Spirits, in all their various manifestations, will certainly abound as Toronto’s Command Post and Transfer marks its 10th anniversary in the post-production game this month. But despite its aptitude for throwing a reasonable wing-ding, that’s not the only way the shop is marking the milestone.

Over the past month, Command Post, together with its post divisions Medallion pfa and Manta Eastern Sound, has invested in a significant technological and human resource expansion; rounding out its services as well as its philosophy, with the aim of becoming an all-round post effects and animation source and production partner.

From the day in February 1987 when the first spot for Chrysler came into the shop through bbdo, Command Post has expanded to become arguably the biggest post player in Canada. That day the shop brought the latest in gear – an Ampex Century switcher and an Ace editor with two channels of ado – to a job which required little more than a simple edit and sent away its first satisfied customer.

From a nine-person, commercial-only shop, the operation expanded to other services and formats, buying the longer format-oriented pfa lab in 1988, Medallion commercial lab in 1991, and assuming full ownership of Manta Eastern Sound in 1993 following a merger of the two shops two years earlier.

Integrated approach

Now, evolving with the increasing sophistication of the industry, the company is offering a more integrated approach to commercial, feature film and tv work. With three Quantel Henry suites and a Quantel Domino film system, which was added in late 1995, the facility was set up to handle a high volume of commercial work as well as position itself for feature film and cinema spots.

At the end of January, the Spirit Datacine, acquired in December, had its first official sessions. Command Post partner Andy Sykes says the box represents a ‘whole new world’ of telecine, offering capabilities to support 16:9 high-definition image capture and perfection in detail.

New York rates for the Spirit run to us$2,000 per hour; Sykes says Command Post will offer its services for $1,200 per hour to start.

With the injection of new expertise, including a visual effects supervisor, comes an expansion of services offered by the facility, increased integration of the company’s divisions, and a stronger presence in the effects process from the time a project is a spark traveling along a producer or writer’s neural pathways.

The Box

The facility is now one of few post shops to offer Quantel Graphics Paintbox, which allows stills from tv campaigns to be brought to print resolution and manipulated for output to any print or out-of-home medium.

The Box is also used in long-form film work. For a recent film project, a Pebblehut Productions mow called First Do No Harm with Meryl Streep, a frame was sent via fiber line from Medallion to the Box, graphically manipulated, up-resed and sent to a disc for use in a presentation.

Command Post recently brought Dale Codling from Hong Kong’s Centro Digital Pictures to run the Paintbox division. Codling has a 15-year background in retouching, compositing and design on the international ad front, and like many at his new shop, fancies himself something of a guitarist.

Sykes says recent initiatives are designed to allow the shop greater input in projects: direct involvement with agencies at the storyboard stage as well as full involvement with feature projects.

The moves will also bolster 3D animation/visual effects capabilities and integrate them with the shop’s other, better known fields of endeavor.

Command Post has recently been involved in 3D animation and compositing work for Salter Street’s effects-heavy Lexx sci-fi series as well as work on the Miramax feature Mimic (Toronto’s C.O.R. E. Digital Pictures is also working on the two projects).

The shop has added visual effects supervisor Tony Willis to oversee film and commercial effects as well as producer Emily Wong, who has worked with Willis for several years.

In addition, Tom Mae has joined Command Post as executive producer, heading up the animation and effects department, which recently expanded by eight people. Mae acknowledges the huge hardware and software capabilities at the facility and the added benefits of having a staff comprised of about 10% engineers.

Mae says the facility is turning out a high level of animation work for commercials as well as long format, with the efforts of Johnathan Gibson, visual effects supervisor on long-form projects, and producer Deborah Conway.

He also cites the varied types of animation produced and the quality of staff animators including Jim Rutherford, Scott McCrae and Jaime Pinto.

Efforts on a recent theater spot for Jaguar, directed by Howard Alstad out of Avion, which features a number of different elements including a unique color film transfer, multilayer compositing, matte painting and 2D and 3D animation seamlessly combined, demonstrates the comprehensive skills found at the shop, adds Mae.

Willis, a practical effects specialist brought on to support the commercial and long-form production community, says he will spend the next few months scoping out the various markets to determine how they can best be served and map out future directions for Command Post.

The tome-like resume of the u.k.-born effects maven features extensive camera and motion-control work as well as expertise in most other areas of special effects post and animation for an endless list of major commercials and films. Willis worked as effects cameraman at Geoff Axtell in London and most recently the mammoth Centro, which had the third Quantel Domino system in the world.

Willis’ role is to provide consultations to agencies and film producers, to offer not only equipment solutions but ways of thinking about how to approach the creation of effects and ensure the shooting process is efficient and effects-friendly.

‘We hope to link these guys properly with the digital world we live in,’ says Willis. He says creative input from the idea stage means flexibility in the technical approach along with potential cost savings.

‘When we’re on set we can make better decisions for the client,’ says Willis. ‘And we have a huge backing behind us with Command Post; a huge number of services and team support that we can apply to a project.’

Willis has already been on set for local commercial shoots and has consulted during the initial stages of potential feature shoots.

With international experience, Willis says he has learned a myriad of different ways of approaching effects, and says it is important for options to be presented early in the process; fix it in post is not a worthwhile option.

As the tv market grows, providing increased mow work, opportunities increase for every kind of effects work, and Sykes says Command Post has positioned itself to step up its effects output, targeting feature films. He also cites the growing need for talent and laments the mass exodus of young animators to Hollywood to ‘chase the mouse.’

While u.s. dollars may be a draw, he says the level of work and opportunities for artistic evolution are often far greater at home. ‘I wish they would stay here,’ he says. ‘The opportunities for growth are enormous.’