Montreal: Montreal’s Cinelande turns 15 this month, and with its anniversary comes a number of changes for the veteran spot shop. A breakthrough in the Toronto market, a new website, a short film contest and a new alternative media company, 401, highlight what has been an eventful period at what executive producer Alex Sliman calls ‘the new Cinelande.’

Visiting the Cinelande studios is a bit of a shocker for those used to spot shops in Toronto and other markets in Canada. The expansive, stylish facility is highlighted by a huge production studio (complete with cyclorama), edit suites and artful black-and-white photographs on the walls.

Before talking about the changes at the company, Sliman takes the time to rewind through 15 years of commercial production – to the roots that made the company successful.

‘Cinelande was formed 15 years ago,’ Sliman begins. ‘It was the work of two individuals – Andre Viau and Pierre Lalande. Andre Viau is still our active president, while, as of two years ago, Lalande is enjoying the retired life.

‘Right from the start, through Pierre and Andre, we’ve always had an incredible roster of directors. Directors that are not necessarily from the commercial world but are more feature talent. Guys like Yves Simoneau, Francois Girard, Bronwen Hughes, just to name a few.’

Along the way, Cinelande has also ‘purchased or entered into joint ventures’ with companies like Kino Films, adding directors such as Erik Canuel, Pierre Gill and Jean-Marc Piche to ‘the Cinelande family.’

Sliman is pleased that ‘some of the directors have been here since the beginning. The average director has been here at least three or four years, except for Denis Villeneuve, who joined us maybe six months ago. Francois Girard has been with us 14 years.’

Cinelande is a firm believer in keeping its directors happy. Not only does this help to keep its roster stable, it also serves ‘to keep clients happy.’

Cinelande’s corporate identity, according to Sliman, has always been that of a service company. ‘Being a production facility, with the talent we have, the goals Andre and Pierre set out 15 years ago were to really serve the clients and make sure that everything was there, not only in terms of day-to-day activities but also in terms of communication,’ he explains.

The ‘new’ Cinelande, while remaining true to the founders’ original vision and ‘the younger generation who have given their input and added to it,’ is ready to adapt to the market.

‘Now, instead of being just a service company, we’re thinking more in terms of delivering a product. We really try to get involved as much as we can with our creative teams. It’s important these days and the economics have changed. The budgets aren’t what they were and the market research imposed on each product is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. Agencies are dealing with these challenges and sometimes, being involved in that product for six months, seven months, they need an outside hand.’

Although Cinelande’s preproduction involvement is new, its continuing role in the post process is not. Says Sliman: ‘In Montreal we have no choice. We deliver a full package. We do business from beginning to end, and post is a part of that package.

Traditionally, Cinelande has concentrated on the local market. Now, with a more global industry, the shop is carefully dipping a toe into waters outside Quebec.

‘We’re starting to spread our wings,’ says Sliman. ‘We’re looking at what’s happening south of the border and we’re very proud that, for the first time, we’re dealing with a very reputable agency out of Toronto.’

The breakthrough job is a national Ford campaign out of Y&R, Toronto that’s scheduled to shoot at the end of May.

‘This is a national campaign from Toronto coming through Montreal, so we’re really, really pleased. Of course, we’re dealing with a Toronto-based director, Jean-Marc Piche.

‘It’s tough, politically, to break those frontiers. So it’s important to establish a security with those potential clients, to show them we can give them the support they need, the talent they need, and the extra service they’re not really used to.’

Sliman addresses a common Montreal complaint that jobs out of Toronto which make it to Montreal often get the kibosh before being completed. ‘That’s one of the biggest admirations I have for Toronto – they really try to defend their market. And that’s one thing I wish Montreal would do a little more of.’

The Cinelande anniversary gala, held April 19, was the perfect event to introduce some of the other changes at the company. The annual birthday bash, which ‘is usually pretty wild,’ hosted ‘at least 1,000 people from the worlds of media, advertising and production.’

Cinelande launched its new website at the party and announced its short film contest, Cent-Vingt Secondes (120 seconds).

The website, spearheaded by producer Frederic Desproges, has the company particularly excited.

‘We’ve put in 1,500 hours just on compressing, just to have the great resolution,’ Desproges begins. ‘It’s worked very well, better than my Trinitron.’

Desproges took great care in compressing the work to be displayed on the site, employing and innovating tricks to get the most from the QuickTime presentation.

Besides the quality of images and video on the site, the Cinelande Web presence will also have a lot of functionality. Agencies will be able to cross-reference directors and product categories and access private screening rooms with a special code. Also, much time and energy was spent posting interviews with Cinelande’s directors so agencies can better get to know a director they are considering for a job.

The short film contest will also be run through the website. ‘The contest is basically four different categories: documentary, fiction, video clip and animation. The whole idea is to stimulate all those who would love to have a chance to express themselves, no matter what media they work in. They send in a little film and it’s screened on our site,’ says Sliman, who hopes the contest will also help the shop ‘gather new talent.’

‘The 120-second format is very close to the 30- and 60-second formats. And maybe, in time, commercials will change and people will ask for more. Maybe we’ll be able to sell certain products on a two-minute format. You never know,’ he says.

The winner of Cent-Vingt Secondes will get a year’s representation with Cinelande and will be decided by a ‘committee of 11 reputable people from different agencies, entertainment companies and the commercial production community.’

‘I’m hoping it will stimulate some kind of hype so that Cinelande, once a year, will always have – I guess you could call it a mini-Sundance,’ Sliman says, cautioning the first year, ‘like anything else new, [may] be a challenge.’

Another new and challenging venture at Cinelande is its new alternative media shop, 401.

‘401 is a company that delivers works on any other medium but film – high-definition, digital and so on,’ says Sliman. ‘This company was formed because we wanted to respond completely differently to what Cinelande was all about. Yes, quality and service are still issues, but being such a small unit we’re trying to give it that little extra edge so that if you have shot something and want to redo it, we can.

‘[At 401] it’s not just commercials. It could be anything. But at the same time it was an active part of the success of our Web launch. They did all the compression at 401.’

Although not exclusively for commercials, 401 was certainly created to position Cinelande for the future of interactive commercial production.

‘We’re challenging the frontiers as much as we can,’ says Sliman. *

Dave Lazar

-www.cinelande.com