No Time to Die, Stranger Things, Star Wars : the visual effects of these films or series were designed in… Montreal. Over the past ten years, the metropolis has become a benchmark in the sector around the world. What does it owe its expertise to? Decryption.
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At the entrance to the Rodeo FX studio, visitors are greeted by a display case of golden statuettes. The Visual Effects Society Awards and Emmys, for which they received three selections this year for WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Lovecraft Country.
Barely 15 years ago, the premises of Rodeo FX were limited to the basement of a building in Old Montreal. Currently, the box has 700 employees spread across Quebec, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Munich and Montreal. Are we forgetting a city? ” For the moment no ! », Says Solène Lavigne Lalonde, Director of Marketing and Communications.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Mikael Damant-Sirois, Vice-President VFX Operations, and Solène Lavigne Lalonde, Director of Marketing and Communications at Rodeo FX
Rodeo FX’s meteoric success mirrors its hometown. In a short decade, Montreal has become the third hub worldwide, after London and Vancouver. Blockbusters and hit series, like Games of thrones, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Mandalorian, Arrival, Hunger Games and It, bear the signature of local companies such as Rodeo FX and Hybride (owned by Ubisoft).
Other films like the last James Bond, No Time To Die, were produced in the Montreal studios of foreign companies.
“Today, it’s a safe bet that most of the films and series that people consume, even on major platforms, are projects on which Quebec artists have worked,” says Christine Maestracci, new CEO of the Bureau of Quebec Cinema and Television (BCTQ).
In figures, the sector has recorded annual growth of 27% for the past 10 years, and a business volume that exceeds that of foreign filming with $ 622 million in 2019, according to the latest report from the BCTQ.
A culture of quality
So what makes the Quebec brand? Quality, creativity and innovation, answer us the actors of the sector to whom Press talked.
“Quebec’s geographic and political situation means that we don’t have the choice to innovate. We are always compared to companies that have a lot more budget than us. You have to be very imaginative to have the same quality as our competitors, ”confirms Pierre Raymond, co-founder of Hybride, the leading visual effects company in Quebec.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY LUCASFILM
Film image Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, whose visual effects were partly produced by Hybride
The box, which is celebrating its 30th birthday this year, was the first to bridge the gap with Hollywood with B-series productions such as the youth saga. Spy Kids, 300 and Sin City. Word was circulating in Los Angeles about this little box of Gauls, nestled in the Laurentians forest, which worked miracles with almost nothing.
“Hollywood is never going to pay less for visual effects if there is a risk to the quality. What they can do is buy more visual effects for the same amount, but they will never skimp on quality, ”continues Pierre Raymond.
Doing more with less is Quebec’s specialty, adds the professor at the School of Digital Arts, Animation and Design François Lord. That, and its quality culture.
“We have a quality habit in Quebec in television and cinema, which does not necessarily exist elsewhere. If you want to do an advertisement or a film and you want to reach out to people, you have to set a certain level of quality, otherwise Quebecers will not be interested, ”he argues.
From Los Angeles to London
Quebec has not always been at the center of the world stage. In the early days, activities related to the visual effects sector were concentrated in California, says François Lord. “When I left school, you had to go to Los Angeles if you wanted to work on big films,” recalls François Lord, who also worked at Rodeo FX.
Then, with the Harry Potter saga, jobs and projects moved to London, which saw the birth of the giants Framestore, Double Negative and MPC. Montreal was the ideal pied-à-terre for these large English companies wishing to expand across the Atlantic. The metropolis offers some of the best tax credits in the world. The quality of its training provides an abundant workforce, and the overall low cost of living attracts foreign talent.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
3D graphics rendering designers at Rodeo FX
Today, Quebec artists no longer have to emigrate to land interesting contracts. The crème de la crème of productions goes through the studios of Montreal.
In 2021, the BCTQ identified 6,250 jobs in the visual effects and animation sector in Quebec. And by 2023, an influx of 3,000 additional employees is expected to meet the demand, which is unabated.
Next world pole?
After a decline in 2020, the pandemic having put the brakes on filming, the sector is picking up again, says Christine Maestracci. And it’s a safe bet that Montreal will become the world’s leading hub.
Hybride recently added three titles to its portfolio: The Book of Boba Fett, Invasion and Jurassic World: Dominion. Rodeo FX is also working on major projects (including the fourth season of Stranger Things) which will soon see the light of day.
“There is an abundance of the visual effects sector in Quebec. We have created all the conditions to have an extremely solid sector which has positioned itself exceptionally internationally. Now, we must maintain this ecosystem and allow it to go even further, ”concludes Christine Maestracci.