*Gajdecki lands CBS mega miniseries

The Vancouver office of Gajdecki Visual Effects is at work on projects including On Guard, an IMAX film for Singapore Military, and Spooky House, an independent feature shooting in Victoria and Vancouver and starring Ben Kingsley.

Series work includes final episodes of season two of MGM Worldwide series Stargate SG-1. John Gajdecki is leaving the show as visual effects supervisor after this season; James Tichenor will stay for one more year at least. Replacing Gajdecki on Stargate is Bill Choi, currently working on Fireworks Entertainment series Nikita, who will relocate to Vancouver from Toronto.

Also in the house is Alliance Atlantis series Total Recall (the pilot airs in January); Shavick Entertainment’s The Addams Family; Beyond the Bermuda Triangle, shooting in Mexico; and five Credo Entertainment/Future Films sci-fi MOWs shooting in Winnipeg, with Bruce Turner and Dave Axford supervising.

Other projects include Summer’s End, an MOW from Dufferin Gate starring James Earl Jones, and Stephen King’s Storm of the Century for ABC; Night World, a series of MOWs from UPN/AAC shooting in Luxemburg.

Gajdecki is off to Prague to begin work on AAC’s Joan of Arc for CBS. Tom Turnbull is supervising.

*Brat invades C.O.R.E.

Features in production at C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures include Universal feature New Jersey Turnpikes and The Three Hundred & Ninety First, a Canadian Film Centre Feature Film Project.

TV series action includes Brats of the Lost Nebula (Decode/ Henson/Wandering Monkey), Black Harbour (Fogbound Films/ Topsail Entertainment) and Alliance Atlantis series Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict and Psi Factor.

The shop is also working on MOWs including Sea People (Dufferine Gate) and Dead Aviators (Accent Entertainment/ Temple Street Productions) as well as broadcast design jobs for TMN-The Movie Network and Family Channel.

*Anne at Command Post

Command Post/TOYBOX is handling on-set supervision of green-screen and plate photography shooting as well as compositing and matte painting for Sullivan Entertainment miniseries Anne of Green Gables and MOW Ambrose.

The shop is also working on computer graphics for Salter Street’s Lexx series, and has created the computer model of the key two-headed creature and other effects for AAC feature eXistenZ. Effects are also being done for Superstar.

*Max-mizing Rainmaker talent

Vancouver’s Rainmaker recently completed effects work on Max Q, a Jerry Bruckheimer Productions/Touchstone Television TV movie that aired last week on ABC. Rainmaker provided all effects services for the space-shuttle-in-distress drama.

Key personnel included supervisor Gary Gutierrez and lead animators Trevor Cawood and Winston Helgason. Compositing, led by senior compositor Brian Moylan, was handled by artists in the company’s Vancouver and Burbank, California facilities. Ken Hayward created and coordinated the show’s many complex video playback sequences.

The shop is also providing visual effects services for three Vidatron Entertainment series – First Wave, Dead Man’s Gun and So Weird. Visual effects supervisors are Lee Wilson and Mark Varisco.

The shop recently complete opening title sequences for the three shows, with Halbo van der Klaauw, Stephen Pepper and Mark Varisco the principal artists.

The facility is handling ongoing effects assignments for The Crow – Stairway to Heaven (Crescent Entertainment), Poltergeist and Stargate SG-1 (MGM Worldwide), Millennium (Twentieth Television) and Highlander – The Raven (Firecorp Productions).