Handel Productions gets growing

* CBC’s This Is Wonderland (Indian Grove Productions/Muse Entertainment) has started work on its third season (13 x 60), and shoots in Toronto until February.

With summer upon us, film fans with a taste for blockbuster escapism have seen their share of cutting-edge special FX, from the glorious to the gruesome, in a number of notable releases. Two of the six films featured below shot in Canada: Fantastic Four in Vancouver and Land of the Dead in Toronto. Both productions kept at least part of their post and FX work in Canada. Director Robert Rodriguez brought his U.S.-shot, FX-heavy film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lavagirl in 3-D to Montreal’s Hybride, after having recently done so with his April release, Sin City. Mr. & Mrs. Smith had some of its post handled in Toronto. And, in every case, Canadian-made software and systems providers figured in the FX mix, including Alias, Autodesk Media & Entertainment, Softimage, eyeon and Side Effects.

When Bob Scarabelli died suddenly of a heart attack last September, British Columbia’s film community went into mourning. The loss of homegrown entrepreneur Scarabelli, who started Vancouver post-production house Rainmaker, shook an industry already grappling with its own health problems.

Calgary-based video post, FX and animation house White Iron Digital is expanding south of the border and, on July 6, opened the doors to its new Southington, Connecticut, offices.

As Montreal’s Le Bureau de Post Productions celebrates its 13th anniversary this summer, the video post house is making a major push into the 3D animation and special FX market, while formalizing its motion graphics and broadcast design department.

Halifax-based PowerPost Production continues to be Atlantic Canada’s busiest post-production facility since launching in its current incarnation in February 2004. It has seven projects on the go and is establishing itself as a leader in posting HD.

Daniel Pellerin is a Toronto-based Genie and Gemini Award-winning sound supervisor, rerecording mixer, music supervisor and contractor. Recent credits for Daniel Pellerin Digital Sound Productions include the dramatic features Where the Truth Lies by Atom Egoyan, Lie with Me by Clement Virgo, and the third season of the comedy TV series Puppets Who Kill.

Growing use of the Internet for marketing and distribution has allowed smaller stock footage players to play on a more level field with the big houses, just as demand for all-purpose clips is hitting an all-time high thanks to the rise of HD, portable video and other technological shifts.

A CBC that dares to make fun of itself has done just that after mining its historic film archives to produce the eight-part mockumentary Jimmy MacDonald’s Canada.

Filmmakers have traditionally used 35mm film to capture time-lapse footage – a process that proved costly in both time and money.

Provincial authorities are preparing to boot an assortment of film and TV companies from Toronto’s waterfront, taking the first of what is expected to be several bites out of the city’s busy production ghetto.
Absolute Location Support Services, Big House Special Effects and roughly 10 other companies have all reportedly received eviction notices from the Ontario Realty Corporation – a government body that has stewardship over much of the city’s industrial lakeshore.