Tucked away near Toronto’s infamous Cherry Beach lies Performance Solutions, a physical effects house, prototyping shop and manufacturer of special effects equipment. With so much diverse activity at the company, creating physical effects for spot clients can keep things interesting for president Jordan Craig and his crew of effects technicians.

‘We’d done [spots] for quite a few years, occasionally. And it’s been in the last two and a half years that we’ve really targeted them,’ Craig begins. ‘It was sort of an interesting change for us. The commercials seem to have a reasonable amount of budget. And when you go into tv series and movies, it’s a lot of the same thing all the time.’

Craig says commercials have ‘more variety. You sort of get to invent something new every week.’

However, he understands that commercials can be a handful. ‘The only thing that would make it easier would be the time frame. In commercials, I don’t think you’re going to change that. Most of our jobs we get a week before they shoot. That’s the difference between a film, an mow or a series. You have no prep time at all [on spot jobs]. Commercials have the budget and don’t seem to be scared away by cost, but time is something you can’t buy.’

Although Craig likes the thrill of the high-turnover, short-deadline jobs, he’s aware not everyone agrees. ‘Some of the guys in the shop would rather work on the tv series or mows. I like the commercials because it’s very hectic and very intense, but it’s only a one-week period. So you’re done it.’

When Performance Solutions opened its doors in 1988, the ‘mechanics and everything’ behind physical effects were ‘much the same.’ According to Craig, it is the great advancements in post-production that have most changed how the company works.

‘Most of the theories go back hundreds of years – how to pump water, things like that. The only thing that’s changed is that there’s a lot more interaction with post. Whereas before we would shoot the actual effect in camera, which we still do, now we’ll shoot an element,’ Craig explains.

Performance Solutions spot clients include Sunlight and Cheer, but its business goes well beyond commercials. Long form? Yes. But look further. Besides manufacturing its own line of fans and smoke machines that it markets at trade shows, the company has also ‘diversified into theme parks,’ recently installing gigantic flame-throwers in a theme park in Korea. It is also installing flying systems and special effects systems in a ‘huge nightclub in Cancun.’

Despite the wild projects, Craig says the company’s ‘bread and butter is generally the basic stuff. Like environmental elements – snow, wind, rain. Things like pyrotechnics.’ It also manufactures breakaway glass, which it ships all over the world. Performance Solutions does animatronics as well, having ‘made full-sized gorilla suits for Imax.’

In most instances, the company’s large studio allows it to do most things on site. However, Craig explains, ‘there’s some things we won’t do. If it’s a huge metal fabrication, we might send it out. But we have lathes, welding machines – all the sorts of things to do what we need to do.’ •