When the producers of Game of Thrones needed a particularly gruesome visual effect – the mounting of a giant direwolf’s head on the headless corpse of Robb Stark, the murdered King of the North – they turned to Look Effects’ Vancouver studio, which is now busy working on Season 4.
And when Vancouver director Neill Blomkamp was making Elysium, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, he tapped the expertise of Vancouver’s Image Engine.
The company also did the visual effects, or VFX, for District 9, which Blomkamp also directed. (Blomkamp is rumoured to be the director of choice for Steven Spielberg’s latest project, a TV series based on the popular Microsoft Corp. [Nasdaq:MSFT] video game Halo.)
While B.C.’s film industry may have suffered on the production side in recent years, as Hollywood sends film crews wherever tax credits are best, Vancouver’s animation and special effects sectors are thriving.
Just two years after two former video game developers formed Gener8 Digital Media Corp., which converts 2D film to 3D, the studio now employs 200 people, is still hiring and last week acquired a 48% stake in another local startup, Reelhouse Media Ltd., an online film distributor.
“Personally, I believe Vancouver’s growth is in understanding disruptive digital media,” said Gener8 CEO Rory Armes.
When it comes to post-production, there appears to be no lack of work for Vancouver’s VFX sector.
“The talent pool in Vancouver is incredible,” said Wendy Lanning, executive visual effects producer at Look Effects’ Vancouver studio.
“To be honest, with the number of studios that have opened up in Vancouver, though, it’s very competitive when you’re recruiting because there’s a lot of really good people in Vancouver, but there’s also a ton of work.”
One of the draws for local studios at this week’s Spark FWD conference for the VFX industry is a job fair. The annual conference showcases new trends, technology and techniques in the VFX field and draws leaders in that field from all over the world.
“More and more we’re drawing international talent to come to Vancouver, so it’s giving an opportunity to local studios to grab that talent,” said conference organizer Sylvain Provencher.
Two Spark conferences are held each year in Vancouver – one for animation, one for visual effects. This year’s conference – which runs February 5 to 8 – has been merged with Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s annual 3D FWD conference.
Vancouver’s reputation for being both Hollywood and Silicon Valley North has resulted in dozens of computer-generated animation and visual effects studios either being built in the city or moving here. Just two weeks ago, Sony Pictures Imageworks announced it would move some of its staff from its Los Angeles headquarters to its Vancouver studio as part of a cost-cutting measure.
Provencher estimates there are about eight large VFX studios in Vancouver and about 20 smaller boutique studios. •
