Broadcasters and producers looking for backgrounds with Canadian themes can now turn to Markham, ON-based AmiWare for its royalty-free animations.

Gary Golivet, owner of AmiWare, which has been selling editing equipment to film, video and television post-producers since 1989, started creating the backgrounds six months ago, after many of his clients told him that they had been buying similar material from Ameri-centric Digital Juice.

‘I thought it would be neat to create some Canadian content,’ says Golivet, who feels that the library is a natural extension of his current business. ‘I wanted to create a product that we can sell to those people.’

Golivet says the backgrounds can be used by broadcasters in program bumper, intro and outro creation, with video elements and text layered on top. News shows can use the backgrounds as elements behind videoclips or as part of their graphics collections.

While the library contains some very Canadian-specific animations, including a rippling Canadian flag and floating red maple leaves, it also contains nation-neutral animations such as a Matrix-inspired clip with streaming green numbers.

Golivet plans to release a new library twice a year with differently themed backgrounds, including a volume for DVD menu backdrops, and he plans to expand beyond the Canadian market. ‘Right now we’re just trying to get this one out the door and hopefully six months down the road we’ll have another one,’ says Golivet.

The library of 40 30-second animations is available in both standard- and high-definition. It can be purchased either on DVD (13 discs for SD and 40 discs for HD) or via a FireWire drive.

-www.amiware.ca