Quebec visual effects company brings aliens to life in new movie Arrival

Creating aliens on the silver screen is nothing new, but creating aliens that align with Quebec director Denis Villeneuve's vision is a daunting task one that visual effects company Hybride was happy to take on.

Pierre Raymond, the Quebec company'spresident and head of operations,says Villeneuve wanted to make sure the aliens in Arrival were powerful, yet subtle.

"He was very concerned not to create something that was so clich.So many things were done on aliens in film," said Raymond.

Arrival is about 12 spacecraftsthat mysteriously touch down across the planet.

The military recruits a linguist, played by Amy Adams, and a physicist, played by Jeremy Renner, to communicate with the aliens.

• DenisVilleneuve'sArrival makes impact at world premiere in Venice

Hybride not only created the squid-like creatures, which they call heptapods, they also created the logograms, which are the written language the aliens use to communicate with humans.

Hybride had to produce new software, in order to create the circular symbols.

"Most of the time people are coming to us [for visual effects] that are not straightforward," says Raymond. "Arrival is the perfect example of that."

Expanding to Montreal

Hybride is a division of Ubisoft and is based in Piedmont in the Laurentians.

The companyjust celebrated its 25th anniversary, and opened an office in Montreal at Ubisoft in February.

While theyrefer to themselves as a "boutique"company, with just over 100 employees, Hybride's rsumincludes more than 60 international productions,including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, The Hunger Games, Sin City, 300 and Avatar.

Raymond says often visual effects companies are given a task to create something in a blockbuster movie, and they just have to execute what the art department has created.

Villeneuve allowed Hybride to play a bigger role in Arrival, and be part of the creative process.

Raymond also says working withactors like Amy Adamsis an important part of creating great visual effects.

Challenge for actors

The actors cannot see the visual effects during filming, so they have to use their imaginations while looking at a green screen.

"You realize that she's doing an amazing job, because it's totally abstract for her during her performance," said Raymond.

Hybride recently partnered with special effects giant ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), the largest visual effects company in the world,founded by George Lucas in 1975.

When asked why Quebec is at the forefront of the visual effects industry, Raymond said the province's universities are doing an amazing job producing top talent.

"You hire them and train them, [but] you need to have at least a base to start and to learn the industry," says Raymond. "They are coming with a very strong background."

Hybride is currently working on two films expected to be released next summer; The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe; and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, starring Cara Delevingne, Ethan Hawke, John Goodman and Clive Owen.