If Canada’s is more and more a service economy, then it ought to be good business to provide a service not readily available to Canadians, and to try to best the price of the competition.

That’s what Cine-Byte Imaging is aiming to do as it launches a new motion picture film recording business in Toronto. Marketing manager Dennis Berardi says as far as he knows, it’s the only place in Toronto able to expose computer files onto motion picture film. He’s aware, given his background in selling and installing the Solitaire film recording system, that the National Film Board operates a system in Montreal and that Imax Corp. also owns a system at its Mississauga Technology Centre configured for output to motion picture stock. While other companies own Solitaires, Berardi says only about three are configured that way.

So, with high-end houses creating computer animation by the frame-load and some needing that animation output to film in order to composite the animated images with those shot on film, where has the film recording been done in the past?

Internal projects

Berardi says the nfb mainly uses its recorder for internal projects, as does Imax. So he says computer animators have always shipped their data files to the motion picture mecca to the south. In the u.s., he reckons, the average price for high-resolution rendering is about $4 or $5 per frame, and those are American dollars. Cine-Byte’s sales material lists two prices, both lower, both in Canadian dollars: $2.95 per frame for high-resolution film recording of high-res (2k) data and $1.95 per frame for low-resolution (1k or less) data.

Output scanning

‘Part of the reason why we can do it (low price) is that all we do here is output scanning – taking other people’s rendered files and putting them on motion picture film.’

‘This should open up the market for film optical work (to be done in Canada),’ says Doug Morris, vice-president of sales and marketing at Image Group in Toronto. ‘A lot of people are interested in keeping everything within film resolution with the view that high definition is coming…It (Cine-Byte) seems to me this is the next logical step’ for the Canadian industry, Morris adds.

But Sid Bailey, general manager at Arcca Animation, sounds a cautious note. He thinks Cine-Byte has a good idea, but he expects it will have to sell its service hard to offset established relationships between creators here and American service companies. He adds that since Cine-Byte does not do the input side – taking original film and converting it to computer data – it will have to persuade Canadians to use its services on the output end only. While American companies may have higher prices and physical distances may dictate longer turnaround times, their expertise is established and their customer service skills are well developed. ‘It will be interesting to see what happens,’ he concludes.

Berardi says his facility includes a sealed, custom ‘clean’ room with a controlled environment, air filter and an exhausting system to keep dust off the master negative, and so off the subsequent work and release prints.

While Berardi is encouraging prospective clients to send him material for test purposes so he can demonstrate his system’s mettle, he’s grateful that in the meantime he can do his own tests with film – and advice on densities – provided by Kodak Canada.