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The cinematic magic of making Vikings

The advances in visual effects in television has made it difficult to tell what’s real and what isn’t, especially on a program like Vikings. That’s where the folks at Mr. X and Take 5 come in. The production houses are charged with creating everything in History’s Thursday night drama, from Ragnar Lothbrok’s longboats to King Ecbert’s expansive compound to the soaring peaks surrounding Kattegat.

That work falls to Mr. X Inc. and Take 5 Productions, two studios specializing in visual effects and animation for television and feature film.

“We get scripts later in the process than the producers and the directors,” Dominic Remane, visual effects supervisor at Mr. X, says. “We’ll make a note of an establishing shot of Kattegat that has to start high and wide, or a fleet of 60 longboats leaving Kattegat for Wessex.” From directions in the script, Remane and his team of 60 know they’ll have to add in more of Ragnar’s ominous ships—only a handful of real longboats exist—and that the end of the real lake the boats are on needs to be deleted and elongated to look like a Scandinavian fjord.

Bill Halliday, visual effects producer at Take 5, says both companies see Vikings as a project with the hallmarks of a feature film look hemmed in by the constraints of a television show budget. And, as Halliday points out, Vikings regularly surpasses movies when it comes to the number of visual effects done in one episode.

“In the first episode of Season 3 there were over 100 visual effects, which by television standards is a huge amount,” Halliday explains. “In Episode 8, the invasion of Paris, there are over 300 visual effects which is remarkable. I worked on The Tudors and we did fewer effects in a season than we would on one episode of Vikings. A feature film runs around 200 visual effects.” It’s a stunning scope, Halliday explains, and one that—if everyone has done their jobs right—nobody notices.

A difficult aspect of the job with regard to Vikings is meeting the demand of show creator Michael Hirst, whose imagination pushes everyone to be creative. There have been times when they couldn’t deliver; Halliday notes a recent request to create a fully-digital animal to interact with a character couldn’t be created within the short time frame TV works in.

Perhaps the biggest jewel of Vikings’ Season 3 crown will be Ragnar’s invasion of Paris. It’s a story angle that’s been ramping up all season and cast member Clive Standen told me it will blow viewers’ minds. Remane worked closely with the show’s production designer, Mark Geraghty, to research the oldest castles in Europe to base Ragnar’s 850 AD attack on. They found it in Carcassonne, France, where surveying was done to select parts for which they could base Paris of the time period on.

“I’ve always wanted to be working in visual effects, but I never thought I’d be doing it to this level,” Remane admits. “I never thought I’d be going to Europe, France and Ireland, going to Norway and filming plates for the show.”

Vikings airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

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Preview: Brojects returns with out-there outdoor projects

I’ve never owned a cottage, but I can certainly understand the allure of going to one to relax. Of course, after a few days of that, I can imagine getting a little antsy. But where I’d go for a walk, hike, swim or read a book, guys like Kevin and Andrew Buckles quaff some suds and come up with outlandish things to build.

Like a dock that can be turned into a bowling alley, for instance. Yup, that’s the first project tackled by the boys in Thursday’s Season 2 return of Brojects on Cottage Life. A warning before each new segment of Brojects warns viewers that the siblings aren’t professional builders and the program is purely for entertainment and it is certainly that, especially when the pair are taking verbal and physical swipes at each other on the road to project completion.

With just three days to replace their rotting, rusting, too-short old deck with a sweet, bowl-worthy new one is a tall task and thing start off shakily for what they dub The Browling Alley. A trip to the local alley gives the pair the measurements, information and inspiration to start, but initial trials aren’t that promising, especially when it comes to an effective ball return system. Several soaks in the hot tub, even more Solo cups full of beer and a call to Andrew’s buddy leads the pair on the path to success and—I have to say it—a pretty darned cool dock/bowling alley.

They may not be experts but Andrew and Kevin are able to get the job done. And it’s definitely a fun trip along the way.

Brojects airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Cottage Life.

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Review: Truth and lies on X Company

Say what!?!? Just when I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen during Wednesday’s new episode, the folks at X Company threw a knuckleball I watched go past me.

