Animation/post co. moves beyond Canada.
The head of a man on the body of a dog paces in the background of a pure white landscape. The dog/man barks like mad, breathes heavily, momentarily walks on its hind legs, wags its tail, and hurriedly runs up to the camera’s face and screams "Try Fusion yet?" as its tongue falls out of its mouth. "Dogman" for Cadbury’s Fusion candy bar, out of Leo Burnett, Toronto, and directed by Peter Montgomery of Sparks, Toronto, is one example of the TOPIX/Mad Dog, Toronto, credo: "Never let reality get in the way of a good idea."
When the company first opened in ’87, it specialized in broadcast logos and show opens for corporate and broadcast clients. Two years later Chris Wallace, founder/president/executive producer of TOPIX/ Mad Dog, received his first offer for spot work-a McDonald’s job-but in the ensuing year, other ad assignments did not exactly come pouring in. When TOPIX finally did receive a call from DDB Chicago to work on a LifeSavers spot, "Good Times," directed by Harold Harris of TOPIX (he has since shifted to Nelvana, Toronto), the company did not disappoint, and hasn’t looked back since.
In the summer of ’95, TOPIX launched Mad Dog, a postproduction arm headed by partner/executive producer Sylvain Taillon. "We went full steam into post because SGI became the platform. Before that, it was all black boxes. We were more of a creative animation boutique," Wallace says. TOPIX/Mad Dog embraced the new post technology, becoming one of the first houses in Canada to acquire a Flint and a Flame. The company, which now boasts a staff of 35, has since added an HD Inferno suite. The animation arm works on an NT operating system with software such as Softimage, AfterEffects, PhotoShop, Illustrator and Painter. The two divisions’ recent credits include Crayola’s "Imagine That," via TBWA/ Chiat/Day, Toronto, with animation direction by Fay Grambart of TOPIX/Mad Dog and live-action direction by Larry August of Maxx Productions, Toronto; "Flying Ball" for Sears, with live action directed by Nigel Dick of A Band Apart Commercials, Los Angeles, and animation by Patrick Coffey of TOPIX/Mad Dog; and "Lucky You" and "Closet Space" for Eaton’s, both directed by Floria Sigismondi of The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto, out of Roche McCaulay & Partners, Toronto. (Sigismondi is repped stateside by bicoastal M-80.) TOPIX/ Mad Dog also just completed work on an international ad for Kellogg’s new Milk and Cereal Bars.
