The recently released horror film, No Tell Motel, was filmed in the Okanagan, employing about 65 people, including a number of our Digital Filmmaking students, grads, and instructors.
We asked Graham Cairns, Kelowna Digital Filmmaking Department Head, how our students got involved in the filming of No Tell Motel (through his industry connections of course!) “Okanagan Film Commissioner Jon Summerland and myself, organized an open house at the school for students and grads who were interested in working on set. Director Brett Donowho, Director of Photography Edd Lukas, and Producer Ed Dugdale all attended and pitched the movie to the students, and then broke into small groups for discussions and mini-interviews.”
Kelowna film school and audio engineering instructor Rob Mcdonagh, also did the location sound for the film.
Kelowna film school students and grads have also worked on many other Okanagan-based feature film productions, including A Mother’s Nightmare, Flicka 3, Big Year, Pressed, and more. Okanagan is also home to a large independent filmmaking scene (see: Okanagan Society for Independent Filmmakers), along with TV productions, and other commercial work.
The Making of No Tell Motel
The production of No Tell Motel, which filmed in locations in Vernon, Falkland, and Enderby, was brought to the region by Los Angeles-based Enderby Entertainment.
There is no coincidence here though; president of Enderby Entertainment, Rick Dugdale, named the company after his hometown of Enderby, BC, and always wanted to bring the industry back to his native region.
“We want to come back here with many films because the area is so beautiful,” said Dugdale.
Almost the entire movie was called to be shot in an abandoned motel, so to stay true to authenticity; the horror-thriller was filmed at the old Whispering Pines Motel near Falkland, which has been closed for over 5 years. (This location ended up be chosen over the contending Palmdale, CA).
Dugdale hopes to return to film more movies in the North Okanagan.
Read about No Tell Motel and view the trailer on IMDB.
The Inside Scoop: DSLR Filmmaking
Digital Filmmaking Department Head Graham Cairns also gave us some of the inside scoop on the filming of the movie: it was shot entirely on a Canon 5D DSLR camera! The new and continuing trend in filmmaking is using DSLRs, which is great, as it makes indie films and filmmaking of any sort, more accessible for people to get into. Shooting video on a DSLR camera is however, a very different process than on traditional filmmaking equipment. Centre for Arts and Technology Kelowna recently answered this new demand for DSLR filmmaking training by introducing our new Digital Fusion Filmmaking program, which combines training in filmmaking, photography, and audio, all based around the DSLR camera. Learn more about Digital Fusion Filmmaking, starting in July 2012!