Crowds gathered at the marina on a sunny Wednesday morning hoping to catch a glimpse of a mythical sea monster in the Ladysmith Harbour.
If you think this sounds like a scene right out of a sci-fi movie, you’re absolutely right. It is the final scene of the feature-length film The SeaSerpent’s Song, and it was filmed Aug. 29 at the Ladysmith Maritime Society (LMS) Community Marina.
This independent sci-fi adventure film about a boy who tries to save a sea serpent was written, directed and produced by filmmaker Joshua Raven of Ladysmith, and it has many local connections.
The star of The SeaSerpent’s Song is 11-year-old Nevaen Alle, who lives in Ladysmith and is acting in his first film.
“I like it,” he said. “[Josh] kind of asked me, and then I thought it would be fun.”
Alle says he liked getting to do a stunt and liked how much you get to eat on set, and he says being part of this film has made him want to do more stunt work.
In the movie, Alle’s character is trying to save the sea monster.
“I’m kind of a delinquent,” he said. “My parents in the movie are always fighting; I’m kind of a troubled kid. I get to play a tuba though — it’s fun.”
Alle hasn’t found memorizing lines for his first feature film to be hard work.
“It takes a little bit of time, but it’s not hard,” he said. “I’d have to say the hardest part of the movie is my mom doing my hair and having to get up so early.”
The SeaSerpent’s Song is Raven’s first feature film. He went to film school — “years ago, when they were still using film,” he laughs — and he was the director of the Cowichan First Nation’s Vision Digital Media Program, a film school for at-risk aboriginal youth.
“During that time, we did music videos and documentaries with the kids,” he said. “I’ve written lots of screenplays and have dozens of scripts.”
Of all the screenplays Raven has written, he chose as his first production one that involves numerous actors, numerous locations and high-tech special effects.
“It’s very ambitious,” he said. “I’ve been working on this movie six years or so. It’s a lot of work. The challenge is, obviously, we’re doing something really no other low-budget movie has ever attempted. When you think low-budget movies, they’re usually zombie movies shot in one location; whereas, we have dozens of actors, many locations and high-tech special effects. With the advance of technology, it makes it all possible.”
Raven, who is co-producing the film with cameraman Perry Johnston, describes The SeaSerpent’s Song as “like Free Willy with a sea serpent.”
There is a bit more filming to be done and then about six weeks of post-production work before the film is complete. Raven is confident he will be able to get The SeaSerpent’s Song distributed.
“It’s a kids’ adventure movie, so the genre is pretty universal,” he said. “We’ve managed to put together this epic production on a shoestring. We’re pretty confident with the end result and pretty happy.”
Raven has been really happy with the work they’ve done and with the positive atmosphere they’ve created.
“Obviously, we’re doing something right — Perry and I have been friends for 10 years, and we’re still better friends than ever,” he said. “Making it a family production, we haven’t had a single incident; everyone is so happy to be here.”
Raven is looking forward to having a community screening of the final product.
This is Raven’s first feature film.
“I wrote a whole pile of screenplays years ago, and to get anything produced, especially in Canada, you almost have to do it yourself,” he explained. “There is no infrastructure for production like there is in L.A. I went through and analyzed the merits of each [screenplay] and picked one of the most challenging ones to start. Having a finished product puts you in a really strong position to sell a finished product [for distribution] — that’s why we’re doing it the way we are. Asking someone to buy your first film is very hard to do.”
The film has been shot over 100 days in any environment you can think of — including 20 miles out to sea on a fishing boat, on a huge set built at Bay Film Studios in Maple Bay, on location in Nanaimo and in Crofton, at the Gypsy Wind B&B and at the LMS Community Marina and Government Wharf.
“One of the biggest things for us has been it is entirely locally produced,” said Raven. “It’s humbling the amount of support we’ve received from the community. Everyone’s just opened their doors to us. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact we are local, and it’s a positive kids’ film.”
Raven says everyone at the LMS has been extremely helpful, and he has been grateful for people like Jeff Stubbington of Saltair Marine, who took them out on his fishing boat for 10 hours so they could film.
Johnston, who has spent most of his life in Chemainus and Ladysmith, is using the latest technology when it comes to digital filming. He uses an Epic Red video camera, which shoots in digital IMAX format and was one of the first in western Canada to use this technology. It’s the same camera that was used to film the new Spiderman film and the new Superman.
“Perry has been my friend for 10 years; we both decided we didn’t want to be 50 years old and looking back saying ‘I wish I’d done that,’” said Raven. “We both had a long-standing interest in film, and we’d both been tracking the evolution of this new camera. All of a sudden, low-budget guys are not sacrificing image quality any more. Technically, we’re on the cutting edge.”
Marena Hunter, who is from the Cobble Hill area, plays Alle’s mother in the film.
Like Alle, she is acting in her first feature film. She has been impressed by Raven’s work.
“I have never met a more dedicated individual at his task,” she said. “He’s definitely got an awesome imagination. I think what amazes me the most — and I noticed it the first day — is as many times as he could have been crazy and gone off the deep end — and had every right to — is that he always kept it together for everyone and was ‘whatever, I can do that for you.’ Him and Perry, they’ve made a great team.”
Raven is thrilled with his cast, who are almost all local.
He has been very impressed by Alle.
“The kid’s obviously confident and capable because of the family environment he’s grown up in,” he said. “We couldn’t have done better, not just with Nevean but with his mom and where he comes from. Really, he’s like an 11-year-old Clint Eastwood.”
Raven, Johnston and Calvin Lewis make up the core of the crew, but in all, about 30 crew members have been associated with the film, while about 25 people have been part of the cast, not including extras.