“In Enemy Hands” began dramatically enough, with Harry stabbed in the neck and suffering shrapnel wounds following an attack on a German factory. Knowing Connor Price wasn’t going to die—he’s part of the main cast after all—didn’t ease up on the tension. For a few minutes it looked like Harry could very well have died on that table no matter what the pretty Irish nurse did for him. Ah, that pretty nurse who was so beguiling to the youngest member of the team. Harry’s Achilles heel is a lady, and he was simply smitten with her.

Too bad she turned out to be working for the Germans. The episode’s twist wasn’t that the German radio operator had been telling the truth when he’d hit an extra “H” in his report back to HQ and helped them escape. No, the shocker was Siobhan (Emily Taaffe) was more interested in ousting the English from Ireland, a promise Franz Faber vowed to uphold if she kept feeding him intel and the Germans won the war.

Now Faber knows of Alfred’s abilities and that he is the most important member of the team. With just a few episodes of X Company left, it would appear my belief Alfred is captured will end up coming true.

And while a lot of time was spent with Siobhan tending to Harry’s injuries, the most dramatic scenes of the night came between Neil and radio operator Rolf Bauer (Rick Okon). The claustrophobia of the bottle episode was made even more so in the confines of that basement, where Neil did everything he could not to murder Rolf with his bare hands. At first refusing to trust the German, Neil let down his guard as Rolf explained he loved his country, but hated what the war had become. By the time Rolf messed up that second transmission he was going to become a double agent and Neil had bonded with him. Which made it even more difficult for Neil to kill Rolf for his apparent alert to high command.

Warren Brown hasn’t shown a lot of emotion so far this season, but he laid it all out last night, playing a man haunted by the death of his mother and sister during the Blitz and furious with himself for becoming attached to Rolf. No wonder he keeps everyone he cares about at arm’s length.

Notes and quotes

  • Was Alfred drumming out Morse Code on the armrest at the beginning of the episode, or is it just me? I’m looking for clues all the time now.
  • “Lucky Harry. He opens his eyes and sees a pretty nurse.” You got that right, Tom.
  • My heart almost stopped when the German officer opened the door to the basement … and Tom came out dressed in a German uniform.
  • “I’m glad it’s you doing it and not a stranger.” Rest in peace, Rolf.

X Company airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Interview: Naomi Snieckus is doing it on CBC

On the small screen, Naomi Sniekus can currently be seen playing Bobbi Galka, one of the offbeat teachers at Xavier Academy on CBC’s Mr. D.

Bobbi’s secret relationship with vice-principal Robert Cheeley (Jonathan Torrens) just went public in awkward fashion: she ran up and kissed him full on the mouth near the front office. It’s a relationship that has been simmering all season long, but while Robert wanted their sexual dalliances to evolve into relationship mode, she didn’t. And why would she? Bobbi found him gross to look at but incredible in the sack.

Turns out Snieckus is doing double duty for the CBC, starring alongside her husband and comedy partner, Matt Baram, in Doing It! With Brian & Darla, an online comedy series they co-wrote with Gavin Crawford for CBC Punchline that spoofs life hacks. Brian and Darla peer self-consciously into the camera as they offer helpful hints like placing a kiddie pool of warm, soapy water under your dining room table to put dirty dishes in, or creating a tunnel in a weiner to pump in mustard for a cleaner hot dog.

First of all, did you meet Roberto Alomar when he was on the set of Mr. D this season?
Naomi Snieckus: I didn’t. How do I put this? I like baseball and I enjoy live sports but I’m not like, ‘Oh my God! It’s Roberto Alomar!’ I’m no Gerry Dee. He was crying because he was so happy.

I feel like Mr. D is just an opportunity for Gerry to meet his favourite athletes.
NS: I don’t think you’re far off.

Is it tough when all of your are in the staff room filming scenes for staff meetings?
NS: It is hard to keep it together when we’re in those scenes. And it’s hard for the director to handle it but it adds to the energy of the scene, so it’s worthwhile to have those jokes. You want to be ready so that you’re not warming up after they call ‘Action.’ They always give us a little room to play, but the writing is so strong that we don’t need to. It’s all there. You might discover something in the moment and that’s always welcome.

What’s it like filming in Halifax? Everyone is there, so does it feel a little bit like summer camp?
NS: Total summer camp! We’re all so excited to get there and then on the last day we’re like, ‘I’ll write every day…’ If we shot in Toronto we would have busy lives outside of the show. We love it because we’re all in the same hotel, I bring my dog. It’s lovely.

