A house, a field, a business, a street. It seems quite banal. But when we tell a story, the right places, those that immerse us in it, those that ensure its credibility, those that reinforce the quality of the production, those that make us believe in it, are essential. These places often go unnoticed. Because everything seems normal, to flow naturally. We imagine that the characters were simply catapulted there. However, behind each place, a team is busy showing creativity, interpersonal skills and resourcefulness. Meeting with two directors of filming locations who do a colossal job and who have taken up great challenges in the past year.
An essential link in the development of a production, the director of shooting locations is active on several levels. He is one of the first consulted when writing the texts, and one of the last to close the set.
“Our work often begins upstream, confirms filming location director Aïcha Raïhani. Sometimes we are asked to do pre-research to sell the city of Montreal, for example when there is competition for an American shoot. I have already recreated Syria in Old Montreal! Places and access to them can weigh in the balance. We also discuss quickly with the director. Sometimes a place forces a rewrite or changes a perspective. Some places are loaded and have a great importance in history. Some even become a character.
“It’s teamwork,” adds Mélanie Lessard, who is also a director of filming locations. It’s a job that touches so many facets. There is field research, but also negotiations with cities and owners. And all the organization of the field.
Because beyond the places we see on screen, it is up to the location director to find support areas where vehicles can be parked, as well as space for lunch or dressing rooms. . There is also the link with the neighborhood. An imperative step for everyone to be happy, as Mélanie Lessard reminds us.
“Sometimes an electro asks for a balcony on an adjacent house or that we can use a roof to mount the lighting, quotes Aïcha.”
Not to mention the restoration of the premises once the camera is closed.
Rurality
The action of the Le temps des raspberries series takes place on a farm. It was therefore necessary to get out of the city and court the agricultural areas.
“It was difficult because during the pandemic everyone wanted to be a farmer. There wasn’t much availability. It’s a lot of steps in three weeks for few answers, remembers Aïcha.
It is in the canton of Havelock that the family of Élisabeth found residence.
“For the first time in my career, I was asked to buy a house. The producer was willing to take that risk. This house is a character. She is the lust of the whole family. We were shooting there for a month. As the family is English-speaking, I knew that in the corner of Hemmingford and Franklin, near the border, one would find something typical with bricks. We completely transformed the interior, removed the walls. The workers’ house was built nearby. But we didn’t want land because we would have had to manage it over the long term.” Whereas for the story, fields were needed to be cultivated throughout the season.
It was in Oka that Aïcha made a great discovery.
“A wonderful woman. A collaboration like this is invaluable. Turning with nature adds a difficulty. We don’t want to hinder the production of the farm with the filming. At the same time, we had to shoot to the rhythm of the harvest. This exceptional woman accommodated our schedule. She planted products upstream. For the onion scene, she planted them where they needed to be.”
Aïcha and her team have somehow created a new village.
“We cheated a lot! It is an invented village. We shot a lot in Varennes in the typical little streets. We found a unity to make it believable that Emilio’s character does all the distances on a bike. In addition to finding places, human relationships are very important in our work. Even after 20 years, I am still touched to go home to people, to their things, and that they trust me. Give me their keys.”
The time
Filming a second season can have its advantages, but also its constraints. When Mélanie Lessard took over the torch of C’est comme ça que je t’aime, she had to juggle the loss of certain key places in the series.
“Two years passed between the two seasons and we lost Serge and Micheline’s house which was sold. The new owner had undertaken work, so it was necessary to find a house with the same facade, in a roundabout, with a non-renovated kitchen of the same configuration as that of the first season. We must have visited about fifty! And for the basement, it is that of another house. We needed an above ground pool, which we installed. We recreated a house with several places, explains the director of filming locations.
Remember that the series takes place in Sainte-Foy in the 1970s.
“We distributed a lot of solicitation letters. Often, we trust the windows if they are vintage. We have about a 10% return of people who agree to meet us. We hope to have the chance to come across original wooden cabinets. Doing the era is a fundamental research, specifies Mélanie. For season 2, the team walked around a lot. If in the story the two houses of the couples were close, in reality they were in two different cities.
Filming took place in Terrebonne, Laval, Montreal, Beloeil.
“We were lucky, we were able to use the Omni hotel for several places. We filmed the Prime Minister’s office and the Grazia apartment there. The motel La Demoiselle has been demolished. We had to find another one. The cornfield was also a challenge, she continues. We spent our summer following its evolution, measuring it. Doing a second season is more difficult than a first because we have to stay in continuity. To make of the time is more difficult than of the contemporary. For us, finding a period house that still has its painting and its tapestry from the 70s is a little gem!”
The films Mambo Italiano, Laurence Anyways, X-Men: Apocalypse, My Salinger Year and Babysitter, and the series The Gentleman, The Young Wolves, 19-2, Premonitions, Béliveau, Jack Ryan and Le temps des raspberries.
The films C.R.A.Z.Y., The Novena, The Odyssey of Pi, Henri Henri, The 3 Little Pigs 2, Bad Santa 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and the series 19-2, Black Series and It’s Like That that i love you 2.
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