Montreal’s PMT uses their investment in SOFTIMAGE|XSI, Avid|DS and Avid Media Composer to join the circus.

DREAM JOB: Montreal’s PMT Puts It All Together for Cirque du Soleil’s Solstrom

By Michael Abraham

“This was a dream job,” says Isabelle Gratton, President of Montreal post house PMT. “We all want a lot more projects like this one.”

Gratton’s succinct appraisal of PMT’s work on Solstrom — a 13-episode television series blending film, situation comedy, burlesque theater and circus acts as only Montreal-based, world-renowned Cirque du Soleil can – is the sort of sound byte that seems to belie both the significant contribution of the company and the genuinely appealing warmth of Gratton’s personality.

In fact, Gratton’s friendliness shines like the spring sunshine, even over the phone. As for the company she keeps, the roughly twenty-member team at PMT battled tight deadlines to create spectacular 3D visual effects for Solstrom, using SOFTIMAGE|XSI together with Avid|DS and Avid Media Composer. Nonetheless, the President’s statement does cut straight to the heart of PMT’s most recent work.

“The combination of creativity and resources was just astounding,” Gratton continues. “Cirque du Soleil is always very clear from the outset that only the best will do. They won’t compromise when it comes to creativity and artistry. They are willing to commit whatever resources are necessary to making all their productions great. As a result of that demanding dedication, our artists had the motivation to fully explore the extent of both their technological tools and their own creativity. The results prove that our people are really the greatest asset we have.”

Montreal’s very first postproduction facility was founded in 1981. For those of you too young to remember, that was right around the time a little format named “video” was beginning to take hold and make itself known. About a decade into their now nearly quarter-century of existence – an awesome achievement in and of itself, especially in our industry – PMT bought the first license of SOFTIMAGE|3D and have been loyal customers ever since.

In the ensuing years, the company has dedicated itself to long-format television projects, mostly within their home province. Indeed, at the French-language portion of the annual Gemini Awards (Canada’s Oscars), you can pretty much count on the fact that PMT has had a hand in creating roughly 75% of the nominees and winners. What is more, the company’s unsurpassed expertise has either been experienced by, or is at least well-known to, every director and producer in the province.

It was through their impeccable reputation then, that PMT captured their dream job and, at least for a few months, got to join the world’s most unusual circus.

As it happened, the company had worked many times with Pierre Gagnon, Mario Rouleau and Pierre Séguin, the directorial team that would handle all thirteen episodes of Solstrom.

“Solstrom was a huge contract, and the directors wanted to work with the best editors available,” says Gratton matter-of-factly. “For some years now, François Bonnelly has been considered one of the best editors around, but he has been also involved in virtually every facet of the design, animation and visual effects business for many years. All three directors knew that they needed his diverse skills to make this project all that it could be. Francois really has all the skills to truly maximize what can be accomplished on Avid|DS.”

And PMT accomplished a great deal. Three of the company’s four Avid Media Composer suites were dedicated to Solstrom, while two more Avid|DS suites were kept busy twenty hours a day as Bonnelly and Luc Bellerive strove for ever greater quality. Of particular benefit to the project was the easy integration between Avid|DS and SOFTIMAGE|XSI, which allowed Bonnelly and 3D Artist Richard Poissant to work closely as the project progressed:

“SOFTIMAGE|XSI was the natural choice for the Solstrom 3D effects,” says Gratton. “As one of Softimage’s very first clients, PMT has always been extremely happy with all of our Softimage and Avid systems, which now include four Avid Media Composer suites and two Avid|DS HD rooms. Our Solstrom animators adore SOFTIMAGE|XSI’s open construction history and flexible workflow, as well as its polygonal modeling tools, particle system, render passes and integrated compositor. Together with our Avid systems, we have greater control during postproduction and can achieve superior results.”

Not surprisingly, the nature of PMT’s usual work requires a sizeable amount of color correction, a task the company used to farm out to other facilities with telecine systems. Now, much of the color correction work can be performed using SOFTIMAGE|XSI, saving time and money for both PMT and their clients.

In addition to color correction, Gratton says that her artists particularly love the SOFTIMAGE|XSI Render Tree for its non-destructive modification abilities:

“Solstrom was a continual work-in-progress,” says Gratton. “Quite a few decisions were still being taken even during the online, and a lot of effects and writing were still being worked out during the offline. What was more, the series had been sold to five different broadcasters, each of whom had their own unique modifications. In the end, we created a total of eighty versions of the effects. With that amount of modification, it was fantastic for our artists to be able to go back easily and without having to repeat a lot of work. We could never have done as much as we did without SOFTIMAGE|XSI.”

If we’ve learned one thing from the past decade in this industry, it’s that nothing is ever guaranteed. That said, however, SOFTIMAGE|XSI’s future at PMT seems pretty secure:

“In all honesty, it has been a long, long time since I have seen our artists love a system they way they do SOFTIMAGE|XSI,” says Gratton. “In our long history, we’ve tried every system out there, but XSI has just amazed our team. They always want to learn more, know more, get the latest versions, etc. They truly love what it can do.”