In Beyond Green Gables, he writes:

“Shooting movies in winter can be riddled with difficulty when cast and crew are obliged to brave the elements.  Work is slow at times and the greeting ‘I’m freezing’, amongst crew members, is always an understatement!  A much more controllable and fanciful method of shooting winter is to create it.  Having done both over twenty years I much prefer the latter.

The inspiration and decision to stage a particular scene in a certain way often arises while scouting locations, as a result of the discovery of an exclusive spot at a magnificent time of day.  Memory can play tricks with filmmakers’ minds; not to mention the fact that the exact light is normally very difficult to recapture at the moment when you decided it was perfect.  Thanks to arc lights, cinematographers and accomplished special effects teams, nothing is impossible…

[In reference to the very top photo]:  It is entirely a visual invention.  The food is the only real element in the ensemble.  It was a sweltering July afternoon when our crew laid down synthetic snow blankets as a white bas around a quickly assembled fire-pit.  The topography was sprayed with a lanolin product that sticks to everything, but is completely biodegradable.  The product looks like freshly fallen snow, even under the scrutiny of a close-up lens.”

To read more about Kevin’s use of special effects in all his productions, take a look at Beyond Green Gables.