Full-service audio and video post house Magnetic North has a new roommate, as Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON F/X studio Keyframe Digital opened a satellite office in Mag North’s Toronto facility on Oct. 1.

The two companies forged a relationship a year ago, performing F/X work on Fireworks Entertainment’s Mutant X series. Other projects on which they have collaborated include the Harrison Ford sub feature K-19: The Widowmaker, the USA Network series Monk and Adventure Inc. for Fireworks and Tribune Entertainment.

‘We share a common goal with Magnetic North – to service our existing clientele and build on new relationships,’ says Clint Green, copartner and owner of Keyframe with Darren Cranford. ‘It was an obvious choice to establish our Toronto presence with them.’

Keyframe, specializing in 3D-character animation and F/X for films, series, MOWs and games, was founded in 1997 and presently employs more than 20 staff. As for Mag North, it has been a time of restructuring over the past year and a half, a time which has seen company president Bruce Grant, backed by silent partners, assume ownership of the shop from Rogers Communications. Keyframe’s staff will be an add-on to Mag North’s current F/X team.

‘We will have a much larger group of talented individuals to draw upon,’ says Grant. ‘Although our companies are not mutually exclusive, we are sure that we can bring much more of a comprehensive package to the table to help our clients in these fiscally difficult times.’

-www.magpost.com

-www.keyframe.com

Lightworks adds new Touch

Lightworks, the Montreal-headquartered editing manufacturer owned by the Fairlight group, has begun shipping its latest nonlinear system, the Lightworks Touch. Going up against the dominant Avid systems is certainly a daunting task, but Lightworks has successfully built a reputation for the ergonomic design of its consoles and its editor-friendly interfaces.

Touch joins the Classic Lightworks Turbo and Heavyworks product family, offering new design, and, according to the manufacturer, greater speed. It allows instant access to material on the timeline, whether playing forwards or backwards, shuttling or jogging. Editors are able to trim whichever tracks they want whenever they want them. Touch’s streamlined interface displays only those tools related to the task at hand, bypassing the complication of drop-down menus and other clutter. The system is also flexible in terms of desktop and workspace configuration.

Among the features already using Touch is Johnny English, a spoof spy thriller starring Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and John Malkovich billed as the biggest-budget U.K. movie of the year at £40 million. The production is employing two Touch systems: the first is for editor Robin Sales to perform picture cutting, and the second allows assistant editor Jonathan Sales to digitize material, compile the EDL and use Touch’s realtime F/X tool for the film’s many chroma-key and resizing F/X.

Other features that have taken on the new system include the U.K. film Leo, starring Joseph Fiennes, and Hollywood’s Bruce Almighty, featuring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston.

-www.lwks.com