Armstrong gears up for battle

Peaceful little Armstrong will be rocked by an epic, bloody battle this weekend.

  Former resident and independent filmmaker Brian Taylor will return this Saturday to paint the town red, with fake, movie blood that is. He is shooting the pivotal, climactic war scene for his film Battle of Beaver Creek on a Pleasant Valley Road property.

  With the catalyst a kind of communist attack on Alaska in a post third world war society, the story follows protagonist Terran and his sidekick Newman as they travel to join in the fight, which is a result of changes in that futuristic world. However, while at first look it appears to be a war movie, Taylor said the end character realization reveals a different message.

  “It’s a philosophical anti-war movie disguised as a sci-fi battle movie,” he explained.

  Expected to be 70 to 90 minutes in length when finished, the film spans different locations in B.C., including the Rogers Pass, different areas in the Kootenays, Lumby, Armstrong and hopefully Greenwood, which has a main street with old west style buildings.

  With all work done by volunteers, who have day jobs and other aspects of their lives that require attention, they can only commit a few hours a week to filming, thus Taylor expects to still be working on it next summer. He’s managed to give 30 hours a week for the past five months that has resulted in just 12 minutes of film, showing just how slow going it is.

  Having always been interested in filmmaking, which he did some of in high school with old VHS technology, Taylor dabbled with it until life intervened. He’s back at it now though, and while commercial success is always welcome, that’s not why he’s pursuing this project.

  “This isn’t a commercial venture; we’re doing this to create a piece of art. It’s a kind of a big middle finger to the big film industry that wastes millions of dollars on movies,” he said of showing that action movies can be made on a shoestring budget.

  With that financial limitation, he’s found numerous creative ways to work around that while still keeping the movie up to par. A lot of background and battle sequences are done via news broadcasts in the film, allowing him avoid dealing with expensive explosions and large casts. And, though the main roles are filled by more experienced actors, the bulk of participants are volunteers.

  “Most of my people are just ordinary folk, willing to dress up as a soldier and get splattered with blood,” he laughed.