Oscar-winning visual effects company Pixomondo (PXO) and Canadian TV and film equipment rental business, William F. White International (WFW), a Sunbelt Rentals company, are partnering to build LED volumes across Canada together with a combined initial capital commitment of more than $30 million.
Under the new arrangement, WFW and PXO will co-rent LED volume equipment, with two new stages already under joint construction in Vancouver and Toronto. Several other new sites across Canada will follow in 2022.
The high demand for virtual production shoots, coupled with strong bookings at Toronto’s first LED volume in the city’s West End, prompted the decision to formalize the working arrangement over the long term, for the whole of Canada.
The second Toronto stage will be completed in July 2021 and is designed for shorter-term bookings and projects with quick turnaround times. It will be based at Studio City’s recently completed development at the east end of the city’s downtown core, minutes away from PXO’s Toronto office at Revival Studios and close to WFW’s Toronto office and Pinewood Studios.
The new Vancouver stage, which will be the largest build of the three sites to date, is under construction at an undisclosed location and is scheduled for completion in September 2021.
As with the first Toronto stage, the two new volumes will be operated by on-set PXO personnel for all productions, including those using the company’s 3D environment creation services. PXO and WFW have designed and will build the volumes in close collaboration with their technology partners Brompton Technology, Epic Games, Lenovo, NVIDIA and ROE Visual.
