Beach Metro News, Toronto, Ontario, October 9, 2001

Short films Catch 'Life As We Know It' by BILL MACLEAN
Imagine this scene: a man is sitting in his car waiting for his wife, the car engine idling away. He waits patiently, unaware that all around him the roadside plants - even nearby squirrels and birds - are wilting and dying from the poisonous fumes. Or this scene: a father answers the door to find an army commando offering to sell him any number of weapons of mass destruction - even offering to show him how they work. The father is furious at this brazen intrusion and slams the door in his face. Meanwhile his children are settling down in front of the television to watch the same commando, now named 'The Eliminator', wreak deadly havoc on a number of bad guys. Ironically, the father joins the kids in cheering the violence on the screen. These are two short - five minute - films made by Beach filmmaker Cameron Tingley with his company called The Flying Spot Players. They are the initial films of a planned longer series Tingley calls Life As We Know It, film interpretations of contemporary life" Although the two films are well-suited for television, Tingley has found that they have limited commercial prospects, and consequently have been aired in Canada only on cable community channels.		"Out of Sight, Out of Mind" did however receive extensive airplay on cable stations in the U.S. during Earth Day celebrations last spring. It also won an award at the Melbourne International Film & Video Festival in Melbourne, Australia. "I guess I have to say that these films each have a common theme," Tingley said of the short films. "They are looking at the excessiveness, and wastefulness, of modern society. I hope that they have a humbling effect on us." Tingley, who is originally from London, Ontario, has always been interested in film making, beginning with 16mm film production in high school., And he has come to realize that he came by his gift for making metaphorical images naturally. "My father, Merle Tingley [or Ting as he was known then], was the editorial cartoonist for the London Free Press for 47 years," he said, recalling that the late Ben Wicks would drop by when he was in London and jam on the clarinet with him. "And from my mother, I got a social conscience." After high school, Tingley studied in film making at Conestoga College in Kitchener, and eventually moved to Toronto in 1976, where he continues to work as a documentary film editor.		The Flying Spot Players is a personal passion for Tingley. He develops his ideas for these shorts, plots them out and then gathers friends from the business '- actors, gaffers, cameramen - who donate their time and equipment to help make the films. "My biggest expense, literally, is food for the cast and crew," he said. Filming usually only takes a couple of days at most, but Tingley says it's always hard to schedule everyone. "I make the props out of things hanging around the house, or things I find while out jogging," he said referring to the elaborate weapon the Eliminator uses. Tingley constructed it out of a broken hair dryer and pieces of plumbing stuck together and spray painted silver. Recently Tingley has signed a distribution agreement with Maple Lake Releasing in Winnipeg. They are in the process of setting up a website devoted to the Flying Spot Players on which viewers will be able to view clips from the films and order their own copies. That site is www.maplelake.mb.ca/ flyingspot.html. Or you could contact Maple Lake directly at 607-595 River Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L OE6, phone 1-204-474-1896 or fax 1-204-475-2288.