What started out as Midcanada Video Services in 1977, a film lab that processed cbc local news, has flourished into Midcan Production Services, Manitoba’s most vertically integrated technical service and post-production facility.

From shooting, post and audio mix to graphics and animation, online editing, and duplicating, Winnipeg-based Midcan endeavors to supply all post-production services and the most updated technology under one roof.

‘Everything is done here to complete a project,’ says founder Wayne Sheldon. ‘Even some of the private production companies that have in-house cameras and edit suites to do 80% of the work come to us for services that may be too costly for them to do on their own, like animation or closed captioning,’ adds Sheldon, who prides himself on keeping pace with ever-expanding technologies.

Midcan has grown more in the past five years than it had in all the 18 years prior, as it has invested more than $1 million in new gear and improvements. Among recent additions, such as sx, lipstick cameras and the upgrading of its D-Beta and Avid suites, last December, Midcan became the first company in Canada to install a Pro Control mixer in its Pro Tools Digidesign mixing suite, making it possible to mix up to 128 tracks. It is also in the midst of developing programs to transfer video to dvd.

‘There’s a lot of competition since nonlinear editing came in about five years ago. Whereas before that, outside of the tv stations, we had the only online editing suites in town, now there’s likely 10 or 12 out there [in Manitoba] because people can set up editing suites in their rec rooms and do broadcast quality programming,’ says Sheldon.

In spite of the fact that demand is increasing with the licensing of all the new specialty channels and quality is sharpening with advancing technology, Sheldon says, ‘more competition means fewer dollars for the productions now than. . . five years ago.’

In response to the current production climate, Midcan has been getting increasingly involved in other areas of production.

‘We’ve had to change somewhat to keep the wheels turning in the back room here, so we’re getting into partnerships and working with people developing series,’ says Sheldon.

Recently, Midcan joined with Meeches Video of Winnipeg to form Eagle Vision, which is producing the eighth season (26 half-hours) of the aboriginal magazine series Sharing Circle for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

Also, under the company name Finish Line Productions, it just completed PanAmania, a 10-part series for cbc leading up to this year’s Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg.

Other projects include the shooting and post of the pbs series the Router Workshop, 26 half-hours, produced by Winnipeg-based Woodgrain Productions; Breakfast All Day, a half-hour dramatic comedy pilot; and Footloose: In Palau, a one-hour pilot for a scuba/travel series.

Among projects in development, Midcan is partnering with Bundy Productions and GFT/Paquin to produce 26 half-hours of (Something’s fishy at) Camp Wiganishie, a musical/ variety series. It is working with Dennis Foon on Chasing the Money, a half-hour docudrama on teenage gambling; and most fitting, it is putting together 13 half-hours of Hi-Fi Guys, a consumer electronics information series.