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To Bridge or Not to Bridge? Featured

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One of the most familiar elements of the Avonlea village is the covered bridge. Nestled on the very edge of the village, the bridge provided a strong visual reference as to whether someone was either coming to town or leaving. It was also a very effective device for establishing the period and providing some architectural detail to the set.What most people don’t know is that the bridge was also movable.
The covered bridge was built on tracks and had wheels that allowed it to move in and out of position. It was built that way to allow production vehicles to travel into the village when we weren’t shooting there. It also allowed us to use the road as a "non-descript" road if we needed to shoot a scene involving a road that wasn’t supposed to be close to the village. This was very helpful in scheduling shooting days because making large unit moves took a significant amount of time. When we did have to move from the village to another part of the Avonlea backlot, the bridge could be quickly moved to allow equipment trucks to get through. Moving the bridge in the winter could be quite challenging though because the tracks would ice over making it impossible to move. To remedy the situation, we would use large propane torches to melt the ice. This could be a very cold and tedious task to say the least. Another interesting feature of the bridge is that it didn’t have a stream under it. The set dressers dug a hole and put reeds, etc, around it to give the impression of a stream but there was never any water there. Here are some photos showing the bridge both in and out of position. If you look closely, in one of the shots you can see a production truck parked outside of the bridge.
Last modified on Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00
Dan Matthews

Dan Matthews

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