Algoma Central Corporation
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When Rod Cunningham, a Cambridge commercial artist and film maker, bought a copy of Gary and Joanie McGuffin's book Superior: Journeys on an Inland Sea, he noticed a blurb at the back that mentioned that a companion music CD was also available (kudos to Rod for spotting it, which is in a font size more useful for inscribing bible verses on the head of a pin.) He spent the next week or so trying to convince the book publisher, Boston Mills Press, that a CD actually did exist and that he would like a copy. (When I heard about this later I was rather pissed off, because Boston Mills was supposed to be actively promoting both the book and the CD. I guess someone dropped the ball on that one.) Anyway, he eventually did managed to buy a copy, and when he listened to it I guess he liked what he heard, because he immediately tried to contact me to see if I'd be interested in working with him on a film project or two. I can only assume that Rod is a more than usually stubborn guy, because not only did he have trouble getting his mitts on a CD, he also had a hell of a time tracking me down, since the address given in the CD insert was no longer valid. But, he eventually did get in touch with me, and asked me if I'd be interested in providing some music for a 9-minute corporate promotional video he was doing for the Algoma Central Corporation, Canada's largest Great Lakes shipping company. I agreed, as it sounded like something a little different from my usual commissions, and began working on some ideas. |
Well, nine minutes turned into over fifteen, and I had to re-work the music many times, as Rod would re-cut the visuals over and over again, trying for that elusive perfect edit. I gotta admire the guy for his perfectionism. We did the final dub and edit of the finished video literally hours before the project deadline, on Christmas Eve at some big video production house in Toronto. The engineer there told me it was okay to park across the street in front of some nearby church, which I did, and when, many hours later, I emerged to go home, there was a $110 parking ticket on my car, the largest one I've ever got. I think it ate up about a third of the profit I made on this music... |
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