TVO to take viewers down the French River in new 'slow TV' documentary

CBC
·2 min read
TRIPPING The French River places a camera at a bow of a canoe going down the historic northern Ontario waterway, but also includes scenic drone shots that showcase the landscape. (Submitted by TVO - image credit)
TRIPPING The French River places a camera at a bow of a canoe going down the historic northern Ontario waterway, but also includes scenic drone shots that showcase the landscape. (Submitted by TVO - image credit)

The fifth instalment of the TVO series TRIPPING will take viewers 110 kilometres down the French River, from the point of view of a cedar strip canoe paddler.

The TRIPPING series is part of the slow TV movement, which moves at a very relaxed pace, with minimal dialogue and edits.

"I mean in our entire program we may have as many edits as a 30-second commercial has and we're a three hour-long program," said Mitch Azaria, the executive producer with Good Earth Productions, which makes the series for TVO.

"Maybe people are searching for, you know, a quieter, immersive type of program and this does that."

Last year, the series took viewers on a 480-kilometre train journey from Sudbury to White River, aboard VIA Rail's Budd car.

Beyond the journey, there are occasional information boards with interesting facts about the area, or its history.

"In TRIPPING The French River, viewers will enjoy fascinating features of a unique and storied waterway that offers a window into Canada's past," said John Ferri, TVO's vice-president of programming and content, in a news release.

Early in the French River episode, the camera focuses on a beaver and follows it into its lodge.

"And you pop up in the beaver lodge and you see a couple of kits, you know, working on some on some sticks and you think, 'Well, that's sort of interesting,'" Azaria said.

"And then you go back out of the lodge and you're paddling again."

During the diversion with the beavers there are facts on the screen about the fur trade in Canada, of which the French River played an integral part.

The episode also takes viewers to the more distant past when paddlers visit Indigenous pictographs along the river.

"We went to a site that Indigenous people had been there 3,000 years ago and there was a settlement," Azaria said.

To film the episode, Azaria said they had a small crew and attached a new camera system made by DJI – most well-known for their drones – to the bow of a canoe.

Azaria said they chose to travel down the French River for the newest instalment because it checks several boxes.

The river showcases a varied landscape from soaring cliffs, to fast rapids and a wider river basin to the north. It also showcases the region's history, from early Indigenous communities that used the river for sustenance, to the fur trade, logging and the more recent tourism sector.

TRIPPING The French River will air Sunday at 8 p.m. It will also be available on TVO's YouTube channel.