That's
just one example of the kind of ingenuity Ernie has shown in a prodigious
career in the film industry, much of it working on educational films.
Interested in film from an early age, he made and developed photographs
and experimented with Super-8 films. His father, a professor of
mathematics, engendered a lifelong love of learning and a passion
for education.
After
leaving school with a degree in electronics and engineering, Ernie
landed a job in the engineering division at the National Film Board
of Canada, designing and building film equipment. At the time, the
Film Board, working with Harvard University, was co-producing a
series of interactive films for schools in the United States and
Canada. Ernie watched as the team tried to solve a technical problem—how
to film a weight as it fell on a nail, pounding it into a piece
of wood with the weight of its fall. That evening, Ernie figured
out a solution using electromagnets that he presented to the team
the next day. He was signed up immediately to work on the project.
Over the years, Ernie and his colleagues dropped objects out of airplanes,
crashed freight trains together, detonated explosions, and fired
cannons, all in the creation of educational science films. Along
the way Ernie learned the value in working as part of a team. Although
his own expertise was on the technical side, he not only valued
his colleagues' input into his work, but also enjoyed contributing
to all aspects of the process—from the initial concept development,
through figuring out the logistics of set-up, to actually shooting
the film. It gave him an appreciation of collaborative learning
and helped him come to the conclusion that if you don't experiment,
you don't learn.
With
this invaluable training to draw on, Ernie went on to experiment
with new technology. A pioneer in this industry, he has worked on
groundbreaking projects such as Transitions, the first 3-D
IMAX developed for Expo '86 in Vancouver; the Academy Award nominated
Cosmic Voyage; Momentum, the first IMAX film to use
High Definition technology; and other large-format films. Today
he is the president of a company that designs and builds equipment
for large-format filming.
As
Director of Photography on Lost Worlds, Ernie was responsible
for the final look of the film. This involved understanding the
director's vision for the film, the scientific content, the technical
components of filming the material, and having the imagination to
visualize how it would all fit together. And it meant assembling
a team: a camera crew, an operator/assistant, and a key grip to
position the camera. The locations for the film threw up plenty
of challenges. Apart from coping with heat and humidity, Ernie and
his team had to brainstorm ways to counteract the night time cold
on the tepui and come up with solutions that would allow
them to transport a lot of heavy equipment under difficult conditions
and in unpredictable weather.
Ernie
is committed to educational filmmaking, but stresses that film should
teach, not preach. He derives a lot of pleasure from watching an
audience appreciate a film that he has worked on. It's his hope
that it might touch their lives in a positive way, and encourage
them to dig deeper into the content.
