The growth of F/X house Hybride Technologies is a reflection of the long-form production renaissance in Quebec. After 10 years in operation, Hybride has seen a 25% increase in its long-form work, which now accounts for 75% of its overall business.

Hybride’s facility is nestled in the foothills of the Laurentians, north of metropolitan Montreal. It is in this unlikely locale of Piedmont that Daniel Leduc, Hybride VP and film special effects director, plies his trade.

"For long-term projects, [being in the Laurentians] doesn’t change anything," offers Leduc, "because the client is here only one or two times per project."

Leduc credits improved communication technology with the continued strength of the company’s service despite the small-town locale. "Today we can transfer stuff by T1 line and FTP [file transfer protocol]," he says. "I’m doing a conference call with [the client] every day, and sometimes two times a day through the computer."

As well, Hybride’s 40 staffers are happy to be in the countryside. Besides the inspirational environment, Leduc says, "After long hours, they can do some skiing or take a walk in the woods."

But those walks can’t be too frequent or leisurely considering the volume of work Hybride has recently attracted. At the beginning of March the company completed work on the Dimension Films feature Spy Kids, which had been in the shop for a full year. The film, starring Antonio Banderas, tells the story of two children out to save their secret agent parents who have been kidnapped for an invention of the father’s. It is written and directed by Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, The Faculty).

"The first six months were more for preparation and design of models. We started the big production in September-October," Leduc explains.

The Spy Kids deal resulted from Hybride’s work on The Faculty, another Dimension feature, on which it was one of a half-dozen companies contributing F/X. According to Leduc, Rodriguez was so impressed "he wanted to do the next movie with [us] only." He adds: "At the beginning, Spy Kids was supposed to be about 200 cuts of effects, but it became almost 500."

Although he can’t go into detail about the nature of the F/X on the picture (slated for a March 30 release), Leduc points to Hybride’s work on projects such as The Lost World TV series and the Canadian feature The Art of War as good examples of the company’s style and specialty.

"[The Art of War has] many effects you don’t notice on screen. Those are the effects we love to do – replacing a full background or designing a city. When you do a monster or something like that, it’s really obvious – everyone knows it’s an effect."

Leduc says the mix of local and international work at Hybride is "half-and-half." Although he acknowledges "the budgets are smaller for Canadian projects," he is pleased to report "there is always something [Canadian going on in the house]."

Discreet & Softimage solutions

Hybride is currently using mostly Discreet and Softimage animation software to create its F/X. Leduc says the technology the shop employs depends on the project. In fact, it has an in-house programmer to respond to any given situation. "At some point you need to write your own small utilities," he says.

Although there is enough local talent to handle the regional jobs, for larger international projects Hybride is sometimes "forced to hire Americans." With fluctuating staff requirements and an evolving business, Leduc must stay on top of all the latest trends.

Pre-visualization, says Leduc, is perhaps the biggest development in the F/X biz over the past couple of years. Hybride worked on "pre-viz" for Spy Kids and the ill-fated John Travolta sci-fi feature Battlefield Earth. At first, Leduc thought pre-viz would make his job easier, but he soon found it was not so much for him as for the production end.

"It mainly makes it easier for the directors. They use our pre-viz to adjust camera positions and stuff like that. But for us we need to redo [the F/X] from scratch anyway."

Leduc is pleased with Hybride’s increasing long-form focus. However, he still enjoys spot work, even if it passes through the shop less frequently.

"I love both. Sometimes it’s refreshing to do a small project – a project of three weeks." After a full year on Spy Kids, it sounds as if Leduc could use a little refreshment. *

-www.hybride.com