From arctic landscapes to lively city centres, the sprawling and dynamic "Great White North" is captured anew in Flyover's Canada-wide experience. Awaken Canada showcases untouched mountain ranges, coastal towns and golden prairies in thrilling and unique ways that are sure to leave you awe-struck.
The latest Canada experience evolves the original Flyover journey — first debuted in 2013 — with new technology, new locations and even more of the country’s incredible beauty on display.
“The first Canada experience was wildly successful in Vancouver. It became embraced by the community,” says Sherpa Cinema’s David Mossop, writer and director of Awaken Canada. “It was a big challenge, but we tried our hardest to take this new experience to the next level.”
Check out how Awaken Canada elevates the Flyover journey to even greater heights.
The new nationwide adventure takes guests to a few familiar locations, like Toronto’s CN Tower and Quebec City, as well as some remarkable spots far beyond the beaten path.
Filming took Mossop and crew to the far edges of the country, including the Yukon’s Mount Logan and Nunavut’s Baffin Island. Awaken Canada highlights many places that visitors might only ever see through the lens — and Mossop wanted to make sure it was the best view possible.
“It's such a huge privilege for us to get to go to these places that I've always dreamed of,” says Mossop. “My job is to capture these places in a beautiful light, in the most beautiful conditions, in the most beautiful moment.”
Capturing even more of Canada was no easy task. Due in part to shooting delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Awaken Canada was in development for five years. Mossop and his team also had to figure out how to capture the spirit of a vast country in only a handful of minutes.
The remote locations brought new challenges, including accessing tough-to-reach regions. Through partnership with Parks Canada and the due protocols, respect and appreciation for the Indigenous nations across the country that helped and allowed his team to capture these places appropriately, Mossop hopes that everybody feels connected to the sights they’ll see at Flyover.
“These remote places can have unpredictable weather,” explains Mossop. “For example, getting a helicopter to Baffin Island — there isn't one there that works. So we had to fly across the Arctic Ocean through storms.”
Thanks to careful planning and persistence in production, the places visited in Awaken Canada are more breathtaking than ever before.
One of the most important elements of the journey is the music, which helps visitors engage emotionally with the experience and feel even more immersed, according to Mossop.
“Building the score and creating that emotional path that people go through is my favourite part of the whole experience. It’s incredible to see what these composers can do to influence our emotions and take us on a journey.”
Six Degrees’ composers Alec Harrison and Andrea Wettstein, responsible for the scoring of the first Canada experience, lent their skills once again to Awaken Canada. Throughout the journey, visitors will hear from a diverse range of voices and musicians that perfectly pair with the visual elements of the experience.
With the first Canada journey more than a decade in the rearview, it was inevitable that the latest exploration would feature new technology — most notably, the use of drones expertly piloted by Gabriel Kocher. Thanks to Kocher’s contribution, visitors will get up close and personal with Alberta’s Marble Canyon, the CN Tower and downtown Toronto, and even a skier navigating the narrow streets and walkways of Old Quebec.
“Kocher engineered, created and piloted this custom-made, extremely powerful drone that can do shots like never before, and move a camera in ways that no one else can move them,” says Mossop.
To the Flyover team, shooting this experience isn’t just a way to entertain visitors, but to communicate how incredible — and fragile — our environment is.
"We are entertainers, but beyond that, we hope our work inspires a deeper appreciation of Mother Nature, of life on Earth, and of how small we are in humanity's connection with nature,” says Mossop.
Ultimately, Mossop says Awaken Canada was made possible through the power of partnership. From Parks Canada to Indigenous nations to small communities across the country, the welcoming spirit of Canadians was crucial in creating this unique and unifying adventure.
“Awaken Canada wouldn’t have happened without an immense amount of support from the people who worked on it and the different communities across the country that opened their arms and enabled us to tell their story authentically and powerfully,” he says.
"We hope that this project reminds people how lucky we are to be in this majestic country, how unique we are to the world and that we celebrate and respect all of these diverse landscapes to help create a feeling of who we are as a collective."
Don’t miss your chance to experience Canada like never before aboard Awaken Canada. Get your tickets today!
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