“What does Canada mean to me?” It’s a difficult question. Most of the time we just think of it as a place we live and never really give it more thought. But it’s more than that and that’s what I’ll be exploring in my video. When we were first given this assignment I thought it was going to be easy but then I got my dad involved. Together we watched Canadian beer commercials and Bob and Doug McKenzie. Pretty funny stuff but it didn’t relate to me. Then I spoke to my cousins in California because they are 1/2 Canadian and 1/2 American. They think of Canadians as very polite and low key. Quite quite different from their American side which is outgoing and loves extravagance.
My cousin Mikayla getting asked to prom.
At my house my dad loves to play hockey even though my brothers and I don’t. But one huge Canadian tradition that we all agree on and have passed onto to visitors from everywhere, is roasted Tim Bits. We think they are the best dessert and this has been a family favourite since 2008.
Me, my cousins, and family roasting Tim bits.
Me and my dad at the sun run/my dad playing hockey.
It was good at the start but I need to think of my own story, not what Canada meant to others but what Canada meant to me. So I went digging. My dad has always loved filming every major event in our lives so all I had to do was find the right ones to represent me. The problem I had was it was easy to get lost in baby photos and memories. In that night of searching I saw more of my life then I could ever remember. I especially loved this gem of a photo from my first time to Disneyland. I was going in to the “it’s a small world” ride and I was not impressed. I later photo shopped it into something awesome.
But this is what I was talking about getting off topic. Although this curiosity of mine later helped me finish the project. My original idea was to convey a bunch of messages all relating to Canada and all relating to me. This was a very large endeavour and I would’ve taken a lot longer than the time I had. Also it was very hard to wrap my head around the types of shots I wanted for that type of video because I can’t use anything copyrighted. I finally got tired of the idea and felt inspired by the photos as a young me so I wanted to include them somehow. This cuteness factor later became a valuable tool in conveying a message that I finally decided upon. This message was that “Canada let’s me be me.”