While that oxymoronic standby ‘less is more’ has proven sporadically true at best over its long life, in the post-production world the adage is gaining some respect. Born of the evolution of digital technology and the constant search for time and cost-saving means of completing a project, smaller gear and a streamlined process are being applied to more jobs at every level.

And as more is done with less, the universe of audio and video post is also contracting, with not only smaller gear and a ‘contracted equipment set’ but convergence of talent. With digital nonlinear post, the job descriptions of audio and video post people as well as engineering and post become blurred. At the same time, talent is now working on traditional as well as digital equipment and methods, both new talent schooled in both worlds and existing talent who have devoted considerable effort to making the leap.

The combination of that intermingling of talent and the expansion of high-level capabilities over a larger equipment base has been, once again, to distill the importance of the human equation; a more level equipment field emphasizes the importance of raw talent and quality from the beginning to the end of the production process.

In the following report, new stars and established players discuss shrinkage, digital dexterity and the evolution of the production and post process.

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He arrives at the Mad Dog Digital office early, still tired from the late night at school, switches on his computer and logs in to the Flame users news group to find 20 different letters from frustrated Flame artists around the world seeking solutions on everything from low-technology problems to highly complex questions; lucky for them, 21-year-old Aaron Weintraub often has answers.

‘A few days ago there was a question that not even Discreet Logic could answer and Aaron had an answer: when everybody tried it it worked,’ says Sylvain Taillon president of Toronto’s Mad Dog. ‘He’s becoming a player on the global scene.’

In the process of completing his third year of film school at York University, Weintraub is training to be a part of a new wave of filmmakers who are digitally literate and knowledgeable about the newest technologies while also knowing about the art of filmmaking, storytelling, directing, lighting and shooting.

Making the switch from the high-tech Avid, which he uses during the days he spends at Mad Dog, to the no-tech old-style way of cutting film used at school is a frustrating transition for Weintraub, but despite his most fortunate employment situation, he intends to finish what he started at York. As he says, ‘there is a foundation of theory that never really changes,’ and that is what keeps him there.

‘I realize that doing animation requires a lot of the same skill from classical film like storytelling, composition, the art of motion and how things move in the frame. So, I figured film school would be the best place for me.’

Weintraub’s relationship with Mad Dog is the result of a combination of talent, creativity, persistence and a high school field trip to TOPIX Computer Graphics and Animation when he was 17.

Without any formal training or high-tech equipment, Weintraub did some of his own animation using basic software and a pc at school. Making the most of the window of opportunity that he saw in front of him, he gave Taillon and the rest of the Mad Dog crew a demonstration of his capabilities.

According to Taillon they were all very impressed with what he had produced, and when it came time for the technologically talented teen to find a field placement job, they were enthusiastic about having him on their team.

‘When he first came to work with us he was not a sophisticated artist, he was still very raw, but we all recognized a lot of talent and a lot of intelligence,’ says Taillon. ‘We can take credit for a lot of his progress while he can take credit for taking the ball and rolling with it. We’ve created opportunities for him more than acted as teachers.’

Although he must still develop artistically to reach the caliber of Mad Dog’s full-time senior artists Susan Armstrong and James Cooper, technologically he is extremely capable and has always been a resource for their team when it comes to complex, tightly scheduled projects.

And while Mad Dog has provided this 21-year-old with the opportunity to learn first-hand, the Mad Dog crew is learning a thing or two from him as well.

‘He can play with the software at a high level and he can teach a lot of people a lot,’ says Taillon. ‘We’ve played a part in his development and he is helping us out as well.’

Weintraub got his first shot at Mad Dog when MuchMusic creative director Michael Heydon called looking for someone to put together an opening with graphics and other elements for the service’s Snow Job coverage.

With everyone else busy on other jobs, Taillon mentioned that no one, except for this student, was available, and with Heydon’s go ahead they decided to give the ambitious young man a shot.

‘We talked a little about creative direction and approaches, gave him the logo elements and told him to play with it for a few days and then we’d get together with the creative director, make some comments and see where that took us,’ explains Taillon.

Only three days later Weintraub had finished a piece of animation that thrilled and surprised everyone, including Heydon, who put it on air just as Weintraub had designed it.

‘We were expecting to spend two weeks on it and we were all impressed that he had it done in only three days,’ Taillon says. ‘We all turned around and said, `Wow, this kid is bright.’ ‘

When Taillon and his partner Chris Wallace started the Mad Dog division of topix in 1995, they knew for certain that they wanted Weintraub to be a part of it in whatever capacity he could as his ability to learn new software at a remarkable speed as well as find bugs and de-bug systems has made him an important player on whom they often rely.

‘I started on the Flint, I was self-taught; just using it I figured out how it worked,’ explains Weintraub. ‘We got this job that was longer than just a spot which required a lot of Flint stuff and they needed someone that they could just put on it for a few months so it was perfect for me.’

Now, having progressed to the Flame, he is involved in almost everything that comes out of Mad Dog such as the Olympics spots they did for Panasonic which are receiving award-winning recognition worldwide, and he was one of the artists on a recent music video for David Bowie.

‘He is probably the only film school director who does Flame digital special effects on his movies,’ Taillon says. ‘He’s using tools that James Cameron used on Terminator.’

As far as his future is concerned, the 21-year-old technical whiz kid says that because of where he is and what he’s doing he hasn’t put much thought into what lies ahead, and for now he would just like to keep on doing what he’s doing.

‘I would like to make films,’ he says, ‘but I want it to be a combination of all this stuff. I would like to have my hands in every aspect of creating a project.’

So while George Lucas may have been the original filmmaker to set the digital precedent, there is a new generation of technologically brilliant, young, creative minds emerging and presently, here in Toronto, Aaron Weintraub is in the vanguard.