Once everyone was in agreement that the bombed out village needed to be built from scratch, I then had to find a place to construct it. There were a few factors to consider when I started my search. Firstly, the set, designed by Arthur Herriott, was enormous because it needed to function as several different sets when filmed from different angles. This would allow us to get “more bang for the buck” because we could shoot multiple scenes in the same location. Secondly, the ground had to be firm enough to support the large structures properly and not turn into a mud bog if it rained (which it undoubtedly would). Thirdly, the surrounding terrain and structures had to somewhat resemble France during World War I. And lastly, we needed a place where the special effects team could safely set off live explosives. After much consideration, I came to the conclusion that a gravel pit would be the ideal location. The problem with gravel pits though is that they haul gravel out of them, which is extremely dusty and noisy. Having gravel trucks driving past a bombed out French village wouldn’t exactly be ideal either. However, after doing a considerable amount of driving and speaking with several gravel pit owners, I found the perfect thing… an abandoned gravel pit.

The pit was about an hour’s drive Northeast of Toronto which kept it within a practical distance for the crew. It was slightly overgrown making the terrain look more natural, which was an added bonus. It was also essentially a big hole surrounded by farmland, making it a great background and also a safe place to detonate the special effects explosions. All of this made the decision to shoot there a relatively easy one. Once the location was “locked”, an army of carpenters and set dressers began building the massive set. As previously mentioned, the set had to serve multiple filming purposes. The front was the village courtyard as seen in the photos below:

The back of the set was the bombed out interior of the church where Anne helps the wounded soldiers and finds Fred.

With some creative moving around of debris, vehicles and set dressing, the numerous structures became backgrounds for the various scenes of Anne’s journey through war torn Europe to find Gil.

In addition to the bombed out village, the pit also made an ideal place to build the field hospital as seen in these photos:

In order to support the large numbers of cast, crew and extras that were required to film these scenes, we had to create our own “crew village” consisting of trucks, tents, trailers, generators and portable washroom facilities. We had one large tent just to house the uniforms, rifles and equipment used by the soldiers. This “crew village” was located just a short distance from the main set, which gave us a fighting chance to complete our very ambitious filming days. The gravel pit is also where we staged the attack on the train when Anne first arrives at the Front as well as "Nun - Anne’s" escape with Dominic from the train station, but that’s another story...