It looks like a Merchant Ivory film complete with grand manor estates, Victorian costumes, corset-clad women slapping men in the face and dramatic storytelling so convincing that for a second you actually believe you’re watching a trailer for ‘the world’s first 48-hour epic movie made by women for women.’
In reality, director Martin Granger’s ‘Sin and Sentimentality,’ produced by Toronto’s Avion Films for agency Downtown Partners, aired across Canada in Famous Players cinemas as a mock trailer. It was part of a campaign Granger directed for Labatt-brewed Bud Light.
For his efforts, Granger was honored with a best of series nod at the 2002 Bessies in the directors category.

You might say Ian Mirlin’s career is one defined by circles, if only symbolically.
Mirlin’s first job in Toronto after leaving his native South Africa was at Goodis Goldberg Soren, which at the time was headed by Doug Linton. In April, following a brief retirement, the 52-year-old returned to the ad game, taking a position heading up brand development at Ambrose Carr Linton Carroll, where Linton presides as chairman.
‘I find it in some way quite redemptive that here I am at his agency again,’ says Mirlin, a 30-year veteran of the advertising business. ‘I love patterns like that…there’s just too much order in the universe to ignore.’

For Barry Peterson, cinematography started out as a childhood hobby, but he always knew it would become his career. Peterson was 13 when movies like Star Wars fuelled his dream of working behind the camera. ‘I was a kid with a Super 8 camera and it all evolved from there,’ he says.

The hype around branded content says that the combined forces of audience fragmentation and advanced commercial avoidance technologies will have the effect of devaluing commercial spots to a point where advertising will need to look for an alternate common currency. Proponents insist that with its ability to integrate a brand’s message directly into the flow of programming, branded content is the best logical substitute.

At that strange place where branded content meets convergence, there’s bound to be confusion. There’s been a lot of talk about what constitutes both, but when it comes to actually designing and executing a plan, there’s nowhere to stop and ask for directions. In the case of Cadillac’s ‘Innovating Tomorrow’ project, when the rubber hit the road, it meant mapping out a whole new model for advertising.

The brief was very simple: Make the brand famous and make guys laugh out loud.

Whether he’s editing with Final Cut Pro on his laptop from a street corner in Rome or conducting interviews from a bar in Miami, the winner of the 2002 Bessie for Best of Series in editing does not spend most of his time locked away in an edit suite. Peter McAuley, known for his effects-driven editing, is on set, working with directors and DOPs on the production level supervising FX.

When David Baxter was a Ryerson Radio & Television Arts student, he spent a week shadowing Toronto commercial producer Bob Schulz for a school project, which ended up helping Baxter secure his first industry job as a projectionist screening rushes for Schulz Productions.

Identity is a precious commodity, particularly in the media world where an authentic, exciting presence is of paramount importance. Over the past three years, the CBC has committed itself to a transformation plan that consciously redefines the broadcaster to the Canadian public. A team consisting of, on the English broadcast side, top management figures Slawko Klymkiw, the executive director of network programming; Harold Redekopp, English television’s executive vice-president; and Alex Frame, the executive VP of radio; along with key program directors Deborah Bernstein, Nancy Lee, Tony Burman and a select few others formulated a new plan for the national public broadcaster.

Fifteen years after the founding of a company is no time to relax and rest on any laurels, declares TOPIX president and partner Chris Wallace. Not that any of the approximately 25 creatives at the Toronto-based animation/computer graphics shop would have much time for any resting on anything: TOPIX is currently in the midst of developing new projects, nurturing fresh talent, forging ahead into uncharted creative territories and expanding its client base further into the United States and Mexico.

Entering into the state-of-the-art Mr. X studio and surveying the scene, one can’t help but notice the many sets of eyes gazing back at you. Big reindeer eyes, that is, looking out from pretty much every one of the 28 computer screens in the room. For many of these sleigh-pullers, it’s time for their close-up, and their faces – with lips moving – fill the screens. Other buck and doe are playfully flying through the CG-magical midnight-blue air. Meanwhile, in the corner of the studio, a large life-size puppet reindeer with soft brown eyes is watching over the proceedings.