comm.bat films is the new entity formed via the hyperlink of associates at Damast Gordon and Associates and Derek Van Lint and Associates. Gauging by the associated companies’ (decade-old dvla held 50% of three-and-a-half-year-old dgc) 1995 shoot-day activity, the combined volume would put comm.bat in the number five slot in the Canadian market.

Partners in comm.bat are: director/dop Derek Vanlint as ceo; Humphrey Carter, president; Mark Bisson, vp, exec producer; Michael Wray, head of production; Susi Patterson, vp, director of marketing and international sales; and director/cameraman Steve Gordon as visual puzzle solver.

The gutsy name, designed to appear in icon format, is geared to communicating with the new media generation, and signals a new direction for the company ­ experimentation.

Senior art director Gary Holme and writer Tom Goudie of TBWA/ Chiat Day were working with Gordon on a TD Bank pool at the time when the six partners were wrestling over a name. In order to circumvent an infinite deadlock, Holme and Goudie were consulted, and duly provided the dingbat idea.

The dictionary defines film as the use of pictures in place of words, so the graphic iconography with a production symbol lexicon was adopted (Chiat’s Stephanie Owens did the design).

A verbal translation was also needed ­ it’s time-consuming to answer the phone ‘picture of two-headed dog, binoculars, one-eyed light bulb reading a book, tv set, Films’ ­ so comm.bat was arrived at.

While the name is very wired and the company will be positioned to take advantage of new ad opportunities, Vanlint et al won’t be shredding the Net, nor do plans include a cd Carter division; the area of exploration will be mining new looks out of traditional production techniques, with an emphasis on mentoring new talent within the camera department as well as directorial.

Gordon explains the change came about when they were looking at the structure of the company, wondering ‘how can we better meet the changing demands of the market.’

Great facilities ­ cameras, lighting equipment, studio space plus director/dop talent ­ were identified as assets not being used to the max.

Rather than letting idle equipment sit in the dark, Gordon, accustomed to spending a lot of time experimenting, wanted to put an emphasis on using different film stocks, tinkering with lensing, color baths and processing techniques as part of the daily toil, a common practice among his South African compatriots. ‘People don’t do enough of it in this country.’

‘We want to be the people seen in cinematography as coming up with new techniques, pushing the envelope,’ says Patterson.

The checking-out-different-techniques approach was used on the new td pool, for which Gordon spent a day in the studio (sans bill to client) to find a way to create some abstract looks in order to show coins in a new way.

Interesting camera moves around the coins and experiments with mercury ensued. A negative cutout of the td logo was filled with mercury then drained out to add movement, culminating in a liquid super.

Gordon says the original intent of the campaign was to see notes anew, getting into the macroness of notes: ‘There’s so much art within.’

Post note-chill, the same scrutiny was brought to bear on the coins. Gordon brings them to the screen as though his camera was a helicopter traversing their surface. Duncan Bruce was creative director, Bette Minott produced, David Hicks of Panic & Bob edited, and Rosnick MacKinnon did the music on the two-spots-that-became-five.

While this pool was racking-focus-intensive, the film and processing tests were not applied. But the point of comm.bat is that flexibility is available.

‘We are changing,’ sums up Gordon, ‘and this is what it is.’ Harking back to the new name, Gordon points out that the first communication was done in hieroglyphics, and that the new direction and philosophy ­ ‘Using what I know to make it exciting to look at’ ­ isn’t going to be an overnight metamorphosis. ‘It’s an investment.’

And one that has already paid off for those working over the years with Vanlint, who in the British mentoring tradition has had two camera assistants work their way up to the cameraman ranks recently.

The home page will be at (the company formerly known as) dvla’s newly renovated digs, expected to be ready by the end of February.

The change comes after the exit of two directors, Steve Thursby, who went agency side, and dga’s Boris Damast, who moved to Ph’enix a year ago where he is increasingly occupied. Although Damast is no longer a partner, he will be repped by his former associates, and had a 7-Up spot out of Argentina lined up prior to the official startup of comm.bat, which is Jan. 29.

The well-rounded talent roster includes: Paul Cade, Laura Belsey, Michael Buckley, Miles Goodall, Bob Gordon, Rachael Harms, Dan Izzard, Jeff Lovinger, Robert Maya, Gary Noren, Jean Marc Piche, Tim Pike, Michael Rowles, Chris Sanderson, David Storey and Gary Weis, plus the Harmony Films and Palomar Pictures lineup.

As to picking up new talent, Patterson is looking to add names to the spring.bats (working title) roster currently headlining Andrew Watt. The division devoted to developing new talent is slated for a spring launch.