Cinema Canada (Aug 1976)

AB.% 25 Shooting animation at MS Services According to Manolo Corvera, who cuns MS Art Services in Toronto, there are eight to 15 animators working full time in television commercials and the like in Canada, at around $500 a week. In Toronto, there is little in the way of animated industrial films of the kind which keep animators busy for extended periods in, say, London or Los Angeles. In Canada that area is pre-empted by the National Film Board. Extended animation projects such as Al Guest’s Rocket Robin Hood have: not occurred for many years. The work available to Toronto production houses through the Ontario Educational Communications Authority offers few returns because of high costs in the former and low budgets in the latter. And then there’s the Quebec law banning animation in commercials directed at children under 138, which has cut out animation in this category across the country. The five representative studios discussed below show a range of the possible responses to the self-evident challenge of surviving in animation in Toronto. MS Art Services Ltd, 410 Adelaide West, was started in the late ’60s by oe ee Jaan Pill is a graduate in psychology from Simon Fraser University where he also edited the student newspaper and worked as asummer student at the Vancouver National Film Board production office. He is currently working on a film project, Holes and Wholes, an animated film based on figureground transformations in the class of optical illusions known as ‘‘am biguous figures. EE ee ree ee Manolo Corvera as an art house in conjunction with its parent company Film Opticals of Canada, an optical house. The studio does animation, audiovisual productions, and stages large industrial shows with singers and dancers. Its animation facilities include two 35 mm Mitchell cameras for ‘“‘stop-action’”” animation technique (using three-dimensional objects instead of art work for animation). Corvera began as an illustrator for the Disney organization in Spain, later worked for Crawley Films, Ottawa, then went to Al Guest Animation in Toronto. When the latter company folded, Corvera started MS Art. According to Corvera, his staff of 20 includes ‘“‘three or four people doing animation, but not on a regular basis. We’ve never developed more,” he explains, ‘because there’s not much animation going on in Canada.” Cinera Production Ltd, 439 Wellington West, was started in the late ’*60s by Vladimir Goetzelman. It does commercials “for just about every major advertiser in the country.” Also educational work, and work for the United States. Goetzelman, trained in art schools in Europe and Canada, is experienced in film graphics, film design, animation and special effects. He had worked, along with Corvera, for Al Guest Animation and started Cinera after the latter folded. He speaks of Cinera’s consistent history: “I guess we are, in terms of staff and involvement, probably the last large continuous production house in Canada,” he explains. Cinera recently completed two series of animated films on American history for the U.S. Bicentennial. The first deals with the American Revolution, the second with the next 100 years after it. There are 104 4'2-minute films in each series. Over 100 American stations have signed up for the series, as part of a syndicated program. ‘“‘We’ve found ourselves in the position,” says Goetzelman, “‘where we know that if we don’t get at least half of our business out of the United States, sooner or later we’re going to be in financial trouble.” Videoart Production Ltd, 18 Temperance St., was started in 1959 by graphic designer Jack Kuper and commercial producer Bill Campbell, as a side venture to their work at CBC. In 1960 they sold it to graphics designer Bob Kane, who now has a full staff of six or seven, and one to eight freelancers. Half the company’s work is animation, half slide production. The animation include public service spots, and also educational films for OECA (Ontario Educational Communications Authority, Channel 19). ““We’ve found OECA very helpful,” says Kane. ‘“‘We probably wouldn’t in the animation business if it weren’t for OECA.” “Our top animator here,’”’ he adds, ‘“‘would not make the money that the top animator at Cinera would make, because he hasn’t the experience.” (Cinera does very little work for OECA these days, because of the latter’s tight budgets.) Certified Canadian Content Productions, 22 Geneva Street, was recently formed by freelancers Dennis Pike and Ivan Goricanec in connection with a series of animated inserts for live-action sequences on Haida, Hopi and other Indian legends for Encyclopaedia Britannica. The series is being produced in Hollywood, with plans to show it on Canadian television, which is why much of the production work is in Canada — which also explains the company’s unique name. Pike, an art school graduate, worked in England at Halas and Batchelor, Biographic Cartoons and Larkins. In Canada, he first worked in Winnipeg and then at Crawley’s in Ottawa — followed by work at Expo, Ontario Place, and at MS Art (on its Planet of Man series for OECA). Film Design Ltd, 4 New Street, was started by Jim McKay in 1955. McKay doesn’t do as many commercials as he used to. “I don’t say I try not to do them but I don’t go out of my August 1976/27