Founder and editor, Chris Van Dyke, and executive producer, Shenny Jaffer, tell LBB how this Toronto-based posthouse has brought about much needed change
It’s no secret that Canadians are thought of as the friendliest people in the world. The second largest nation on the planet is known for having one of the most welcoming and inclusive societies. Strangers smile and wave at one another on the street in Canada - even in the busy cities - and this warm and welcoming nature has become emblematic of the country itself.
Warm, welcoming and friendly also just so happen to be the best three adjectives to use to describe how Chris Van Dyke conducts himself in the biz. Celebrated for his genial and flexible approach to the work, the commercial editor and seasoned advertising exec decided “smile and wave!” exuded exactly the right message for the new post production house he was cooking up, mid-pandemic.
Over the course of his 30-year career, the East Coast editor had witnessed a distinctly rigid approach to production and post production workflows – especially in Toronto. Due to the pandemic, he had the time to plot out exactly how to remedy this issue by founding the scalable, low-overhead model that the city was crying out for.
When Smile + Wave was officially launched in 2020 - offering everything from commercial video editing, motion graphics, motion design, and finishing - it was during a time of much needed positivity. Of course, being warm and friendly are important tenets of any business, but Smile + Wave has quickly become so much more than that. Chris has built a team who are passionate about doing good work and are resourceful doing it. They aren’t afraid of embracing new ways to work. They love collaborating. They are a freelance collective built around the concept of flexibility.
LBB’s April Summers sat down with Chris Van Dyke and Shenny Jaffer to learn more.
LBB> If you had to describe what you do, how would you summarise S+W’s unique offering?
Shenny> We are scalable, flexible, and efficient. Unlike the conventional editing house model, S+W handles every aspect of post - from offline to finish – all under “one roof”. We also have producers who follow a project from start to delivery: one producer all the way through the post process, without multiple hand-offs.
LBB> How does S+W’s freelance collective challenge the conventional post production model?
Shenny> In order to curate the right post team for the project, our reach goes beyond our immediate roster. Our quoting method is based on the number of days the artist(s) will be needed vs the number of deliverables. Not only is this better from a budget perspective but it also keeps review and approvals streamlined, with full-focus when necessary.
LBB> What “industry dilemma” were you looking to solve by setting up S+W?
Chris> It wasn’t exactly an “industry dilemma” per se. It was more about changing the norm. In February 2020, I exited a long and fruitful 18-year partnership with School Editing and had a goal to ultimately create something new and fresh, something sustainable. During the pandemic this type of model started to make more sense than ever before. I officially launched Smile+Wave in Jan 2021, during the middle stages of the pandemic, and we quickly picked up traction. Working with artists who were already independently set up at home, and producers with multi-disciplinary skill sets, allowed us to flourish during a very challenging time for our industry.
LBB> What challenges did you face as a result of launching the company during the pandemic?
Chris> We had to up our game when it came to technology, that was it. The model was already structured to work remotely so ensuring sessions ran smooth, footage was accessible to our artists, and producers to keep it on track made this a fantastic option for clients who continued to create content throughout covid.
LBB> What has been the biggest achievement for the company since it was founded?
Chris> Having a super talented roster of artists who found a way to collaborate with their colleagues, even under these conditions, made my heart sing. Successfully working with people across different time zones, tireless work ethics, and a very familial relationship. There was no island, we started as a family and continued to grow and learn as one.
LBB> How does being based in Toronto influence the work and the clientele?
Chris> Toronto has always been the hub of our ad business, with cities like Montreal and Vancouver coming up as close seconds and thirds. Being able to work remotely and having state-of-the-art technology at our fingertips has certainly opened up doors to working across Canada as well as the US.
LBB> Do you gravitate towards any particular subjects or projects? What work best demonstrates S+W capabilities?
Shenny> We like projects that test us, teach us, and make us better at our craft. Our model is constantly evolving and I feel grateful to showcase our skills on a range of great work. We love what we do. Working with awesome people, sourcing more like-minded individuals, and continuing to curate a diverse roster who can work on anything content – ie long form, web & social, and broadcast. Oh, we do have a long form project in the works that we’re super excited about, but can’t talk about it yet…
Chris> There are many that we could discuss but two projects that demonstrate what we do are for Dairy Farmers Canada and Petro-Canada Caremakers Foundation.
I was asked to pitch on some new content for DFC at the beginning of the pandemic. I partnered up with a production company to come up with a way to streamline the process so we had little to no interruption during the shoot and post process. Challenging, especially since everything was remote – even real farmers filming themselves on iPhone kits. A pre-viz was a necessity to ensure we all aligned on the scripts before the shoot days. So how do we do that if we are all remote? I filmed my family, the director filmed his, and the edit came together seamlessly. We had to figure out platforms for footage and reviews, sticking to a very tight deadline, and even managed to have two people for an in-person session at S+W during the height. That was formally the first campaign out of our gates, still amazed at how well we pulled it off.
Then for Petro-Canada Caremakers Foundation, a local charity that honours the unsung heroes who dedicate their lives to caring for loved ones, we were approached to build a 24-hr film. It was a day in the life type of thing, purpose-built for broadcast/web content. The Caremakers due to be featured were located all across Canada, some in remote areas, others in cities. This project was shot during the pandemic too, so some had to drop out due to covid, as well as a plethora of other challenges that came up on a day-to-day basis.
The biggest challenge was to access and organise all of the footage so that our editor handling the 24-hour film could start creating bins of footage for each individual, for the various times of the day, and the routine they were engaging in. Not an easy task when you had upwards of 15 subjects speaking English, French, Punjabi, Spanish, etc. Fortunately, our long form editor was bilingual and, thanks to our vast network, we managed to get transcripts pulled together as quickly as they came in. This one certainly totes the adage that it takes a village… because it really did. Clients came on board and embraced a newer way of doing things, especially with the 24-hr film where traditional methodology would have bogged down the process.
LBB> Looking back over the work you’ve delivered so far, is there a campaign or project that stands out as especially memorable or significant in terms of S+W’s evolution? If so, why?
Chris> A US agency approached us to handle the editorial and finish for spots being shot against the volume/LED wall. There were a lot of variables to take into consideration such as on-camera sync, foreground and background props and extras, image changes on the volume, and a camera pan across the “scenarios”. Pre-visualisations were done for both scripts and as production worked through the last-min prep, we suggested they grab plates in the event we had to make any adjustments in post. During the offline process, our editor realised that one spot needed a lot of post work but we did not have any plates to help with set extensions, roto work, and 3D skins on some of the foreground props. The cavalry rode in and between our finishing artist and our 2D/3D animation artists, we managed to save the day in less than 3 days. Agency and clients were incredibly grateful that we were able to pull this off in time and without having to reshoot. We came away with more learning under our belt.
Shenny> This campaign showcases all of our wares in one: offline editing; transfer; VFX and compositing; online; and versioning. No hand-offs to anyone outside of our core group.
LBB> What is your relationship with new technology and how do you incorporate it into your work?
Shenny> We embrace online platforms, like frame.io, that have become the trusted go-to for sharing and getting feedback. Cloud-based storage now eliminates the need to back up project files onto drives. Sharing platforms between artists allows us access to project files should schedules shift and we need to continue with another artist, with minimal to no interruption to workflow.
LBB> Finally, what does the future hold for Smile + Wave? What will we be talking about this time next year?
Shenny> We have some artists we are speaking with, all of whom have diverse sensibilities, who we are hoping to bring on board this year. We want to diversify our reach and work with more unconventional clients!
