'Finding Easter eggs': Vancouver history teacher compiling local film history on YouTube
Like many people, Chris Banks taught himself a new skill when things were locked down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, he's applying that skill – video editing – to a project he's had on his mind for years: a visual history of Vancouver on film.
"Nobody had done it before," he said. "I thought it would be something that people would enjoy."
Banks, a high school history and social studies teacher, has been cutting together compilations of scenes from movies shot in Vancouver and posting them on his YouTube channel.
The videos are set to music and intersperse facts about the locations shown in the films with the captured images of bygone eras.
"The idea is kind of like you're learning about the chronology of Vancouver film, but also a little bit about the history of the city as a whole," Banks said.
He said there were "a lot of different factors" that led him to the project, including his interest in movies and local history.
"As a kid, I didn't really realize which films were filmed in Vancouver, so I was rewatching some of them as an adult and noticing all these locations," he said. "I just thought that was cool. Our city's kind of been hidden from us in movies, because it almost always is portrayed as some other city."
Banks also cited the 2003 documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself and Tony Zhou's 2015 video essay Vancouver Never Plays Itself – which touches on that same theme of Vancouver being hidden from the audience on film – as inspirations.
The compilations Banks posts are less about answering the question of why Vancouver is so often disguised from audiences, and more about compiling and showcasing occasions when it shines through.
"The whole project is basically finding Easter eggs," Banks said, adding that it's difficult to pick a favourite discovery he's made since embarking on the project.
The find most personally relevant to him is easier to pick out. During his research, Banks discovered that the 1980 film Out of the Blue, directed by Dennis Hopper, featured multiple scenes at the Ridge Theatre and bowling alley, which has since been demolished.
"I just found that awesome, because that place that was really close to my heart as a kid – I saw my first movie there – that was captured on film," Banks said.
He said he hopes other long-time Vancouverites see landmarks from their pasts in his videos.
"I hope that people other than lifelong Vancouverites get a kick out of it, but I think primarily the audience is people who maybe grew up here who would remember some of these things that maybe don't exist anymore," Banks said.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Lisa Steacy
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Tropical fish stolen from Beachburg, Ont. restaurant found and returned
Ontario Provincial Police have landed a suspect following a fishy theft in Beachburg, Ont.
U.S. FAA launches investigation into unauthorized personnel in cockpit of Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto
The U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a video that appears to show unauthorized personnel in the cockpit of a charted Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto.