New made-in-Manitoba web series follows a dozen characters
Do you ever dream of escaping the city to create your own community, to live off the grid and to get closer to the land?
Winnipeg filmmakers Will Antoniuk and Mike Sanders have created a satirical web series that tells the story of a dozen quirky idealists who are doing just that. The series is called The Communers.
Antoniuk says there are a number of reasons for choosing to do a web series as opposed to a film. "It gives us the freedom to create a unique, original series," he said.
"We like the idea of having the control and saying, 'OK, let's see where this can take us.' We have played with the idea of sending it to a broadcaster to see what they think, but we could get this done sooner and see if there's an audience response. And we feel that the audience will have a say in the show, as well."
Mel Marginet plays the role of Mary, the religious extremist. "Her view is she's going to go to this commune to be able to study the bible each day, to meet all of these wonderful people, to connect with nature and to basically convert everybody there to her beliefs," she said, laughing.
She also said that all of the performers were involved in the creation of the series, sometimes working with actual scripts, sometimes improvising while the cameras rolled.
"That really makes all of the actors very invested in the series because a lot of it we've created and we've been given that artistic freedom," she said.
The crew also donated its time to make a 22-minute prequel to the series, introducing us to all of the characters before they move onto the commune.
They have also launched an online Kickstarter fundraising campaign, where donors have a chance to have a walk-on role.
Source:https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/the-communers-web-series-explores-life-off-the-grid-1.2617713