The Grade 8 class at H. Hardcastle School and their teacher, Pam Gordon, have filmed and produced an excellent short documentary video on the Klondike gold rush.
Recreating the era with sepia tones and a combination of still photographs and action scenes, the students focused on the main events of the gold rush: the initial discovery of gold by Skookum Jim, George Carmack and Tagish Charlie; the stampede of 100,000 people to the Klondike, the climb up the Chilkoot Pass, mining methods and life in the boom town of Dawson City.
The film, Tale of the Dawson Gold Rush, plays out over a soundtrack that effectively combines the ragtime music of Scott Joplin with a voice-over reading by students Payton Morin and Cordell Beynon of a narrative poem.
"We had started work last fall," said Gordon, "on an English unit that included the poems of Robert Service, when I noticed that Parks Canada were sponsoring a video contest that asked entrants to 'recreate significant Canadian moments related to our national parks, national historic sites or national marine conservation areas.' After discussing the idea with the kids, we decided to make a film that focused on the gold rush and the National Historic Site at Dawson City."
The student actors, who contributed to the screenplay and the art direction, and who supplied their own costumes and props, were filmed by vice-principal Lorne Long at locations north, south and within the village of Edam.
"Once we completed it, we uploaded the film to the Parks Canada website," said Gordon, "and now we're waiting to see how the voting goes."
The grand prize for the contest is a class trip to Banff. Some 69 films have been submitted by schools from across Canada, and viewers are encouraged to vote on-line for their favourites. The top 10 most popular films will then be independently judged by a panel of experts to determine the winner. All of the films, including Tale of the Dawson Gold Rush, by H. Hardcastle School, can be viewed at www.myparkspass.ca/video-gallery.
In order to cast a vote a person simply needs to click on the register tab at the top of the site, and enter a valid email address. The website will send a confirmation email containing a password enabling a person to log in and vote. Voting will end March 5.
"We're very proud of our entry," said Gordon, "and feel strongly that if we can get into the top ten we'd have a shot at winning!"
