Christopher Chapman

Christopher Chapman CM, RCA (January 24, 1927 – October 24, 2015) was a Canadian film writer, director, editor and cinematographer. Best known for his award-winning 1967 short film A Place to Stand, he also pioneered the multi-dynamic image technique used in films and television shows.

Chapman was born in Toronto, shortly after midnight on January 24, 1927, and just minutes after his twin brother, Francis. They were sons of distinguished architect Alfred Hirschfelder Chapman (of Chapman and Oxley) and concert pianist Doris Chapman. Christopher spent a year in England in the 1950s designing cars for the Ford Motor Company before returning to Canada and becoming a filmmaker. Christopher and his twin had four elder siblings, Philippa, Howard, Robert and Sally. Another brother, Julian, died in infancy.

Over his career, he made approximately 40 films for television, the National Film Board of Canada, theatrical release, tourism organizations, science centres and international expositions.

Chapman's first film, The Seasons, won the Canadian Film of the Year at the Canadian Film Awards (CFA) in 1954. His film A Place to Stand received two Academy Award nominations and won for Best Live-Action Short in 1968. It also won the CFA Canadian Film of Year. The film featured the multi-dynamic image technique which used moving panes of moving images within the single context of the screen. Over a year of filming, Chapman shot 70 kilometres (43 mi) of film, which he edited into 18 minutes, though the images moving across the screen were the equivalent of an hour and three-quarters of film.

The process exhausted Chapman and he was still unsure of using it until its first screening occurred. "There were a couple of stenographers, who were eating their lunch watching the screening, and they were agog," Chapman stated. "But I wanted to run. I was exhausted and thought it was a failure, but a chap grabbed me as I was going out the door. He'd been standing at the back of the screening room and said he was blown away by it. It was Steve McQueen."

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