Film Front Online
enterprise and insight for audio-visual storytellers
IVS CELEBRATES 3rd BIRTHDAY
with expansion
Saint John, NB, June 22 2004 - They first see you through the glass wall that separates Innovative Video Solutions from other corporate offices in the non-descript brick building they call home. From a sofa, they make eye contact, and then quickly get up to greet you as you enter through the door. Enthusiastic and polite, they immediately make you welcome and rarely leave your side. Every once in a while they lick your toes.
Well… you are wearing sandals.
And… they are dogs.
While Tiff and Elton are a part of the IVS experience, their day is chiefly spent napping or just watching people. Mundane stuff. Mike and Darrell’s days, however, are anything but. Their meticulously executed video work has earned them a name in Canada, the United States, and abroad. Over three years of a successful and thriving business relationship, they have worked in the field and edited for some of the industry’s biggest names, yet their practical, homespun personalities are as they were the day they hung their shingle and handed out their first business cards. Planners by nature, they have grown their company the old fashioned way, cultivating relationships with key people and continuously reinvesting their earnings; acquiring new camera gear, sophisticated editing software, sound boards, monitor banks and servers every chance they get.
The two formed a partnership while having a beer in June 2001, after scribbling an operating budget on a place mat at Childs’ Restaurant.
After multiplying their projected monthly expenses by twelve and swallowing hard, they sat back and calculated potential revenues, realizing they could make a go of it. In year one, they exceeded their initial revenue projections. They’ve never looked back.
The Kings of corporate video production, they have coaxed interesting video stories out of a broad range of New Brunswick’s most respected and influential companies, both privately and publicly held.
“The business is like a third child,” grins Mike, “because it’s grown up in stages, and now we’re looking at it and realizing that it’s let go of the coffee table and walking on its own.”
Indeed it is. Between very large boxes of newly arrived equipment, Darrell, the admitted grand master of all things technical, connects patch cords with ports and tests new sliders.
“This reminds me of when we earned out first major client,” he reminisces.
"I was in Ontario, on Day 2 of a visit with a very ill family member, when I got a phone call from Mike saying I should come back. After he explained, I got on a plane, came straight to the office, and had exactly three hours to set up and connect a truckload of brand new equipment so we could begin the project. We pulled it off and we still work with them four years later.”
That personal drive has earned IVS the respect and admiration of clients as prominent and diverse as repeat customer ABC, CBC, CTV, TSN, European television production companies, American feature film production companies, and major Canadian corporations.
With their new expansion and an editing system that makes grown technicians react with childlike envy, Mike and Darrell are looking to the future.
“We’re working with two complete ‘real time’ editing systems,” explains Darrell. “Our newest addition sports four ‘real time’ uncompressed video channels and up to six ‘real time’ alpha or graphics channels, plus we can store more than seven hours of uncompressed video. We’re a one-stop shop for professional video production, offering a wide variety of multimedia formats including widescreen 16:9 and DVD.”
With all their digital technology, the one surprising thing about IVS is that they continue to use Darrell’s cherished Betacam SP.
“We’ll continue to use the Betacam as long as it’s in strong demand and regularly asked for by our television network clients,” offers Darrell, “but we’re also working with Sony’s new PD-170 digital camera, to make sure we have as many options as possible for field production and to accommodate some of our future projects.”
Oh, yes. The future. While field production, corporate and training videos, music videos and network programming production continue to occupy their time, they are also building on their ‘concept to completion’ capability by increasingly working with DVD production and developing original projects.
From shooting news events, to satellite uplinks of their deepwater camera work in ecological preserves, to taping interviews with Hollywood's stars for their electronic press kits and the underwater action of Canada's synchronized swimming team, it's likely that Darrell and Mike have shot, edited or produced material that you've watched on your television screen.
Happy third birthday, IVS. Krug and Kibbles and Bits for all!