Frequently Asked Questions
1 ) How did you get started?
2) Why did you miss my lake?
3) Why did you film my lake but miss my cottage?
4) Could my cottage be refilmed?
5) You made a mistake.
6) Do your use aerial drones?
7) Don’t you need my permission to film my cottage?
8) Who are your viewers?
9) Submitting a photo
- How Did You Get Started?
Actually it was my wife’s idea. As we both love boating and exploring new lakes, friends started asking us to take pictures of the new lakes we were visiting. Having a son who is a professional cameraman helped as we quickly graduated from taking photos to taking full lake videos. Then these same friends urged us to share our films using a website and the idea of ecottagefilms.com was born.
2) Why Did You Miss My Lake?
In our attempts to film the thousands of cottage waterways in Ontario we may have missed important waterways like yours. This may be due to an oversight on our part or that the film crews attempting to film your waterway could not find a suitable boat launch.
To have your lake included into our filming schedule, please return to our websites home page and go to “Contact Us” and go to the “Request for a Refilming” drop down and fill out the form. We will then include your waterway and cottage in our filming schedule.
Please make sure to include
-your waterway’s name and directions from the closest highway
-the directions to and location of the local boat launch
Due to the weather conditions (especially the wind) please appreciate that we cannot give you an exact date of your waterway’s filming.
Your assistance is appreciated.
3) Why Did You Film My Lake But Miss My Cottage?
Please understand that we are filming from an open boat in all types of weather and are subject to the following conditions:
Weather
-strong winds mean big waves
-cloudy skies
-approaching storms, wind, rain and lightning
Navigational Hazards
-rocks, sunken structures and weed beds
Other Boaters
-excessive boat traffic and their waves
-people swimming, fishing, water skiing, tubing, jet skiing etc.
-and the curiosity seekers who take pleasure in interrupting our filming
Plus being unfamiliar with your waterway, our boat drivers have been instructed to be overly cautious when venturing into shallow bays due to the rocks, other navigational hazards and avoiding areas where people are swimming. For this reason important cottages get missed or that the filming itself is substandard.
Plus as we are not the only boaters on the lake, constant breaks in the film are caused when our boat is rocked by the waves of the other boaters passing by. Whenever this happens we have no choice but to stop the camera and wait for the waves to subside.
Please return to our ecottagefilms home page and go to “Contact Us” and go to “Request for a Refilming” and fill out the form and we will work towards refilming your cottage in the spring.
Please make sure to include:
-your waterway’s name and directions from the closest highway
-and directions to the local boat launch
Due to the weather conditions especially the wind please appreciate that we cannot give you and exact date of your waterway’s refilming.
Your assistance is appreciated.
4) Could My Cottage Be Refilmed?
Please understand that we are filming from an open boat in all types of weather and are subject to the following conditions
Weather
-strong winds mean big waves
-cloudy skies
-approaching storms, wind rain and lightning
Navigational Hazards
-rocks, sunken structures and weed beds
Other Boaters
-excessive boat traffic and their waves
-people swimming, fishing, water skiing, tubing, jet skiing etc.
-and the curiosity seekers who take pleasure in interrupting our filming
Plus being unfamiliar with your waterway, our boat drivers have been instructed to be overly cautious when venturing into shallow bays due to the rocks and other navigation hazards and avoiding areas where people are swimming. For this reason important cottages get missed or that the filming itself is substandard.
Plus as we are not the only boaters on the lake, constant breaks in the film are caused when our boat is rocked by the waves of the other boaters passing by. Whenever this happens we have no choice but to stop the camera and wait for the waves to subside.
Please appreciate that if your cottage has:
-trees between your cottage and the waterfront
-or your cottage sits high up on a cliff that our film crews may not have been able to see your cottage at all, meaning that we either missed it altogether or that it was hidden by the trees in front of it
Please make sure to include:
-your waterway’s name and directions from the closest highway
-your waterway’s film clip number
-and location to the local boat launch
Due to the weather conditions especially the wind, please appreciate that we cannot give you and exact date of your waterways refilming. Your assistance is appreciated.
5) You Made A Mistake.
Being unfamiliar with the waterways being filmed we are prone to making mistakes as to the waterway’s names and features. For example, when filming it is difficult for our film crews to tell where one body of water ends and another begins. When a river enters a lake, where does the river end and the lake begin? Therefore when viewing our films often scenes from a river will be included into the lakes film footage and vice versa. This duplication is unavoidable.
Plus with different crews filming on different days, they may overlap their filming which ends up not being detected by our editing department. So if we have mislabled a waterway or feature or made some other mistake, please return to our ecottagefilms home page and go to “Contact Us” and go to “Request for a Refilming” and fill out the form and inform us of our mistake.
Please make sure to include:
-your waterways name and directions from the closest highway
-your waterways films clip number ie. ON-00049-2
-the time on the time counter on the bottom of the film clip
-and any other information that will assist us in locating that specific area on the film
Your assistance is appreciated.
6) Do You Use Aerial Drones?
No. We at ecottagefilms.com consider the use of aerial drones over a person’s private property to be an invasion of that person’s personal privacy. I know that I would not appreciate someone flying a drone over my property and taking photos of my wife and family while they were sitting on the back deck.
Besides, we believe that flying a drone over another person’s private property and taking photos without that person’s prior permission is now illegal in Ontario.
7) Don’t You Need My Permission To Film My Cottage?
At ecottagefilms.com we are attempting to develop an enjoyable website where viewers can take a relaxing virtual boat tour on Ontario’s beautiful vacation shorelines and cottages.
You are correct that if we were to walk onto your private property that we would first need your permission to film your cottage. But just as Google has the legal right to film your house from a public roadway we at ecottagefilms.com have the same legal right to film your shoreline and cottage from a navigable waterway. We only film what us and any other passing by boater sees, nothing more.
So if you would like your cottage refilmed or have another concern, please go back to our ecottagefilms.com home page and under “Contact Us” fill out the “Request for a Refilming” form and email it back to us. We will attempt to satisfy your concerns.
Thank you for your interest.
8) Who Are Your Viewers?
Our viewer base is primarily 40 years of age and up, has the disposable income to rent or own a vacation property, plus owns two or more cars, boats and other recreational vehicles. Plus our website is heavily used by those persons wishing to rent or purchase a vacation property.
Google tells us that the source of our viewers is…
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Canada
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United States
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Canadian Military Overseas
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United Kingdom
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Germany
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Netherlands
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India
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China
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United Arab Emirates
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Italy
Please contact us at info@ecottagefilms.com if you have any other questions.
9) Submitting a Photo for Vintage Boathouses and Spectacular Cottages
We appreciate you sending us your photos and we reserve the right to select which photos to include on our website. For our Vintage Boathouses section, we are looking to preserve photos of Ontario’s boating heritage through photos of weathered and time worn boat houses. Likewise with the Spectacular Cottages we are looking for photos to show the beauty of Ontario’s more majestic waterfront homes and cottages. Photos containing identifiable persons(ie. children) will not be published. All photos submitted become property of Ecottagefilms and may be used on our website and affiliated social media.