Midway through the tour of Lakeshore Studios, resplendent in its renovated facilities and decor, co-owner Robert Mischuk nails down why production companies will appreciate it: ‘They know the clients will feel very comfortable. It looks well on them.’

The tour takes us through Lakeshore’s Studio 3 in the building beyond the operation’s main offices, where Studios 1 and 2 are housed. The renovator’s plans will embrace 1 and 2 later; for now, Studio 3 is the focus of all that is new in this, one of Canada’s oldest studios.

Mischuk and his brother Eric bought the facility 14 years ago with plans to add audio post capacity. Once the 1982 recession hit, they abandoned the audio ideas and concentrated on the main business.

PMs’ wish list

By 1992, the time was right to give the facility a new look to greet the next century so they asked production managers to offer wish lists of ideal studio amenities. The brothers found that many of the suggestions matched their own inclinations so they incorporated as many as possible in the construction plan, a process which began in March 1993, just after shooting wrapped on the u.s. feature Life With Mikey, and kept Studio 3 shut for eight months.

The work left the building’s structure intact, but the interior was gutted. Notable features begin right at the bottom, with the neutral gray floor, installed by the same company which laid the floor in the shooting stage at the CBC Broadcast Centre. Robert Mischuk says its ‘smooth and seamless’ coated concrete surface allows maintenance ‘unknown elsewhere.’ Paint from each job is removed each time, he says, so here’s no buildup. Compared to its predecessor, this floor offers double the power service – at 2,400 amps, and can go to 3,000. The studio – in fact, the whole facility – is air-conditioned.

Lighting up

Moving upward, Mischuk says they’ve replaced the inefficient incandescent lighting with ‘color accurate fluorescent light’ featuring a high color rendering index. Since film sets are lit with tungsten halogen lights, says Mischuk, the studio’s lights – in color accuracy and temperature terms – are intended to approximate the conditions you’d find on a film set. Colors painted under the house lights are ‘close to what you’d get under the set lights.’

Lakeshore addressed the issue of studio acoustics by removing everything that was there before and replacing it with new products. Completely renovated ceiling and walls include black fiberglass insulation which is washable and free from exposed particles which have a tendency to float off. They have also incorporated a rigid board acoustical product on the lower portion of the studio. The walls are modular and so are easier to replace than cloth, which, Mischuk points out, manages to get nicked and torn by any number of construction tools, road cases or ladders on a set. The color scheme combines black, neutral gray and beige.

The existing structural steel was cleaned then painted to match the neutral gray of the floor and doors. An engineer-designed structural steel pipe grid was installed, a choice much stronger than a traditional aluminum pipe grid and therefore ‘able to withstand heavy point loads.’ As well, he says, the design makes it easy to strike and rehang.

Towards the bottom meter of the walls, a couple of conveniences are worth noting. Floor-mounted tie-off rails provide a secure point for any attachment such as grid pipe, wood, a free-standing set or big sail needing to be secured.

‘Instead of people connecting sail cross-pulleys with sandbags, they can attach them to the rails,’ Mischuk says. Then you have the ‘sacrificial nailers,’ long narrow pieces of wood, just above and parallel to the floor, which crew can use to, yes, nail things on so that the wall doesn’t get beat up. Sacrificial, of course, because once they’re riddled with nail holes and the like, they can be replaced.

‘Productions are so variable,’ says Eric Mischuk, ‘you pretty well have to make the studio damage-proof to a certain extent.’

In that vein, curtains are in place to protect the entire studio from paint, smoke, special effects, and so on. Electrically powered, the curtains can roll down during a set build, for instance, to protect the studio, and be up or down during a shoot. They extend above and beyond the cyclorama (now 25′ high with one 70′ and one 61′ leg) so free-spirited set painters can miss the edge or top of the cyc and still avoid the walls. With an eye to practicality and easy maintenance that June Cleaver would envy, these curtains are washable and flame-retardant.

Downstairs

Off the south end of the studio, stairs lead down to the r&r/client/ cast service areas with high ceilings, sprightly wallpaper, and color-co-ordinated furnishings. The kitchen affords generous counter space, and tables and chairs are supplied in a room opposite which can accommodate 35-40 people.

In contrast to the fluorescent lighting in the studio, the rooms downstairs are lit with recessed pot lights for an incandescent effect intended to promote creativity. Clients have access to several phones – for access to studio floor and to outside lines – and can view the shoot from a room fitted with a video monitor linked to the video assist monitor on set. A room is set aside for clients, offering a phone, desk and leather couches.

Production managers also have a space of their own, with dedicated phone and fax lines and counter space for laptop computers and the like. Down the hall are the wardrobe, makeup and hair rooms.