A screenshot of a clip from Arseneault's latest upload of a reel shot by Doug Kermode.

Image Credit: Youtube Reel Life - Francois Arseneault

Vernon historian Francois Arseneault digitizes and catalogues old film reels in order to preserve them, but connects people with cherished memories along the way.

Arseneault is the curator for the Vernon military museum, a photographer and videographer who started cataloguing old film reels on his YouTube channel "Reel Life" when the pandemic began.

“As a cameraman, most of our work stopped in our industry. I thought well I need to keep my chops sharp and what better way to do that and do something positive for people,” he said.

Since he started he has released 1,400 episodes of film reels he mostly digitizes himself. Arseneault records voiceovers for the videos to add context to the reel and help people in the future understand what they’re seeing.

His most recent episode is a film reel shot by Doug Kermode, a cinematographer from Vernon who was born in 1913 and specialized in aerial photography. This reel from Kermode, given to Arsenault by Kermode’s son, shows what life was like in Vernon between 1938 and 1969.

“The footage of the parades downtown is incredible, and the landing of the aircraft at the camp is totally surreal,” he said.

Arseneault said Kermode was someone who inspired him to become a photographer and cinematographer when he was a cadet at the Vernon military camp in the late 70s. 

“Doug came in and announced to all the cadets and said, ‘Hey I have some aerial photos of last week’s parade. Anyone who wants them can come get them for a couple dollars each.’ I was looking at these black and white 8X10s that were absolutely crystal clear and sharp,” he said. “The quality was stunning. It was one of those moments where I realized this is what I want to do.”

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Arseneault’s passion for photography and local history have collided into a channel that shows the world pieces of history that would otherwise be forgotten.

“I suspect there are many reels out there that Doug shot that are sitting in somebody’s basement or somebody’s closet and they may not even realize it is a Doug Kermode reel,” he said. “This film footage is the best connection we have with our collective past, it’s critical to knowing who we are and where we came from.”

Arseneault dives deep into local history. He examines every detail of footage many would overlook and he finds bits and pieces that connect with some of his 18,000 subscribers.

“I am curious almost to a fault, I’m intensely curious about every detail. I’m curious about where I live and what I see,” he said.

He said one of his favourite byproducts of making YouTube videos is the collaborative effort to solve the mysteries in the reels.

“Lots of people comment saying they recognize this building or this topography and it’s wonderful to see. There are of course people who rant and ramble on without knowing what they’re talking about but they’re usually easy to spot,” he said.

Arseneault even leaves some of his own realizations unsaid to add to the game.

“I’m leaving a few clues unsaid to see what people pick up on to see if they can figure it out,” he said.

Occasionally a piece of footage connects with a viewer’s past.

“Last week I posted the road trip up to Barkerville and Wells and back down to the Okanagan. There is a brief shot of a motel with a neon sign, prototypical 1950s. This motel was shown for just a few seconds. I got contacted by the daughter of the people who built that motel back in 1954-55. She said, ‘That’s my parents' motel. It’s long gone but I recognized that sign instantly. That’s where we lived, that’s where they worked, that’s where I grew up.’ That’s cool, isn’t that cool?” he said.

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Arsenault said there have been a few dozen connections with viewers over the years but the most astonishing was when he bought a mysterious reel from 1954 at an estate sale in Chicago.

“I didn’t know what they were, the reels just said Europe trip,” he said. “This fellow took a position with his camera and decided to capture street scenes in Cadiz, Spain. Street captures, life, traffic.”

There was a clip in particular that caught his attention, it was two kids who turned out to be siblings.

“In one shot there is a little boy, maybe 10 or so, with a little four-year-old girl that he’s piggybacking and they’re walking through the street. Then he pauses and he’s staring at the camera,” he said. “Just looking intently at the camera, it's just a wonderful shot, maybe ten seconds long. I didn’t think anything of it and just posted the episode.”

A screenshot of the siblings from the video shot by an unknown American traveller.

Image Credit: YouTube Reel Life - Francois Arseneault

A news outlet in Spain saw the video and decided to post it with an article, when the girl from the video reached out to Arseneault.

“I corresponded with the little girl in the film and she said, ‘Yeah that was my big brother. I loved him, he protected me and we were just going for a walk through town because being poor that was our entertainment. Just walk around and see the place.’ To have that happen, to realize that you’ve made a connection for that family in an extraordinarily roundabout way.”

The brother ended up passing away in the 70s and the family didn’t have any pictures of him as a kid because they couldn’t afford a camera. Arseneault said this is his favourite example of how cataloguing and digitizing old film reels can make unlikely connections.

“For this fellow to capture all this stuff in the 50s, take it home, send the film to New York to be developed. Show it to his family and a few friends maybe a Saturday night or two a year, then put it in a box and it’s forgotten until eight years ago when I found it at an estate sale. Shipped from Chicago to Vernon for me to sit down and digitize it, put it online, for some reporter to stumble upon it in Spain and for it to be seen by this little girl’s family, like how many dots are we connecting?”

Click here for Arseneault's YouTube channel. 

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