Sisler High School’s CREATE Program Uses DaVinci Resolve for 16 Mini Docs for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Blackmagic Design today announced that students at Sisler High School in Manitoba, Canada, used DaVinci Resolve for editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production on 16 mini documentaries for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and a three episode mini series for Bell’s Fibe TV1 channel. As part of the school’s CREATE program, the students’ work was broadcast to millions of viewers across Canada.
Established in 2015, with the support of the Winnipeg School Division, the CREATE program at Sisler High School offers students from ninth grade onwards a pathway to careers in film, animation, game design, and more. Through project based learning, mentorship, and internships, students gain practical skills and industry insights, culminating in a portfolio that opens doors to future opportunities. CREATE Program graduates have been employed by major studios and organizations, including Nickelodeon, MPC, Amblin, Atomic Cartoons, and more, and have won numerous prestigious awards.
According to a CREATE Filmmaking and VFX Instructor, Jonathan Dyck-Lyons, the ten month program underwent a significant transformation when it switched to DaVinci Resolve from its previous post production software. The adoption of DaVinci Resolve has facilitated faster turnarounds on projects, allowing students to edit, color grade, perform VFX, handle audio, and finish their work all within a single platform.
“Transitioning to DaVinci Resolve was a strategic decision,” he said. “The all in one post production environment has significantly improved our students’ ability to manage complex projects efficiently. We are committed to equipping students with a foundation in professional digital media arts, and our partnership with the CBC and Fibe TV1 also reflects that, as the students are guided by industry professionals and producers to craft compelling projects and engage in the entire production process.”
In the first five months of this school year’s program, the students edited and graded 16 mini documentaries on DaVinci Resolve for the CBC, including “Math, Science, and Mad Moves: Winnipeg Teacher Dreams of Dance Greatness” and “Winnipeg Teen Saves Cancer Researchers Decades in Data Processing Time,” which all aired on CBC TV, radio and online. Once the CBC projects wrapped, the students started working with Fibe TV1 during the following five months to pitch to producers and develop an original miniseries.
“Our students used every page within DaVinci Resolve,” Dyck-Lyons explained. “They took it upon themselves to screen dailies, learn shortcuts, manage clips in the media page, assemble more efficiently in the cut page, run multiple timelines for organization and efficiency, use the powerful tracking tools for paint fixing, use Fairlight to clean up audio and conform to CBC and Bell’s LUFS standards, use the chroma keyer in Fusion, and render to various social media and television standards in the deliver page.”
Dyck-Lyons also noted how the tools in DaVinci Resolve helped the students tackle a wide array of production challenges, such as improperly exposed footage, color matching, shaky shots, logo removal, audio issues, hardware constraints that require proxy editing, and more.
“Adding to this, the quality of color management our students put out on newsroom turnaround times for the CBC was remarkable,” said Dyck-Lyons. “Their work was graded to a level of cinematic quality that isn’t typically seen on regular news broadcasts. This gave a look and feel of a much higher quality production, done in TV news time constraints.”
Dyck-Lyons concluded, “Blackmagic Design has revolutionized our approach and will benefit the program for years to come. It’s remarkable to see how the use of DaVinci Resolve has accelerated our project turnaround times and elevated the overall quality of student documentaries to cinematic standards. This program serves as a bridge to our students’ futures and ensures that our graduates are not just prepared for jobs but are ahead of the curve in the competitive landscape of digital media.”
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