Ragtag crew gets interviewed

By Samantha Bayard

baya0004@algonquincollege.com

Mock interviews were conducted on Nov. 29 as media practice for seven members of the cast and crew of Untamed Lands, a film by an Algonquin scriptwriting.

Allan Mackey, CEO of Valley Wind Productions, partnered with second year journalism students to prepare his cast for future media exposure and to record material for use on DVD or web features.

Mackey’s original intention was to conduct pre-interviews one on one in a circuit and to have one or two main reporters conducting filmed interviews.  But the timeframe he could arrange to have all his key players together just happened to be right in the middle of exam preparation at the college.  So they made do with a few meagre but helpful journalists and a smaller concept then originally intended.

The cast and crew consisted of adult actors, university students, one 11th grade student, 16 year-old Andrea Connell) and an Algonquin grad.

Jasmine Murray-Bergquist was the costume designer and assistant director, and a former grad of the television and broadcasting program.  She was responsible for the design and construction of the costumes for the piece.

 “Allan had a lot of input, and I was elaborating from that, which consisted of purchasing fabric and a lot of improvisation,” she said.

Murray-Bergquist said she considered herself lucky this summer because she worked on both Untamed Lands and a $10 million production called Family Biz, a sitcom. 

“I went from a ragtag set of volunteers lost in the woods to having a set job,” said Murray-Bergquist. She worked closely with the productions go-to guy Eduardo Sousa.

Eduardo Sousa played a minor role so that freed up a lot of time to work as a personal assistant, to do some audio work and basically anywhere else he was needed.  He was with this project from the beginning. 

Sousa plans on continuing to work with Mackey’s production company and believes in its motto: “this could be your opportunity.”

“To pursue it to the fullest, by wearing all the different hats you can,” said Sousa.