes.
Boats, like cars, are usually the province of the prop master and not set decoration.
I don’t quite remember the specifics of what happened that morning but the second canoe they were planning for didn’t pan out, and the canoe they had for the shot was a no go for the designer.
We were filming in two hours and the whole art department was on Operation Find a Period Appropriate Canoe in two hours.
The props teams were working some leads, and the Art Director Jaf and I both pitched in to see if we could help. Since Jaf lived locally in the area he was working some leads.
I remember this one local sporting goods store I passed by a lot driving around the area and gave them a call and asked them if they had any wooden canoes that could look like it was from the 1930’s that we could rent in the next hour.
I spoke to one of the manager who said, you know we might have something….
I jumped in my minivan and drove right over to the store and what they had was PERFECT!!!!!!
look at this beautiful and perfect period looking canoe!
said canoe on my minivan roof
canoe in the water on time for the shot!
I normally don’t enjoy last minute stress situations. But sometimes, these kind of time pressure extreme shopping challenges are thrilling and what I live for!