The making of
My
Prairie Home A photobook from the road with Rae Spoon and Chelsea McMullan
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Beautifully shot, this documentarymeets-musical-meets-road-movie is a sad, hopeful, gorgeous work of poetry Marsha Lederman, The Globe and Mail
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A film by Chelsea McMullan Featuring Rae Spoon Photobook pictures and words by cinematographer Maya Bankovic Produced by the National Film Board of Canada nfb.ca/myprairiehome
The legendary Blackfoot Truckstop Diner in Calgary, Alberta
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This is where
Cowboy, the opening music sequence, was shot as a one-take tracking shot in which Rae and the camera make their way around the diner, eventually leading back to this spot at the counter.
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We found a way into an old car impound lot in Drumheller, Alberta, where Rae knew I could get an excellent shot of the 30-foot statue of Jesus that overlooks the town.
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When we weren’t shooting on the Greyhound we packed all the camera gear and instruments into a minivan and drove across the prairies, Chelsea doing‌
‌the driving and Rae filling the silences with stories and music. I was mostly in the backseat with the camera pointed at Rae, keeping the lav microphone on Rae for weeks at a time.
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Rae and Chelsea laugh over Rae’s iPhone photographs of an underwater-themed hotel room in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
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A Calgary landmark we frequented after learning about Rae’s brief stint working there.
Rae Spoon at the Greyhound bus station in Brandon, Manitoba, waiting for the bus to Winnipeg.
For the s tra called the ight-to-camera eff ect we us Eye Dire ed a devi ct which mirrors. ce is a syste m of twoway
Rae, Chelsea and I loved finding old classic haunts like Rae and Jerry’s, a staple of Winni since 1957. 22
tening to s li 1 y a w h ig ae drive on H R d n a ng Time)“. a o e L ls e a h t o C N ( e r a Good Tim fo e r e H e ’r e “W
The crew photo taken by Laszlo Uhrik
ipeg
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A film by Chelsea McMullan Featuring Rae Spoon Photobook pictures and words by cinematographer Maya Bankovic Produced by the National Film Board of Canada nfb.ca/myprairiehome