Post-production giant Command Post & Transfer is consolidating most of its Toronto divisions under one roof and doing some rebranding.

The video and audio post shop is closing its Toybox (F/X) location on John Street and moving that part of its business into its Manta DSP audio and video location at 49 Ontario Street. Command took over that space in 2001 when it purchased the assets of former post shop DAVE.

The Command brain trust wants to avoid future confusion about its various divisions and so will now operate all its video and audio operations (including Manta DSP and parts of Medallion/PFA) under the Toybox banner. The execs believe that name gets across the company’s interest in cutting-edge technology as well as a fun sense of creativity.

Meanwhile, Command will retain its film lab at the old 111 Peter Street facility. That office, previously under the Medallion/PFA mantle, will now conduct business as alphacine Toronto. (Command also has an alphacine location in Vancouver.)

Toybox is assuming all but the third floor of the seven-story Ontario Street address, and is in the process of massive renovation and expansion. The company wants to ensure that all this change does not interrupt workflow, so everything will proceed in stages. It expects the F/X division to be settled in this month, with the rest of the staff joining by late November. Different departments will be assigned to specific floors in the building.

Command believes that putting all its video and audio business under one roof will enable the one-stop shop to execute synergies among its divisions with greater efficiency, especially for long-form clients.

‘We now have an opportunity to run down the hall to the mix theatre and then go back upstairs to the visual F/X and do that,’ says Andy Sykes, Command executive VP. ‘And to that end, a lot of our clients [from out of town] are going to be taking small offices on some of the floors.’

Expansion at Toybox includes the acquisition of a Cintel C-Reality DSX Scanner, a film-to-tape system that offers non-TV applications as well. The box will anchor the office’s seventh floor, which Sykes sees as particularly attractive to the commercial sector. The shop also plans to increase its high-definition capabilities in coming months Sykes adds that Toybox’s Cinema DI (digital intermediate process is generating interest. *

-www.compt.com