(L-R) DP Arthur Cooper, CSC and director Michael McGowan discuss a shot for One Week.Photo by Joe DaSilva

In the earliest days of Canadian cinema, the Canadian Pacific Railway was one of the most important producers of film entertainment. The idea was to show inhabitants of the cities in the east the natural beauty and opportunities that lay in the unpopulated west, thus generating business for the railroads.

In 2007, Michael McGowan had a similar idea for his third feature film. He wanted to create a story that played out against the panorama of the Canadian countryside. "I saw the amazing Canadian locations in films that took place in the United States, like Brokeback Mountain," he says. "So many Canadian films are set in the cold landscape. I wanted to make a film that romanticizes its countryside, so that Canadians will see it and say, 'Wow, that's our country, and it's beautiful.'"

The result is One Week, an independent feature that follows Ben Tyler as he rides his Norton motorcycle more than 4,000 kilometers from Toronto to Tofino, British Columbia, a small town on the tip of a peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean. The impetus for Tyler's trip is a bad medical diagnosis, but the film is infused with humor starting from the opening scene. Along the way, he ponders the meaning of life, and visits landmarks that are both iconic and eccentric.

DP Arthur Cooper, CSC used ARRI SR3 cameras to film One Week.Photo by Joe DaSilva

McGowan enlisted Arthur Cooper, CSC to handle cinematography. Their discussions about format centered on capturing the beauty and scale of the landscape with the flexibility to be spontaneous during the shoot.

"We had a bus, a pickup truck that carried the motorcycle, and a minivan," says McGowan. "Our idea was to reduce the crew with hope of having enhanced mobility. That way, we could easily stop and shoot whenever we saw something interesting. I told Arthur that it was going to be down and dirty filmmaking, but that I didn't want what was on the screen to reflect that at all."

McGowan and Cooper decided that Super 16mm film offered the right combination of image quality and ease of use. They shot for three weeks on the road and another two weeks at locations in and around Toronto.

(L-R) DP Arthur Cooper, CSC, director Michael McGowan, second AC Rudy Mammitzsch, first A.D. Fergus Barnes, and first AC Joe DaSilva prepare to shoot a scene for One Week in Ontario, Canada. Photo by Nadia Tavazzani

"Since Mike wanted the film to be a postcard that shows off Canada, I don't think any other medium would have worked," says Cooper. "It's amazing the stuff we saw, and film was the obvious choice to capture it. To me, there is something about film and shooting outdoors that is more organic and a bit more romantic. If we had been extremely frugal with our shooting, we might have been able to shoot in 35mm format. However, I don't think we could have moved as quickly as we did. We'd be barreling down the highway, see something, screech over to the side of the road, jump out of the car and shoot, and then jump back in. That whole process would take maybe five minutes. We would sometimes do that 10 or 15 times a day."

Super 16 was also perfect for shooting handheld shots inside of cars, according to Cooper. "We would just jump in the back seat and point the camera," he says. "I tried to get some fill and bounce in where I could, but I was relying on the film to handle heavy contrast situations, like when it's very bright outside the car windows and you're trying to see characters inside the car."

(L-R) Second AC Rudy Mammitzsch, gaffer Jeremy Jemic, first AC Joe DaSilva, director Michael McGowan, first A.D. Fergus Barnes, DP Arthur Cooper, CSC and actor Joshua Jackson on location in Tofino, British Columbia, prepare to shoot a scene for One Week. Photo by Nadia Tavazzani

Cooper used zoom lenses for traveling shots of lead actor Joshua Jackson cruising on the motorcycle. Sometimes he would point the camera out the side door of the minivan, or out the back hatch, and the zoom allowed him to change framing on the fly. They also had an isolation head that smoothed out some of the bumps in the road.

"We were always very conscious of safety, but it certainly wasn't the way you'd do it on a bigger show. Although, the footage we got from these very simple means was beautiful," adds Cooper. "When you have all of Canada to choose from as a subject, available light can give great results."

(L-R) First A.D. Fergus Barnes, director Michael McGowan, first AC Joe DaSilva, DP Arthur Cooper, CSC, script supervisor Katharine Reid, and actor Jeremy Jemic prepare to shoot a scene for One Week while on location in Tofino, British Columbia. Photo by Marika Williams

His equipment included two ARRI SR3 cameras and Zeiss high-speed lenses. They never used the backup camera. To be prepared for any situation, Cooper carried four emulsions with him on the road portion: KODAK VISION2 50D 7201, KODAK VISION2 250D 7205, KODAK VISION2 200T 7217, and KODAK VISION2 500T 7218 films.

"I tried whenever possible to use the 50D stock," says Cooper. "Even 10 years ago, when I would take 50D stock into transfers, people weren't sure if it was 16 or 35, because it's so fine-grained. We used the 7201 to capture the maximum amount of detail in big wide shots. We also used it for certain interior situations as well, if we could get the character sitting near a window, for instance. I'm quite confident it's going to look amazing when we get to the DI (digital intermediate) session at Technicolor Toronto. DI has now made Super 16 look even more incredible, and you can shoot it for theatrical release for considerably less money."

Cooper stayed with slower emulsions whenever possible. Another example was a night campfire scene with at least eight pages of dialog. "I stayed with the 200T in that situation," he says. "Although the 500T allows me to use smaller fixtures and keep things simple, I find that the 200T is smoother and helps me keep the actors looking good."

The 250D 7205 film was right for some scenes that take place in dense British Columbia forests. "It was overcast to begin with, and it was getting later in the day," Cooper recalls. "The Zeiss high-speed lenses are T1.3, so you have an extra stop and a third, which helps in those situations."

On the road, they had to wait until they got to towns with Federal Express offices to receive dailies. "We pretty much had to trust that what was there was there," says Cooper. "I've shot these film stocks enough to be confident about how things were going to look. Knowing what's possible in DI is also helpful."

(L-R) DP Arthur Cooper, CSC takes a meter read prior to shooting a scene for One Week as director Michael McGowan observes whole on location in Ontario, Canada. Photo by Nadia Tavazzani

Cooper differentiated flashback scenes by using a tripod or other camera mounts, in contrast to the more immediate handheld documentary style of the majority of the film. In a Banff hotel, Cooper commandeered a luggage cart and, sitting on it with the high hat, made a dolly move across a smooth floor. The first AD served as dolly grip.

"Shooting Super 16 film allowed us to get the quality we were looking for without sacrificing," says McGowan. "We could go into a five-star hotel and say we'd be out in two hours, and then get away with it. At the end of the day, you're making a film. You don't have to offer the excuse that it was made for such-and-such budget. The idea was that you can make a little film, but if you're using incredible backdrops, and priceless sets, the results can be spectacular."