Quote:
"The Cherrys' unit [at the National Film Board of Canada] has just finished a film called Farm Electrification, a simple and self-explanatory title. It was shot last summer in Manitoba, and is nearly ready now to be sent out to the Film Board's rural circuits, to be seen in schoolhouses by children and adults. Some of these audiences have never been able to look at the rest of Canada except at these schoolhouse shows. You'd find it an eye-opener to hear how many steps there are in making a film only 20 minutes long. First, Evelyn Spice read all she could find on the subject of farm electrification. It's a Film Board principle that the producer should do his own research and Evelyn believes in it firmly. Only in this way, she feels, can you write a good script, the necessary plan for your picture. Next the script was outlined. It might be almost unrecognizable in the finished film, but is important as a pattern, even thought the 'actors' she found later would probably mean many changes. At last the unit went out to Minnedosa, Mainitoba, where they were 'on location.' They had to cover hundreds of miles before they found just the right farm people to tell the story of the coming of electricity to the country districts. These are actors who act only their own lives, and nothing must be faked. Sometimes, of course, you must rehearse or re-enact real life so it looks natural as art, but the biggest problem is selection. Choose a farmer who looks and talks like a farmer, and it will be comparatively easy to teach him to say his own words for the camera and microphone."
-- Elspeth Chisholm

Source:
Chisholm, Elspeth. "They make movies." Chatelaine, April 1946. (p. 81)