RODEO FX HEATS UP THE SCREEN
The final episode of the most recent season of Game of Thrones ends with a dragon destroying a location that has played a major role in the plot of the popular TV show.
Behind the scenes, making the destruction look real, was Montreal-based Rodeo FX.
The company has been working on visual effects for Game of Thrones for four years — creating and destroying cities; making dragons breathe fire and oceans boil; and bringing thousands of extras to life through digital effects. For three years in a row, it’s won Emmy Awards for its work on the show.
While Game of Thrones isn’t in the running for any Emmys this year — the seventh season premièred too late in the year — Rodeo FX is nominated for its work on another show, Black Sails.
“Visual effects are becoming more and more important in the film industry and TV industry, the budgets are growing,” said Sébastien Moreau, the company’s founder and president.
At any given time, the company is working on between six and 10 projects, many of them major Hollywood films. The studio recently spent two years working on Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which came out in July. It also worked on an adaptation of Stephen King ’s It, which comes out in September, and the upcoming Blade Runner 2049, directed by Quebecer Denis Villeneuve.