How many sweat suits do you have in wardrobe?
NS: I have two pairs of track pants and I rotate tops. We have three changes in a day and I’m done my change and having bonbons at the craft table before everybody else. It’s great. And the rest of the girls say, ‘Oh, my shoes are hurting,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, my running shoes are really uncomfortable!’ It’s a joke now that once a season I get to curl my hair and put on a skirt.

Doing_It

Let’s talk about Doing It! With Brian & Darla. How did it come about and how did it get on as part of CBC’s Punchline?
NS: We have this company, The National Theatre of the World, and we’re creating and developing more and more sketch. We started developing these characters and the CBC gave us a call and asked if we had anything we could turn into a web series. We always have 10 things in our pockets that we can pitch or work on. We had this idea and it was originally called How To with Naomi & Matt, but it was us as ourselves rather than characters. We pitched it and then we thought it would be a lot more fun to be characters. We re-vamped the pitch and took it back to them and they still liked it. They gave us a little bit of money and we shot it in three days in our house.

That really is your house.
NS: Every room of our house was used. There were holes in the walls and spaghetti splattered on the walls but every shot looked great.

Matt, can you talk about Punchline? This is yet another outlet for comedy teams like yourselves to get stuff out there that isn’t on YouTube.
Matt Baram: It’s a really great entry-level opportunity for somebody with a great idea that doesn’t cost a lot of money to make. I think CBC is coming around to the concept of getting folks online and then driving them to the TV. Most major networks in Canada are doing this; they can develop new talent. I think we were the first original content on there and I think people are seeing the possibilities. I think they’d love for something on Punchline to translate to something on the network.

If CBC came to you, could you turn Doing It! into a TV series?
MB: We didn’t go into this without the idea of having a half-hour pitch. Brian and Darla would be one aspect of what that show would be.

This sounds like it has the possibility of being something like Smith & Smith.
MB: Yeah, absolutely. I don’t know if we’d have an original duo song at the end of it, but yeah. Brian and Darla would fit perfectly into something like that. I would love to do a variety show in front of a live audience and have that live feel and also the sketches. That would be a dream.

Did you base Brian on anyone?
MB: Naomi and I have an imaginary friend named Brian that we blame all of out life missteps on. If someone didn’t take out the garbage, for instance, Naomi will go, ‘Ugh, Brian!’ There is a lot of weigh on his shoulders. He’s kind of there so that other people can blame him.

It must be pretty fun to skewer these life hack sites.
MB: As you satirize these people you realize there is a lot of self-satirization going on. How much time does it save you to blow the centre out of a hot dog weiner? And most of these things in attempting them was detracting minutes from our day.

I feel like this is a natural for a coffee table book.
MB: That’s a great idea. The books would be, How to Do Lovemaking, How to Do Cooking With Brian & Darla … a bunch of garbage ideas to make your life more complicated.

Mr. D airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on CBC; Doing It! With Brian & Darla can be found on CBC Punchline.

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TV Eh B Cs podcast 16 – Hart Hanson Rolls the Bones

HartHansonBorn in the USA and raised in Canada, Hart Hanson abandoned his dreams of being a guitar god, and graduated from University College, University of Toronto, with a degree in English and Political Theory. He decided to kickstart a writing career by riding his bicycle across Canada, documenting his adventures for the Toronto Sunday Sun.

Hanson wrote for a number of Canadian television programs, including The Black Stallion, Neon Rider, Northwood, The Odyssey, Outer Limits, Poltergeist, Road to Avonlea and the series Ready or Not, for which he received his first Gemini (Canadian Emmy) nomination.

Hanson wrote the pilot for Traders, which was picked up by the Global Television Network and ran for five years, winning many Geminis, including “Best Writing” for Hanson.

Hanson and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he worked on the short-lived series Cupid as a Supervising Producer, then as Co-Executive Producer on the even-shorter-lived series Snoops. He moved to Twentieth Century Fox and worked on the series Judging Amy for three seasons, rising to executive producer. He also helped launch the series Joan of Arcadia, and eventually wrote the pilot for what is now a decade-long run of Bones on FOX.

His newest series Backstrom premiered on FOX in January.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

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