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Mr. Bear's Song

1997 16 min
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Following Fiona Garrick in her print shop, this short film reveals the story behind the creation of a children's book. Whether writing, engraving, mixing ink colours, operating a 100-year-old printing press or hand binding, she treats every aspect of bookmaking with extraordinary skill and craft. In the era of superstores and media conglomerates, Garrick takes us along on a special journey of careful, contemplative creation.

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Mr. Bear's Song

Details

Following Fiona Garrick in her print shop, this short film reveals the story behind the creation of a children's book. Whether writing, engraving, mixing ink colours, operating a 100-year-old printing press or hand binding, she treats every aspect of bookmaking with extraordinary skill and craft. In the era of superstores and media conglomerates, Garrick takes us along on a special journey of careful, contemplative creation.

  • director
    Elizabeth Walker
  • producer
    George Johnson
  • executive producer
    Svend-Erik Eriksen
  • camera
    Kirk Tougas
  • sound
    Rob Simpson
  • editing
    Paul Lievesley
  • sound editing
    Michael Colomby
  • music
    Peter Bjerring

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Education

Ages 5 to 18
School subjects

This film demonstrates the use of a century-old printing press while telling the story of Mr. Bear’s song. Ideal for viewers who are studying the history of printing/bookmaking, and also for those who are learning how stories are developed into picture books with the care given to font, illustrations and graphic design. The film will lead to a discussion of the topic, and an extension would be to create an illustrated story and publish it using parts of this technique. Students could also complete research about the changes made to the publishing process over time. Different styles of storytelling could also be examined.

Mr. Bear's Song
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Licencing information

Home licence (worldwide); Classroom licence (Canada only)

You may download this film for private, personal or classroom use only. Public screenings and institutional (non-educational institutions) uses are not permitted. Download films in standard or high definition. (Please note that bonus materials are not available for DTO films.) You can copy each file up to 5 (five) times, onto various devices. DTO films cannot be hosted on a streaming server. To add DTO films to an institutional or educational streaming server, please contact a sales agent to discuss pricing.

Institutional licence

The institutional price includes the rights to screen this film in institutional settings and in free public screenings.