Foxes, bears and owls on display at Simons

There are Christmas windows and now “THE” Christmas window. From today, local passers-by and tourists will be able to appreciate the fruit of the collaboration between the prestigious Rodeo FX club and La Maison Simons. The two Quebec flagships have collaborated to establish what could become a new tradition with the development of this rear projection concept which animates the 18 windows of the facade of the Old Quebec store.

“It’s a project of the heart,” insisted Solène Lavigne Lalonde, vice-president of advertising and marketing at Rodeo FX. It’s really to please the people who pass by, the children and the families.”

Simons joins Dune, Stranger Things et Marvel

The Sun attended on Wednesday the latest tests and adjustments carried out by the creative firm which has offices in Quebec, Montreal, Paris, Toronto and Alouette! The Quebec company behind the special effects of Duneat the origin of the creatures of Stranger Things — it was she who gave life to the terrifying Vecna ​​—, creator of the universe of Rings of Power (The Rings of Power) and those of countless Marvel films has recently launched into this niche of immersive projects.

From the point of view of “super cute”, it’s successful. There is no other way to describe the project. “Short film or show, I don’t know which is better,” reflects Julien Demers Arsenault, creative director and director of the work which will be displayed until December 31 in the heart of Old Quebec.

“I think it’s a spectacle if people stop and applaud at the end, as I’ve seen since we did our testing earlier this week.”

Rodeo FX designed everything from A to Z: the storyline, the animation and even the music.

Tell a story using multiple senses

The former craftsman of Moment Factory, a company that made its mark in this type of multisensory experience, explains the challenge of telling a simple story, with “a beginning, a middle, an end, but which is still simple enough to so that everyone can understand it, including people who are passing through” and who would just as much speak to the person who stops to capture it in its entirety.

Passers-by spontaneously stop to capture, phone in hand, the three-minute cartoon which comes to life in sound and image on the stone walls. Window after window, hypnotized, they comment with wonder.

“Oh, have you seen the fox? Well, it’s not common as a festive display, it’s really lively!” exclaims a group of Bordelais visiting Quebec, who do not hesitate to warmly applaud the performance.

They will have something for their eyes and ears. In symbiosis with the German Christmas Market which also officially begins today, the sound and image installation of La Maison Simons will start twice an hour as soon as darkness falls, every first and third quarter of an hour, Thursday to Saturday between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and Sunday between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

A gift to residents and visitors

Rodeo FX is proud of this partnership which was born from a meeting between the presidents and CEOs of the two companies, Sébastien Moreau, of the animation company, and Bernard Leblanc, his counterpart at Simons. The summer meeting of members of the Circle of Presidents of Quebec — a discussion space where CEOs can open up about their challenges — served as the initial basis for the project which has been in development since July.

“What I found interesting is that Simons was not in a self-promotion approach,” reflects Solène Lavigne Lalonde of Rodeo FX. They wanted to offer a gift to the city of Quebec, something magical and generous so that people passing through could enjoy it.

For Rodeo FX, present in the Saint-Roch district since 2014 and whose reputation is well established internationally thanks to collaborations with Netflix, HBO, Disney, Marvel, Amazon Studios, Warner Bros. and other Sony, this new demonstration is a way for the company to diversify its activities and increase its resilience in the face of the different challenges facing its main area of ​​activity.

Like all other players in the visual effects and animation sector, Rodeo FX has been hit hard by the recently announced reduction in tax credits supporting the industry in Quebec. The maximum cap of 65% on expenses eligible for the Quebec tax credit for visual effects and animation (CTMM) has considerably reduced the tax advantages granted to international productions. The reduction of tax credits by almost a third is causing serious concern within the industry.

A petition to alert the government

After having tried for the first time to convince the Legault government to reverse its decision, representatives of the visual effects and animation industry returned to the charge on Tuesday with a petition of 12,000 signatures, supported by the Parti Québécois. They are calling for a review of these changes in order to avoid weakening a major industry which generates jobs and significant economic benefits.

“It was still a very complicated few months, even a year and a half for our industry,” explains Solène Lavigne Lalonde. The actors’ and writers’ strikes in Hollywood also affected us by paralyzing filming for a while. We were then working on shoots that had already taken place, but it was afterwards that we felt the blow.”

The visual effects and animation sector has greatly prospered thanks to this assistance in the form of tax credits since the 1990s. Quebec has thus become a world leader in the niche.

An entire ecosystem affected

Matthieu Chatelier, artist specializing in special effects, lecturer at UQAT and instigator of the petition submitted Tuesday to the National Assembly, admits that the file is not simple.

“It’s really an entire ecosystem that is affected,” he insists. From schools to workers, including industry and its spinoffs. We also risk an exodus of the know-how that has been built up so hard over time.”

The figures put forward by the latter are alarming.

“There were 8,000 workers in this industry in 2022, there are 3,130 at the moment. If the trend continues, next year there will only be one person in four left who will have kept their job in the field.”

An obstacle to competitiveness

The creators argue that this measure already compromises Quebec’s competitiveness on the international, and even Canadian, scene. What’s more, these measures most affect smaller studios, which will lose crucial funds for salaries and projects while larger studios will be less affected.

“We have studios all over the place, but the fact remains that our strength was really here, in Quebec,” adds Solène Lavigne Lalonde of Rodeo FX. Everyone in our industry is affected by this reduction in tax credits. We are lucky because we still have projects. But it represents a huge reorganization, we lost half of our workforce. Others were affected more severely.”

Nevertheless, the creative partnership between Rodeo FX and La Maison Simons, which knows how to combine magic and innovation, reaffirms the capacity of these Quebec flagships to transform industrial challenges into cultural opportunities. A collaboration which proves that, even in the storm, art and daring know how to illuminate our landscapes.