The advent of digital post-production tools has been something of a godsend to the commercial production industry in Quebec, a market where agencies and commercial production houses have historically had to do more with less, often much less.

Those new tools have added appeal and flexibility in an ad market with an established penchant for hilarious copywriting and plentiful use of graphic, comic book-style cinematography and f/x.

The dark side of the creative coin, the clutter, also exists, and, according to producers, is the byproduct of excess caution, uncertain economic conditions, and that tres Canadian penchant for ‘not making waves’ and ‘seeking sure value.’

But ‘playing it safe’ is hardly unique to this market, which producers say is not creatively isolated despite the language difference.

Anyway, says La Fabrique d’Images president Michel Raymond, there’s no place to hide.

‘Agency creatives in the Quebec market are fully aware of work produced in Toronto or the u.s.,’ he says.

Figaro Films producer Pierre Caumartin says having to compete with national campaigns with superior budgets has given Quebec creatives a keen sense of what money can and cannot buy.

For Jet Films president Jacques Langlois, a ‘conservative mind-set’ in the marketplace turns innovation into imitation, while leading edge ‘shifts from one genre to another.’

An example, food retailer Metro, which pushed the design envelope to the limit (for a grocery chain) for a season or two, resulting in all sorts of prizes. This season, the client seemingly has backed off with the reintroduction of an advertising icon, the happy shopper.

Langlois says some of the more daring or innovative stuff is being produced for the financial institutions.

According to Raymond, established commercial directors continue to perform well, ‘but what’s most striking is the emergence of new talent.’

Caumartin says there’s great interaction between Quebec agency creatives and production house personnel, but the main ingredient ‘is lots and lots of hard work.’

(For the official word on innovation and creative excellence, the industry will have to wait for the Publicite Club de Montreal advertising awards gala on May 30.)

In the meantime, producers point to the batch of ’95/96 Quebec commercials they say cut through the clutter.

Figaro Films

In a stunning and richly lyrical piece of corporate advertising for Canadian National and agency bcp, Figaro director Cosimo Cavallaro and dop Peter Hartmann teamed with special f/x producer Ann-Imation to create powerful images of a bullet train as it knifes through the landscape of Canadian lives and business.

In a two-spot personal insurance campaign for Assurance Vie/Desjardins-Laurentienne, Figaro director Claude Brie and dop Jean-Pierre Trudel break the comedy mold by creating an unique multi-model cartoon universe. Three months of preproduction went into the shoot, and the detailed effort shows. The spots combine layers of matted-in visual gags, hilarious rigs from P+P and a perfect disaster-impending music track. The result literally brings down the house.

La Fabrique d’Images

In a ’96 pool for Alcan and agency PNMD/Publitel, La Fabrique director Jean-Michel Ravon and Toronto-based dop Gabor Tarko adopt a beautiful infant child as a metaphor for futuristic products. In one spot the babe is behind the wheel of a space-age aluminum car. In a second, baby plays with an aluminum can to a matched v/o and social discourse on recycling and the environment.

In a two-day shoot for General Motors’ Saturn and agency Cossette, La Fabrique director Jim Donovan and dop Trudel make a personal breakthrough in an ‘in-the-family-way’ vignette about a man who learns he’ll soon be a new dad (surprise!) when he arrives at a showroom and discovers the new car is equipped with a child’s safety seat.

In a major pool for Danone and Aliments Delisle, La Fabrique director Jean-Francois Pouliot and cinematographer Sylvain Brault serve up a delicious comedy takeoff on the film classic Singin’ In The Rain. The three-day shoot features zany mime/comic Michel Courtemanche and was shot for agency Saint-Jacques Vallee Young & Rubicam.

Pouliot is the reigning Publicite Club de Montreal director of the year.

In a three-spot pool for Sprint Canada and Taxi, l’agence, La Fabrique director Daniel Jaros and dop Tarko borrow from the ancient craft of fine-paper cutting to illustrate a point about savings – and phone bills that can be niftily transformed into desirable purchases with a simple pair of scissors, and a phone call.

Jet Films

Talented young Jet director Christian Langlois explored some very new ways of doing things on a shoot of two testimonials for Banque Nationale and agency LG2.

The use of an innovative Power pc-based production process parallels the bank’s ‘I never thought I could do this before’ tag line. Filmed testimonials were digitized, composited and then edited with moving graphics on a pc that Langlois says uses a Targa digital component videocard. Add one Betacam recorder and there’s an absolute guarantee post-producers will not be amused.

In a ‘forgotten is best’ message for Cascades’ Incognito feminine hygiene napkins, a commercial collectively shot by agency Bos, dop Daniel Villeneuve and produced at Jet, a young woman empties an outsized purse filled with everything including the sink. But what she’s searching for is not to be found. Apparently, in what serves as an excellent recommendation, she’s forgotten her Incognito.