There's no resource like a little ingenuity. Just ask Patrick McLaughlin, director of photography on waydowntown, the third feature by Alberta auteur Gary Burns. Despite its modest production values, the film, which recently secured u.s. distribution through New York-based Lot 47 Films, captured the $25,000 Toronto-City Award for best Canadian feature at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival.

The filmmakers opted to shoot waydowntown on a Sony DVW-700WSP digital Betacam (16:9 format) and then transfer their video images to 35mm film for theatrical projection. Dispensing with film processing reduced costs, but they also believed the resultant look, which casts somewhat of an unhealthy pall on the actors, was appropriate in telling the story of jaded young office workers (played by Fabrizio Filippo, Marya Delver and Gordon Currie). Bored with the daily grind, the group wagers to see which of them can last the longest without going outside, remaining within the core of Calgary's interconnected downtown buildings.

McLaughlin's partnership with Burns dates back to when the two attended film school at Montreal's Concordia University. They collaborated on various school projects as well as several short films after graduating. McLaughlin went on to lens Burns' debut feature, The Suburbanators, and served as second unit dop and camera operator on Kitchen Party, the writer/director's follow-up. The cinematographer says their friendship helps their creative partnership.

"We'll hang out together and talk about films," McLaughlin says. "I was involved on waydowntown really early, so that gave us a lot of time to talk about what we wanted to do, rather than just coming in a month in advance to do some prep. I was even there for the scriptwriting part of it, and having worked on projects in the past gives us a similar sensibility and vocabulary, which allows us to do things quicker."

Burns was originally shopping a bigger-budget project around, but it didn't materialize and he turned his attention to waydowntown, still in treatment stage. At first he believed he would have to do the film on a smaller budget than he ended up getting, so he planned to satisfy both production and artistic concerns with an experimental conceit - shoot the entire film in one long take on a Steadicam. The 35mm format was discounted because of the weight of the cameras and the necessity of changing film rolls every 10 minutes. Video seemed the answer.

But as Burns wrote the script, interest in the project grew and more money came on board. (The film's financiers include Telefilm Canada, CFCN Production Fund, Harold Greenberg Fund, Alberta Film Development Program and Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.) Burns then felt he needed to expand the scope of the film, and so cutting became essential. But the idea of shooting digital Betacam remained.

Director and dop believed the video format would be particularly effective in contrast to several 35mm shots (originated on Kodak 5248 EXR 100T stock) in which the characters finally get outside their steel and glass prism. Viewers might not be aware of the film's shift of formats, but it is apparent that warmer hues come with the characters' burst of fresh air.