The Ward Doc

Welcome to the St. Patrick's Ward documentary blog.

Here is where we'll document the making of a documentary. Another example of the information age on steroids, documenting documentary making...sheesh.

The Project:
Make a 2-3 minute documentary about a person, interesting story, place or point of interest stemming from The Ward in Guelph Ontario. Enter the documentary in "Hidden Histories" a component of the Guelph Film Festival. Details HERE

Now, Jay, that's me, and Alison have never made a movie before.

The good folks at Ed Video, have said they will hold our hand every step of the way, BUT, we still have to come up with the concept, shoot it, add audio, and edit.

So, to begin: the concept.

I've been gathering some stories, interviewing residents and reading up on The Ward because I lead historic walks through the place in the summer and fall.

There's lots of history, starting with Sir John A MacDonald buying up the land because he heard a rumour there might be a train coming through Guelph.

The train is a prominent feature of the Ward, as is the Speed River, several foundries, textile and rubber manufacturing, market gardens, small business and lots of exceptional people,

We're going to try and bring as much of that to this documentary as possible (2-3 minutes remember) BUT the documentary will focus on an activity - rendering a building in pastels, (making a picture) all the while discovering what we can about its location, when it was built, who lived in it, what did they do, what was going on in the ward when the house was built and so on.

How will we select which building? Well oddly enough it will having nothing to do with its history, architecture, materials or owners. Alison, the artist is just going to pick out a building that she likes and wants to create in pastels. In fact, you see, the documentary about the documentary has already begun...