It’s a jungle out there in the world of Internet production, and companies in Vancouver, like everywhere else, occasionally lose their way. But the experiences help set them on the right path.

One such company is Stratford Internet Technologies, which specializes in animation, audio/video Web production, systems integration and value-added services. Stratford recently severed ties with SuperVision, a subsidiary 2D animation and webisode production company.

‘We had an issue there where we had to lay off some people, and I guess it just left a bad taste in their mouths and they decided to move on,’ explains Jason

Wozencroft, creative director for Stratford.

The company is in the process of rebuilding its animation department to produce projects internally. Its major animation focus currently is on partner site Avenuezero.com, which will feature an animated version of James Barber, cbc’s Urban Peasant, giving culinary and lifestyle tips in Flash movies aimed at the Gen-X market.

Wozencroft actually sees the Internet business as booming to some degree.

‘It’s a niche market and there are big-name clients to go after, such as Shockwave and Icebox,’ he says. ‘Those types of clients pay well, but it’s an industry with a lot of competition.’

Although the prime selling point of the Internet has always been that it is supposed to bring the world closer together, Wozencroft believes the biggest hurdle for companies remains being geographically removed from their clients.

‘People automatically think it’s not such a big deal – we’re just dealing with electronic files, we can send them back and forth,’ he begins. ‘But clients always need to feel they’re in touch with what’s going on, and they want to feel like they’re in the room with you. We’ve come to learn that we can work for a client in New York, but we have to be in touch in a physical presence there or have them come here on a constant basis.’

An alternative business model to repurposing a client’s content for the Internet would be for a company to produce its own content for its own entertainment site, but Wozencroft explains that’s both a huge process and a major investment, and banner ads don’t offer the same payoff as fee-for-service. Most companies begin by offering creative services and then later branch out into content creation.

One company working on the levels of both linear content production and interactivity is Crossroads Productions, which began four years ago exclusively as a video production shop.

‘We got out of film school and the thought of holding a ‘stop’ sign four blocks from a film set wasn’t too appealing,’ says Crossroads producer Denis Paquette. ‘So we decided the only way we’ll become independent producers of our own content is if we start our own company – it’s the fastest way of achieving it.’

Crossroads, whose services are aimed principally at advertising and corporate communications, recently demonstrated its capabilities in both analog and digital forms by winning a pair of international Silver Summit Awards. One was for IV Positive, a documentary about hiv and injection drug use, and the other for an interactive promotional cd-rom developed for Vancouver-based Q-Test Technologies.

Under one roof Crossroads has assembled film and video creatives, production capability and in-house post as well as interactive programmers, 3D animators, visual effects artists and a full-time composer/audio designer.

‘The message we’re bringing to our clients is ‘We don’t just do videos or don’t just do cd-roms or Web content – we do all of the above,’ ‘ Paquette says. ‘The relationship we shoot for with our more entrenched clients is ‘We basically own the whole enterprise.’ ‘

The good ol’ boob tube

While some production companies operate democratically on various platforms, others venture online while retaining their focus on more traditional media.

Such is the case with Atomic Cartoons. The brevity of most cartoons makes them very Internet-friendly, but the ambitions of the company, which works fee-for-service in addition to creating its own content, lie primarily with tv broadcast. Its current production slate includes self-originated concoctions Flippo & the Sea Nymphs and Dog in a Box with 2 Wheels, a copro with Honkworm International which is available on the latter’s site.

There are a couple of banner ads on the Atomic website, but the site exists more to promote the company’s work than to generate revenue in and of itself.

‘I think you’ll find this with most [companies] – the Internet isn’t offering a lot of revenue right now,’ observes Samantha Daley, executive producer at Atomic. ‘If you want to make any money, you do need to do it out of syndication or out of service work.’

Although there are perceived threats that the Internet is going to take a lot of eyeballs away from tv sets, Atomic’s site is in large part about presenting new character ideas that might get picked up and expanded into programs for tv.

‘It’s a really good platform for artists to get their stuff seen,’ Daley says. ‘And then somebody like Warner Bros. or The Cartoon Network might say, ‘Hey, we really like this idea, let’s do something with it.’ ‘ *

-www.stratfordinternet.com

-www.avenuezero.com

-www.crossroadsproductions.com

-www.atomiccartoons.com

-www.honkworm.com