Fini.

That day has come. My final class in Creative Communications ended yesterday at 4 p.m. Two years have come and gone in what at times has felt like a blink of an eye, but in the next moment felt like an anchor that threatened to pull me under. Red River College as an anchor had a second purpose. It gave me firm station in those same turbulent waters so I couldn't drift off into the unknown.

In the past few weeks I've had the pleasure of working on one of my last major assignments, Festive Al. I made the final corrections to my documentary yesterday afternoon and submitted it to our creative arts award ceremony called the CCMA's. There are so many talented people in my class I can't honestly predict what my chances are in winning (probably slim), but a nomination would make me just as happy.

While I have enjoyed many of my assignments in these past two years, the work I did on Festive Al was a great way to wind up this last week of classes. I probably spent at least 40 hours logging footage, editing, and converting files – not to mention all the field work I did with my subject, Al Simmons. As entertainers go, Al was a fantastic person to work with. His professionalism, attention to detail, and sense of humour were a great source of inspiration for my documentary, and for me personally. His passion for laughter and his creative genius could be written about extensively. He has so many wonderful stories from his 40+ year career that someone should propose to write his biography. Future IPP anyone???

Above are a few screen-shots from my documentary. Festive Al was a labour of love. I had five hours of footage to create what needed to be at a minimum of eight minutes in length. Festive Al is fourteen minutes long, and it could have easily been extended. All told, it shows all that it needed to show; one man learning Canada's second official language for his upcoming performances at Festival du Voyageur.