As the level of Canadian production increases in volume and sophistication, the Canadian production and post scene has, like an attractive and sonorous onion, created layers of talent to support every audio and visual requirement.

Rising behind the established stars of the audio production, audio post and post-production sectors, is a field of up-and-coming-talents, the next generation who bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to commercial, feature and tv projects.

Many of the rising stars in sound and video editing emerged together with digital technology; with early schooling in traditional film methods, they were present at the rise of nonlinear editing and grew along with digital developments. They bring a variety of artistic experiences and technical acumen to their projects and are now hitting their stride, tackling some high-profile Canadian and u.s.-based projects.

In this report, a sample of some of the ascendant names on the audio and visual firmament discuss some of their recent projects, where they come from, and where they and the industry are going.

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Chris Parkins is in the midst of his biggest editing challenge to date – working against tight deadlines, he is scrutinizing 70,000 feet of footage to pull together a pool of spots for the high-profile AT&T Canada launch through Young and Rubicam.

‘The schedule has been quick, very quick,’ he says, taking some time out from his day-long stint in the editing room at Toronto’s Flashcut. ‘The first spot was a 60. I had a few days to cut, but there was so much incredible footage to go through I had to absorb it, make sense of it all.’

But Flashcut’s pride and joy, brought up by the post house fresh from Sheridan College’s film and tv media arts program, is calm despite the intense pressure.

‘You have to take it one step at a time and not get overwhelmed by it all,’ are his words of wisdom, learned after six hectic years in the business.

Parkins took his first steps in the commercial world back in 1990 as a projectionist at Flashback, the revision division of Flashcut. Soon after, he cut his editorial teeth as an assistant to Norman Odell.

Parkins says the experience working on revisions was invaluable. ‘That was where I made contacts with agencies and directors and made the step a year later into cutting full time at Flashcut.’

It’s tough for young, new editors to gain credibility in the business, he says. ‘It was a slow process, getting people to trust me. Everyone has worked with the heavy hitters and I had to persuade people to give me a shot.’

That didn’t take Parkins long to do. He quickly gained a reputation for a creative quirkiness that enabled him to catch the memorable and less predictable moments in a director’s footage. Never one to play it safe editorially, Parkins seeks to surprise directors and agencies with his daring cuts.

‘When they gave me footage I would say, `Let’s try something completely different’ and let my creativity go to work. I would do some weird kind of cutting or whatever and when the agency saw it they would just say `Wow.’ ‘

That was a step in the door in terms of turning the heads of directors and agency execs. ‘Agencies started recommending I work on their projects and the directors would say, `I don’t know this guy but hey, why not, if you say he’s good then I’ll give him a shot.’ ‘

The strategy has worked well for Parkins. In fact, one of his first jobs, a Crispy Crunch campaign, had the late Richard Radke ogling it with amazement.

‘They were looking for something quite edgy and that’s the stuff I like doing, sort of flashcutty, free-form stuff, where there really isn’t a script,’ says Parkins. ‘I was able to go wherever I wanted with it and that was great. It was a campaign of four spots and each character had a running thought in their head about what the chocolate bar meant to them. I used a lot of jump cutting and disjointed pieces, nothing was literal, it was all over the place.’

Flashcut gm Mary Beth Odell recalls they were all impressed watching Parkins’ stream-of-consciousness style and bold originality develop.

‘He doesn’t cut in a predictable way, he finds moments that are slightly off, makes footage more memorable than it was intended to be,’ she says.

Parkins’ high-energy, quick-paced style quickly led to work on high-profile jobs for Pears, Bell Mobility, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Eat-More, McDonald’s and a Dove spot, which won awards at the Bessies and Cannes.

Risk-taking and a touch of the unexpected is the stamp of Parkins’ editorial approach. ‘I like to surprise the agency or the director. I try to do things differently in terms of cutting.’

This is why he is excited about the latest trends in commercials which offer opportunities to explore fast-cutting styles and experiment with adventurous creative. ‘There is a lot of quick-cut stuff happening, attention-grabbing techniques, floating type and using different formats – 16mm, 35mm, Super 8, black-and-white, scratched-up film,’ he says. ‘These spots allow you to break out of the mold.’

The influx of new technology sweeping through the post world is also keeping Parkins on his toes. Even this early in his career, he has seen major technological changes in the editing room.

‘When I first started,’ he says, ‘the Steenbecks were here, they were just finishing up with them and getting into cutting on tape analog.’

He recalls assisting a cutter on the old film-based system. ‘It fascinated me, I thought wow this looks challenging. You have this pile of footage and you have to basically lace it up and go through it over and over. It looked a little scary.’

Soon after his arrival, Flashcut abandoned tape and brought in Lightworks nonlinear editing equipment. ‘There was a bit of resistance from us when it first came in,’ admits Parkins, who has training and experience working with tape, but after a few tries on Lightworks Parkins was won over and shook off his love affair with tape.

‘At first I thought what is this, but once I tried it I realized, `Oh my God, this is the way to go.’ ‘

Going from cutting tape to Lightworks, Parkins found his experimental flair flourished. ‘On tape I had to go back and rebuild the whole spot to make changes. It was very time consuming. The nonlinear system lets me instantaneously move things around, be more creative.’

But keeping up to date with the latest technology is also time-consuming. ‘There is a lot of new gear coming out and the editors have to be on top of it,’ Parkins says, adding he would like to work on more effects-driven spots and sharpen his skills on Flame and Inferno.

He had the chance a while ago to do a spec job for comm.bat films on Flame. ‘It was my first time working with it and it was a real learning curve for me,’ he says, admitting, ‘I haven’t seen its full capabilities, I know it can do so much more.’

‘It will be interesting to see where it is going to go,’ he muses. ‘Commercials have changed in the last 10 years, they are getting higher end. The standards have risen, more money is being piled in.’

But Parkins says this high-power equipment can only take an editor so far. ‘You can have all the technology you want but it basically boils down to the person working the gear, whether you are a good cutter and have a good eye for what works. It’s a certain sense, a feel.’

Talk of good editing reminds Parkins of the AT&T Canada pool that he should get back too. So it’s back to the cutting room for Parkins, who admits he isn’t happy with an edit until he has carefully gone over it countless times for fine-tuning.

‘Sometimes when I look at a cut I know there’s something not right. I can’t really explain it, it just bugs me,’ he says. ‘So I just keep working at it, playing with the footage, fiddling with the cut until something sparks. I guess I’m just a perfectionist.’