Summer’s here and the time is right for nights at the local multiplex. Of course, the season is invariably inundated with blockbuster Hollywood fare, and this summer is no exception, although Canadian talent and technology is more visible than ever in 2004’s crop.

It makes sense that when a movie shoots in Canada – such as I, Robot, Catwoman and The Chronicles of Riddick in Vancouver; Resident Evil: Apocalypse in Toronto; and The Day After Tomorrow in Montreal – that it would call on local shops for some post work. But in several cases detailed below, shops were sought for their expertise by productions that shot entirely south of the border. Meanwhile, Canadian-based software and systems providers Discreet, Softimage and Alias, as always, figure prominently.

Garfield: The Movie

Release date: June 11

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Canadian connection: Supplementing the main FX house, L.A.’s Rhythm & Hues Studios, Rainmaker delivered 95 shots, creating CG replacement faces for Garfield’s talking friends, including three cats and two dogs, complete with fur.

Systems include:

FX: Discreet inferno, eyeon Software Digital Fusion, NewTek LightWave, Alias Maya (Rainmaker); Softimage|XSI for animation of mice characters (Stan Winston Studio)

Editing: Avid Media Composer

Catwoman

Release date: July 23

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Canadian connection: Winnipeg’s Frantic Films did motion tests, more than 250 pre-viz shots and 63 post-production shots for various sequences involving CG whips.

Systems include:

FX: Discreet 3ds max

Editing: Avid Media Composer Adrenaline and Xpress Pro

HD masters: Avid DS Nitris

Spider-Man 2

Release date: June 30

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Canadian connection: Toybox provided IMAX DMR remixing for the large-format edition.

Systems include:

FX: Culver City, CA-based Sony Pictures Imageworks used Maya for character animation; L.A.’s Zoic Studios used flame for compositing and combustion for rig removal

Editing: Avid Film Composer, Unity and Xpress Pro

I, Robot

Release date: July 16

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Canadian connections: Vancouver’s Image Engine Design was key in pre-viz, having been contracted by the production for more than nine months.

Vancouver’s Rainmaker executed FX on 68 shots for a scene in which a giant ‘demo bot’ attacks Will Smith’s character in a mansion. The shop provided pre-viz and planned and oversaw the building and shooting of miniatures for the sequence.

Toybox (Vancouver) and alphacine provided processing, printing and telecine services to support editorial.

Systems include:

FX: inferno, Digital Fusion, LightWave, Maya

Editing: Avid Media Composer

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Release date: Sept. 10

Distributor: Alliance Atlantis

Canadian connections: Frantic Films provided FX including tracer fire, muzzle flashes, laser beams, actor removal and frame interpolation.

Toronto’s Cine-Byte Imaging did a full scan and film conform.

Toronto’s Mr. X and C.O.R.E Digital Pictures provided FX.

Systems include:

FX: Digital Fusion, 3ds max, Deadline (Frantic Films’ proprietary render manager software)

Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow

Release date: Sept. 17

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Canadian connection: Montreal’s Hybride Technologies had 50 staff working on FX for more than four months. One sequence has the titular character and crew traveling into icy Nepalese caverns built by Hybride’s 3D artists. The team also designed numerous 3D mining tools.

Systems include:

FX: XSI, LightWave, Science-D-Visions 3D-Equalizer

Compositing and editing: Discreet inferno, flame, flint and smoke

The Day after Tomorrow

Release date: May 28

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Canadian connection: Technicolor Creative Services – Montreal provided processing, transfer and dailies.

Systems include:

FX: a half-dozen FX shops had Discreet systems among their toolsets; XSI; Maya

Editing: Avid Media Composer

The Chronicles of Riddick

Release date: June 11

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Canadian connection: Toybox (Vancouver) and alphacine provided: processing, printing and telecine services; negative and sound transfer to HD; MPEG dailies in both HD and SD.

Systems include:

FX: Rhythm & Hues used inferno on more than 130 shots, creating wispy cloud formations called ‘sky tendrils’ in 15 shots

Titles: L.A.’s yU+co. created the title sequence using Maya modeling and Adobe Photoshop filters; it also used Adobe After Effects and Illustrator, inferno and Avid systems