High-tech studios turn Canada into visual-effects hotspot

When the fur flies at Soho VFX in Toronto, that's a good thing.

The Toronto-based visual effects studio caught a break in 2003 when it was charged with the job of digitally creating fur falling from the ceiling for The Cat in the Hatmovie.

Since then, its expertise in fur has expanded into creating digital fabrics, skin, alien critters and mega-monsters like Incredible Hulk and Abomination battling it out on a rooftop in Spanish Harlem.

Canada has been an attractive place for Hollywood to shoot movies for years, but it's becoming a hotspot for visual effects (VFX) as well.  Soho VFX is just one of a handful of high-end visual effects studios in Canada making a big splash on the Los Angeles movie scene.

While there are all sorts of creative digital effects shops springing up across the country, observers say there are about a dozen studios across Canada — mainly in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal — that have truly made the big leagues.

Beyond robots

Many a reputable, well-staffed studio can do a wide variety of VFX jobs, although most have built their reputation on a particular specialty and expanded from there.

For Soho VFX it was fur, until the studio graduated to handling much more. Image Engine in Vancouver has honed its skills on complex creature work including aliens, among many other tricks of the trade.

Others like Montreal-based Digital Dimension became especially well known for "invisible" VFX. In other words, all the things the normal viewers wouldn't even notice.

Those are the folks that spend days at computers creating explosions, producing throngs of people in the streets, reconstructing buildings and interiors, or transplanting heads to make you think that actor really did ace that figure-skating routine. 

Gillian Bénard, owner and administrator of Lost Boys Learning, a VFX school in Courtenay, B.C., says that the industry in Canada might be young and relatively small, but it's growing fast. That's because VFX is "not just about stomping robots anymore," she says.

Today visual effects have achieved such a level of accuracy, it's impossible to tell where the digital part takes over from reality. And now that it has reached a level of near-perfection, there is more demand than ever for VFX specialists — whether it's to create wind rippling a field of grass, add a few body enhancements to turn an ordinary Joe into a superhero, recreate the Roman Colosseum or the Vatican, or put together a few minutes of action scenes with aliens on the attack.

Frenemies

In this intensively competitive industry, you would think that the key to survival is all about vanquishing your competitors. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Rather, this is a field that's all about collaboration, which is why it's not unheard of to see 10 or more studios involved in a major film.

"It's a friendly rivalry," says Allan Magled, president of Soho VFX. "But everyone knows how to play nice and deliver."

Contracts up for grabs can be divvied up based on specific scenes, or particular aspects of one — such as the background. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine for example, multiple studios worked on the retractable claws alone.

'We could easily have a dozen people on a team focusing on textures, surface shading and skin for an alien figure.' —Shawn Walsh, Image Engine

Even within the studio themselves, VFX specialists end up working collaboratively on various bits and pieces of a project. Teams of renderers, animators, trackers, lighting and dynamics specialists, modellers and riggers could all be assigned to create a mere few minutes of action sequences in a blockbuster project.

"There are all sorts of levels of people that need to be involved in a feature film," Bénard explains "You might have a whole department that does cloth simulations, while another does explosions. Some simply work on fluids or facial expressions."

"We could easily have a dozen people on a team focusing on textures, surface shading and skin for an alien figure," Shawn Walsh, visual effects executive producer for Image Engine, adds.

Safety in numbers

So why such an arsenal of competitors on a single project?

For producers it's a matter of spreading the wealth and the risk. Given the volatile nature of the industry, no one wants to be left holding the bag if a VFX studio packs up shop before a movie project ends.

According to Walsh, "the film business is a risk-averse one. Producers are prone to concerns about delivery, since the work is so complex. They rarely award a job to one place, so different studios could easily be working on the same shot, like the rooftop fight sequence in The Incredible Hulk."

In today's world of mega-blockbuster movies, it's also simply a lot more affordable to recreate run-of-the-mill scenery or crowd scenes on a computer screen than to spend days on location, hiring hundreds of extras and going through the hassle of getting permits.

In fact 50 per cent or of today's film budgets could easily be earmarked for visual effects — and in many cases much more, says Ben Girard, CEO and CTO of Digital Dimension. "And tons of that you may never actually notice because of invisible effects," he says.

 "It's no real secret why so much of a movie is going to digital," explains Neal Clarance, leader of Ernst & Young's national media and entertainment practice. "It's cheaper than paying location costs, and they can do so much more."

It also opens the doors to more creative thinking, since there is no limit to what can be done, says Walsh. "Visual effects allow the director to think about whatever they like. They can do anything if they have enough time and money."

Tax-friendly, open for business

In Canada, it also helps that tax incentives are driving film producers to parcel out portions of work to more studios north of the border.

As Clarance explains, "The single biggest thing that has primed the pump in Canada has been our tax credit program, and specifically enhancements that deal directly with digital effects components. In fact, a large number of L.A.-based effects houses have opened up Canadian operation, because they were losing so much business to facilities here."

The biggest bang for the digital buck can be found in Quebec, Ontario and B.C., where incentives can range from 15 to 20 per cent on various aspects of production he adds. "When you add them up, they can get quite substantial."

"Producers understand that they get a lot more labour going towards the film for their money," confirms Walsh.

VFX soup

And one might think that as the technology tools get better, the job gets easier. Not so, Walsh says, because the imagination of the producers simply keeps pace.

In 2003, a 385-shot sequence for Matrix Revolutions took well over a year to complete, he says. "Now, that same sequence could be done in six months — but the work is just as hard, because the goalposts are constantly shifting. You have to keep reimagining the best way to do things."

'Visual effects specialists have to reinvent and prove themselves constantly or they get typecast.' —Ben Girard, Digital Dimension

Despite all the promise the visual effects industry has to offer, the demanding deadlines can lead to high attrition rates. It's also a tough go for unproven players entering the field because they haven't established enough credibility when starting out.

As Magled puts it, "You're only considered as good as your last film."

As with any star performer, you can also run the risk of becoming a one-trick studio.

"Visual effects specialists have to reinvent and prove themselves constantly or they get typecast," says Girard.

And it's just not that easy a job.

Mike Kowalski, executive producer at Soho VFX, says that when he does presentations to local schools, "they're all completely blown away by just how much work is involved."

"It's not exactly a factory floor," Walsh says. "It's a very organic, creative, soupy mix of factors that lead up to a film getting finished. At the same time you have to meet absolutely crazy deadlines while maintaining a technological and creative advantage. That's what makes this industry so unique. It's quite liberating, actually."