Croque-livres: Filming Stories to Share
Some collaborations stay in memory because they give meaning to the images we create. Croque-livres is one of them. Between 2014 and 2016, I took part in several video projects around these small book-sharing boxes, contributing to directing, camera work and editing.
A Simple Idea Comes to Life in Québec
Launched on September 22, 2014 by the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon and its partners, the Croque-livres network offered children free access to shared books. The principle was simple: take a book or leave one for someone else. After a summer pilot project with nine boxes, the launch already announced another 150 Croque-livres across Québec.
My work accompanied that meeting between an idea and the people who would bring it to life. Images showed choosing a book, discovering a box and sharing a read, making the project concrete and inviting people to participate.
The First Images, Summer 2014
My emails bring me back to the August 2014 shoots. The day after an outdoor session, I wrote to the team that the weather had been on our side and the first shots were beautiful. We had filmed children of different ages; I then began editing the video for the launch.
The collaboration brought together Steve Fontaine, Marie Amiot and Alexandre Gosselin, among others, along with the communications team. My contribution ran from filming to building the story, including animation to bring the network’s rollout to life visually.
La petite histoire du Croque-livre d’Henryville
In 2015, the project continued in Henryville. A five-episode series followed a local adventure around a Croque-livre, with children, community members and CFER students. The archives document the inauguration, then the final episode and a recap video.
I loved seeing the story evolve through the shoots. In a June 2015 message, I shared my enthusiasm about how far the project had come. The series gave space to the people behind the box: their actions, involvement and the way a reading initiative could become a collective adventure.
A Continuing Collaboration
Another promotional video followed, featuring families and several Croque-livres. A December 2015 shoot and creative exchanges led to a video shared on the network’s Facebook page in March 2016. Steve highlighted the quality of the directing and the care given to sound and images.
What stays with me is the pleasure of working around a generous idea, with an engaged team and participants who brought it to life. The videos helped introduce the Croque-livres concept and tell the stories developing around the boxes. For me, it’s a fond memory of what video creation can contribute to a collective project.
Comments