There has been much talk lately about the production slowdown in Canada, which has made it increasingly important for Canuck F/X shops to keep the U.S. projects shooting here posting here as well. Current volumes at four F/X houses indicate that they have been successful in getting the word out down south.

Image Engine scores X2

Christopher Mossman, president of Vancouver’s Image Engine Design, says his company is busier than it’s ever been in its eight years of existence. With a staff of 16 and a brand-new studio space, Image Engine scored one of the most coveted projects going in the F/X world.

‘We’re doing pre-visualization for X2,’ says Mossman. ‘It’s a big coup for us because we are one of the very few places working on that project and it is certainly a project we were working for and trying to get in the door.’

Mossman says that because the Fox sequel to the 2000 superhero smash X-Men is so F/X heavy, he and his staff have a better idea of what the film will end up looking like than many people on set.

‘Doing pre-vis for features, you’re right in the roots of putting this stuff together and working hand-in-hand with the visual effects supervisor [Mike Fink] and the director [Bryan Singer]. It’s a really cool place to be,’ says Mossman.

In addition to X2, Image Engine recently completed work on the new MGM TV pilot Dead Like Me, the Miramax/Disney time-travel mini A Wrinkle in Time (with VFX supervisor Kevin Haug), and it continues on the MGM sci-fi series Stargate SG-1.

Mossman recently moved his company into a new 7,000-square-foot space to better handle the mounting challenges.

‘Now we have the opportunity to take in some larger projects, which is something we’ve been looking to do for a long time but didn’t have the physical capacity to do in our old space.’

U.S. prods are C.O.R.E. business

The bulk of F/X business reported by Toronto’s C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures has likewise been generated south of the border.

‘Part of the insulation we have to [tough times] is that we don’t work on things that are shot in Toronto,’ says C.O.R.E. president Bob Munroe. ‘When production is slow in Toronto, for the most part it has minimal effect. When production is slow globally, like after 9/11 or the threatened actors and writers strikes, it has a more profound effect.’

C.O.R.E. is currently putting the finishing touches on Paramount Pictures’ boxing flick Against the Ropes, primarily doing digital crowd duplication for arena scenes shot in Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum by director Charles S. Dutton.

One sequence proved more challenging, however, according to C.O.R.E. VFX supervisor Bret Culp.

Culp explains that for the scene, C.O.R.E. artists had to pluck leads Meg Ryan and Omar Epps from two separate takes of different lengths to be eventually used in the same shot.

‘We mainly used [Alias|Wavefront Maya] Fusion and [ReelSmart] Twixtor to do all the frame interpolation so we could pull the one take of Omar Epps, which has only 140 frames, and turn it into a 200-frame shot that matched the take of Meg Ryan,’ says Culp. ‘Hopefully you’ll never spot that when you watch it.’

Other U.S. projects in C.O.R.E.’s doors include the Jamie Kennedy vehicle Malibu’s Most Wanted for Warner Bros. and Yeltsin for Showtime and service provider Dufferin Gate Productions.

Although the budgets of Canadian features usually preclude extensive special effects, 49th Parallel Films’ Nothing is an exception. C.O.R.E. has been involved with Nothing director Vincenzo Natali on previous features Cube and Cypher and no doubt cut the reported US$4-million production a sweetheart deal.

‘I think it will be in the range of 250 effect shots, and for a movie of this kind of budget, it’s virtually unheard of,’ says Munroe.

GVFX gets the word out

GVFX, with new president and CEO Ron O’Brien at the helm, continues work in its Vancouver office on MGM’s post-apocalyptic series Jeremiah. Its Toronto office, meanwhile, is working on the ABC series Eloise, about a little girl who lives in New York’s Plaza Hotel, as well as the Devine Entertainment feature Puppy Love and HBO’s Iron Jaw Angels.

O’Brien says that in his new role he will actively ensure that potential clients are well-versed in GVFX’s credits.

‘There is a good history here and a good amount of work, but the company itself has never really positioned or branded itself well,’ says O’Brien, who comes to GVFX after serving as chair and CEO of Datahorse.

To make a deeper impact in the U.S., GVFX has opened a new facility a stone’s throw away from the hub of production, in Santa Monica, CA.

‘One of our reasons for opening an L.A. office is to give [Hollywood production people] the ability to do post with us in their own environment,’ says O’Brien. ‘We’ve received many positive comments, but also scripts that we may not have otherwise seen because we now have the ability to do post work in L.A.’

Hybride spies again

Location has not really been a detriment at Hybride, located in Piedmont, QC, however. Despite being further removed from Tinseltown, Hybride is soon to begin work on Dimension Films’ Spy Kids 3.

‘We have a great relationship with the director [Robert Rodriguez],’ says president Pierre Raymond. ‘On Spy Kids 2, we took on 75% of the workload, so we were in a very good position for Spy Kids 3. We are in the R&D stage at this time and are making sure we can take on as much of it as we can.’

Raymond says 100 Hybride employees, including some new hires, will be dedicated to Spy Kids 3, as will nine Infernos for compositing and three Flames for F/X. The company is adding a new 3D graphics department running Softimage|XSI that will be operational early this year. Also on the company’s slate is the mini Notre Dame for France’s GMT.

-www.image-engine.com

-www.coredp.com

-www.gvfx.com

-www.hybride.com