Winnipeg isn’t exactly a hotbed of animation houses, and when Ken Zorniak and Chris Bond saw a niche opening up in the Manitoba spot market, they jumped all over it. The result: Frantic Films.
Frantic launched in March 1997 as a ‘humble operation’ with only two computers, Frantic VP/producer Zorniak recalls.
‘[Before Frantic], Chris had some experience working for a local multimedia company, doing animation for broadcast, primarily for commercials. That company wanted to get out of it, and get more into Web stuff. At that point, another animation company in Winnipeg, Ken Perkins and Associates, closed its doors. So there was really no competition at the time. We saw the opportunity and went out there to solicit local television commercials,’ explains Zorniak.

Montreal: Videotron reports that since its February launch of PowerTV, the cabler’s new interactive Web TV service in Quebec, more than 100,000 subscribers have jumped on board. …

A new not-for-profit independent production initiative could spell good news for low-budget filmmakers and the Canadian service industry….

Some of the biggest product buzz at NAB2001 in April in Las Vegas was generated by U.K. manufacturer Quantel. Canadian post house reps were all curious to check out the highly touted iQ, which functions as an editing platform, a processor and an interface to a storage medium. Toronto’s Creative Post even went so far as to write a cheque (for an estimated US$550,000) to make a purchase. The post shop has installed the machine at The Studio Upstairs, its sister company.
Meanwhile Toronto’s Eyes Post says it had the iQ two months prior to NAB. Initially, Eyes president and owner Izhak Hinitz tries to downplay the importance of bragging rights.
‘We don’t care,’ he says, then adds: ‘We ended up being the first everything in Canada – the first Millennium Machine, the first Aaton InstaSync, and now the first iQ.’

Vancouver-based Northwest Imaging & FX is getting kudos for its work, and although it will say the most important reason for that is its staff, the shop does remain loyal to the tools of a few manufacturers.
NWFX is currently doing 3D F/X work for the sci-fi series Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits and Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. It was nominated for best visual effects at the recent Leo Awards for an episode of The Outer Limits, and took home the big prize for the Andromeda episode ‘The Mathematics of Tears.’ The 100 F/X shots it created for that program included a foggy look for the opening teaser, an asteroid field, battle sequences and explosions. The shop used software from Alias| Wavefront and Softimage to build its 3D creations and composited them in the Discreet Inferno and Combustion systems.

For veteran Toronto animation house Cuppa Coffee, a thriving spot, long-form and broadcast design business keeps it on the leading edge of trends. For Cuppa kahuna Adam Shaheen, evolving with the industry and diversifying within an open-ended business model are two…

How does a Winnipeg-based special effects company land a gig involving the likes of John Travolta, Halle Berry, Joel Silver and Dominic Sena?…

Last month, Vancouver’s a.k.a. Cartoon, maker of the Cartoon Network/YTV animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy, won the platinum-level award for best TV commercial/PSA series at the Houston International Film Festival, otherwise known as the 34th Annual WorldFest….

Roddy McManus is executive producer at Tube Studios, a Montreal-based computer animation and visual effects company that produces content for TV, film and advertising. …

‘I have a rule where I never say no to a director,’ says Toronto-based cinematographer Derek Rogers.
Canadian director Vincenzo Natali seems to like that rule, since he has teamed up with Rogers for a third time to shoot the tentatively titled feature The Company Man. (The film is a production of Pandora Films and picked up distribution from Miramax Films at Cannes).

Take Survivor, whittle down the grand prize to $60,000 shared among six team members, replace the tarped shelters with houseboats, take out the cheesy host, move the exotic locale to Northern Ontario, expand the coverage to 13 half-hours, and there you’ll find Drifters: The Water Wars, Outdoor Life Network’s first Canadian reality adventure/game show.
Produced by Taste Television’s Les Tomlin and Tom Stephens, and directed by company principal Tim Martin, the series is described as the ultimate buried treasure hunt, which pits two teams of six Canadians in a battle against each other to find $60,000 ($10,000 each).

Vancouver: American producers may be taking a break these days, but not so Paperny Films of Vancouver. The aggressive documentary company – which has had significant success with its Showcase documentary series Kink – has five new projects scheduled for summer shoots. The slate of business is worth $2.8 million in budgets.
Having led the trend in reality TV with its CBC docusoap Brewery Creek in 1998, Paperny is back at it with Singles, a reality show for Life Network. Over 13 episodes, Paperny will follow 10 unattached Vancouverites in their quest for love and romance. Production begins this month and producers are still looking for subjects. Call the Singles Hotline at 604-837-4769 or e-mail info@papernyfilms.com.