Imagine the excitement in Viking Video class at Caribou Tech Center when Hollywood called asking for help.
Contributed photo
CHAZ HOLMES, a junior at Presque Isle High School, surveys a field in Caribou — just one of many Viking Video photographed to help Columbia Pictures find a filming location in Maine.
Instructor Brenda Jepson, who also co-chairs the Maine Film Commission Board, received an e-mail from a locations manager at Columbia Pictures asking if there was any snow left in northern Maine.
The studio is shooting a film called “Salt,” starring Angelina Jolie, with some scenes set in a snowy field in Russia. This scene was supposed to be shot in Constableville, N.Y., but an early snowmelt was causing trouble for the crew.
Joe Guest, the locations manager for Columbia Pictures, sent Jepson a couple of photos showing what the snowy field should look like and she invited her students to help match this location.
“My first thought was wow,” said Rebekah Smith, a junior at Caribou High School “we’re in Caribou, Maine, the least likely place for anything important to happen, and Columbia Picture’s asked us to scout for them? Wow”
“Great, a big movie is coming up here,” offered James Ransier, a CHS sophomore. “Columbia Pictures realizes there’s a Maine!?!?”
Armed with cameras, the students and their teacher took location shots in various fields in and around central Aroostook including Caribou, Limestone and Woodland. Back in the classroom the students carefully labeled the exact location of the snowy fields and e-mailed this information with their photos to Columbia Pictures office in New York City.
The instructor, with support from Walt Elish, president and CEO Aroostook
Partnership for Progress, worked to research information on hotel
accommodations and transportation for the crew of 110 people – a second unit on “Salt.”
“Feature films bring a great deal of money into a community. A crew this size easily could drop a third of a million dollars into the local economy in just two to three days,” said Jepson.
In the end this film turned out to be the one that got away. A change in directors at the last minute created a change in the plans and the scene will be shot somewhere else. However this opportunity gave the students of Viking Video Productions a taste of what it’s like to lay plans for a major feature film shoot.
“It taught me the values of planning before heading into a big shoot,” said Jeff Johnson, a Presque Isle High School junior. “I liked being able to get out of the classroom and get real world experience.”
For more information on Viking Video, contact Brenda Jepson at 493-4270 or via e-mail at bjepson@mail.caribouschools.org.
Contributed photo
A PHOTO OF THE ORIGINAL LOCATION for shooting a scene for the movie “Salt”; located in Constableville, N.Y. Due to early loss of snow, Columbia Pictures was unable to film in that field.
