
By Kelly Burgess,
Bruce Peninsula Press
Fortunately for Jake Burgess, the perfect location to capture the essence of his latest thriller “I’m Sorry If I Took a Toll on You”, was easily found in Pike Bay. He chose this area due to his familiarity with it having spent a great amount of his childhood at his Grandma Moe’s place and his father Andrew’s family cottage. “A significant chunk of my life was spent there. I know the layout of the woods and the ins and outs of the forest for shooting”, Jake explained.
For 10 days writer/director Jake, lead actors Isaac Brown and Tsipporah Shendroff and handful of crew members made their home in Jake’s mother Shari’s cottage on the bay. It was extremely convenient and efficient for filming. Jake enthusiastically stated, “We lived on set, we lived where we shot. It was a win, win.”
Beautiful and Naturalistic Settings
Jake’s decision to shoot this particular movie in black and white and in the chosen location Pike Bay was very well thought out. The landscape of the Northern Bruce Peninsula combined with the black and white colour grading created a stark and ominous tone for the movie. One of the main themes of the film is reconciling with one’s past. As a product of their past, the characters in the film are sad and disturbed individuals. Set these people against the beauty of Pike Bay and punctuate it with sharp black and white and you got yourself a Jake Burgess thriller. “I like the contrast of setting broken and disturbed characters against beautiful and naturalistic settings like trees and water. There’s something so traumatic about that,” explained Jake.
All the exterior lake shots and the wood shots were filmed on Widgeon Cove near Jake’s Grandmother’s house. He chose that location because the water is clear and calm in that area. It provided the perfect background for the main character “Cath” to say goodbye to her mother as she pours her ashes into the lake. Jake further clarified his choice by stating, “Loss and sorrow combined with the setting sun and an endless body of water. There isn’t anything quite like it!”
So far, the movie “I’m Sorry if I Took a Toll on You” had great reception at the Forest View Film Festival in London this past weekend. It is set to play at the Hamilton Film Festival on November 13 and will be later released to purchase on demand. For more information visit 367pictures.com and follow Jake on Instagram @byjakeburgess.