Director/animator Steve Hillman has made a name for himself with his innovative and memorable broadcast design work for MuchMusic. Now the founder of eight-month-old commercial/design shop exhibita is displaying his particular penchant for the bizarre and surreal in broadcast design projects for the Internet, one of the shop’s primary focuses.

Hillman’s longtime relationship with MuchMusic began almost a decade ago when, working as an animator at The Animation House, he pitched some station id design ideas to the music channel. Hillman and Much clicked, and the self-taught animator launched himself on a solo career, doing broadcast design work for the likes of Much and Rogers.

In 1995, he cofounded Toronto animation shop Optical Assembly with brother Tom Hillman, and last year opened the doors of exhibita (pronounced ex-ibit-ah, not ex-ibit-eh).

Despite having created some of MuchMusic’s most memorable images, Hillman says his first passion will always be his own animated projects, but he unquestionably enjoys doing broadcast design work.

‘The great thing about broadcast design is it is not as restrictive as commercials are,’ says Hillman. ‘Sure, they don’t have the kind of budgets commercials do, but with commercials you have to stick to the board and stick to the script. You have a mandate, a product and a vibe, and all of these people are really looking closely at what you are doing.’

He says with broadcast design, the animator or director is given the creative freedom to create the best possible product for the client.

‘In broadcast design,’ he says, ‘there are still important things like coloring and logos and such, but you can be more experimental and work out ideas for abstract things you may have in mind, or something new. You get a lot more flexibility creatively.’

Currently, Hillman is completing a complicated 12-second opener for MuchMoreMusic’s Backtrax, consisting of a steady grid moving a number of images of rock stars past and present across the screen.

‘This took quite a bit of time because it is an abstract thing where I had 150 different images going on and I had to make sure that the backgrounds aren’t too cluttered and that one thing isn’t standing out too much more than any other thing,’ Hillman explains.

exhibita is also breaking new ground with its work for Internet broadcasters. The company was recently hired to complete a number of show openings for Toronto-based Webcaster tvradio.com. With Hillman acting as creative director and Neil Burns as animator, exhibita has completed openings for tvradio programs Spy Tech, Comedy Clinic, Tips From the King, Bodyworx, Herbal Remedies and Dance Studio. The Webcaster will reportedly have about 40 specialty channels operating out of the site within 12 months.

Hillman is excited about the new opportunities the Internet is creating for animators and broadcast designers, and questions why some artists still shy away from it.

‘Maybe it is not in their nature to embrace this computer technology, but now they are seeing how they can get in on it and make contributions now that it is widening up quite a bit. There are still people who are afraid of the Internet.’

He believes a platform as boundless as the Net is just the venue to match his many animated shorts, including Real Stories From the Emergency Room and Animal Magnetism, with viewers who will appreciate his work and sense of humor.

‘Now that the Internet is here there are no formats,’ he says. ‘There is no half-hour. If you only need one minute to tell your story, that is okay. If it needs to be done in 22 seconds, that is okay too, because there are no parameters.’