Not just another hardware store: a mini doc

When I saw that our first assignment for TV doc class was to produce a mini doc vérité-style to capture the essence and energy of a location, I knew Pollock’s Hardware

would be a great place.

All photos from Pollock's on Facebook.

I remember going there with my dad when I was little to pick up the odd tool or can of paint. It was like stepping back in time to the hardware stores of the 1900s when they didn’t just sell hardware – they were the corner store of odds and ends for a lot of neighbourhoods. (Although truth be told back then I just loved the toy horses in the window.)

Recently, Pollocks has added another interesting page to their history book. When the original owners decided to retire, but couldn’t find a buyer, they were forced to close the store in 2007 until the local community banded together to re-open it as a consumer co-operative.

A visually interesting store with an interesting story just got even better when I called the place to book a filming time and found out their store dog, Diggr, just had puppies.

With dogs in tow, general manager Mike Wolchock came to the store and showed us all the quirky little things that makes Pollock’s so great.

The hardest part of all this, however, was the actual filming. Walking around with a boom mic and a camera in a tiny store with even tinier aisles stocked to the rafters was certainly a challenge, as was trying to shoot proper composition on the fly. It’s also really hard to keep a hand held camera steady. Really. Or maybe that’s just the perfectionist in me talking.

Either way, I’m really happy with the way this turned out, and it was good practice for my next (and final) project - a short documentary on a Winnipeg model train group. Come back to watch the end product in the few weeks from now!