Canadore College officially opened the doors to its state-of-the-art post production facility to the public today.
For the past year, the school has been working on the 5,568 sq. ft facility which will allow TV and movie crews to stay right here in the North to complete any post production from their projects.
“We have a lot of momentum going and we need to keep it going,” stated Yura Monestime, Associate Dean of the School of Media, Design and Dramatic Arts at Canadore College.
“This is just one step as part of the process. Maybe one day we could be Hollywood North,” he said.
The new facility includes a Dolby Atmos mix stage with 70,000 watts of power along with 41 speakers. Along with that, it also boasts a color correction room, dialogue replacement, and specialized computer and software equipment that is not being used in any other teach facility in Canada.
Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines and Chair of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation which chipped in to help pay for the $2 million dollar facility, says this new complex is worth it and will continue to help build the film industry in the north.
“It is extraordinary to have a post-production facility available for the film and television industry here in Northern Ontario,” said Gravelle.
“This is state-of-the-art, this is as good as anything you will find in Los Angeles or in Toronto and it indeed is a game changer.”
George Burton, President of Canadore College, says the world-class facility has already been put to work. He says they cannot wait to get going to help get the students trained with the new technology and work hand in hand with industry professionals at the same time.
“We have actually done some post work already through a new Van Damme film, doing the sound effects for it so we completed that, it is back in LA getting packaged for distribution and when the studio decides to distribute it we will see,” said Burton.
“We also know we have a number of productions lined up starting in a couple weeks here in North Bay, understanding the film calendar is filling up quickly here in the region so we will see some of that post coming.”
According to statistics, North Bay and area saw 11 film and TV productions in 2017, resulting in millions of dollars in local investment been made over 270 filming days at 218 different locations.
