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Behind the scenes

Visual effects and animation

Behind the scenes of the film FANNY

By Lili Trottier

2025-07-14

Photo credit: FANNY - Téléfiction Productions

FANNY is a poignant Quebec feature film in which friendship, memory, and courage intertwine in a deeply moving story. Produced by Téléfiction, written by Stéphanie Lapointe, and directed by Yan England, the film invites us to follow the story of Fanny, a 15-year-old teenager who has been suffering in silence since the loss of her mother.

The day she discovers that her father has hidden the existence of her mother's family from her, the teenager embarks on a quest for the truth. Her journey takes her to Sainte-Lorette, where she will make decisive encounters, including allies who will help her find answers to the mysterious circumstances surrounding her mother's death.

This ambitious project benefited from the expertise of Artifex Animation Studios Inc. (AA. Studios), a Quebec-based company renowned for its visual effects and 3D animation.

Let's take a look behind the scenes at the visual effects of the feature film FANNY with Marc Hall, visual effects supervisor and founder of AA. Studios.

Behind the images, subtle visual effects serve the story

The studio specializes in invisible effects. Subtle interventions that enrich scenes without the audience noticing. Whether it's adding fire, transforming sets, or removing an unwanted element, every detail is designed to serve the story without ever distracting from it.

“We work hand in hand with our clients. The directors who work with us continue their usual creative process, which means they have direct access to the artists and collaborate with them from start to finish.”

Photo credit: Marc Hall, Artifex Animation Studios Inc. (AA. Studios)

The mandate for FANNY was both delicate and ambitious: to transform the sets, notably by adding water and grass to give the appearance of an isolated island. Then, above all, to design the famous scene of the sailboat caught in a storm off the coast of the St. Lawrence River. Precise interventions, invisible to the naked eye, but essential for immersing the viewer in the heart of the story.

Photo credit: Marc Hall, Artifex Animation Studios Inc. (AA. Studios)

How do you recreate the storm in visual effects? A daunting challenge.

One of the biggest challenges for the AA. Studios team was designing the scene of the sailboat caught in a storm off the coast of the St. Lawrence River. How could they film such a tense moment while incorporating the necessary visual effects in a realistic way?

“We had several constraints, including budgetary constraints, of course, but also safety constraints, shooting time constraints, and high ambitions to produce a perfectly realistic result,” Marc Hall tells us.

First, the cinematographer and Marc Hall came up with the strategic idea of shooting the scene at night. This proposal offered a decisive advantage in terms of total control over the lighting of the scene during the two days of shooting. This approach also had the advantage of limiting what could be seen on the horizon through a shallow depth of field.

Another important decision was to avoid using a green screen:

“I didn't want a green screen either. The green color would have reflected everywhere on the sailboat”, said the visual effects supervisor.

Instead, the team opted for a simple and effective solution: surrounding the sailboat with black sheets. In addition, the natural darkness of the night made it possible to conceal the boundaries of the set without having to cover every corner.

Photo credit: Le journal Saint-François

To ensure that the actors' performances remained credible, the sailboat had to be placed on actual water. The actors needed to feel the instability and difficulty of moving around on a deck in the middle of a storm.

“With these constraints in mind, the location team managed to find a marina with a concrete bay that isolated the sailboat from other boats. This setup gave the team the practical effects of generating waves in a controlled space,” reports Marc Hall.

The rest of the work was done in Houdini software, with an entire month devoted to research and development. Finding the right wave speed, adjusting the movement of the water, creating the ideal texture of the white foam formed at the top of the waves, etc., each element was carefully studied to prepare for the integration of the shots.

“Even with all the preparation, creating realistic water is a long and arduous task. Fortunately, we were lucky to have a director who knew how to evaluate the work in progress, saving us from having to present him with a perfect integration every time. Often, the software's preview of the water, composed of blue grains, was enough to identify the action and make the necessary adjustments with the director.”

In 45 days, AA. Studios delivered more than 2 minutes of strikingly realistic aquatic visual effects. A real feat in a field where a single visual effects shot rarely exceeds a few seconds.

Photo credit: Marc Hall, Artifex Animation Studios Inc. (AA. Studios)

The skills behind these invisible effects

Working on a project like FANNY requires much more than just software skills. Among the key skills identified by the visual effects supervisor are:

The need for a keen artistic eye, essential for accurately reproducing nature and its details;
Advanced technical expertise to be able to master tools such as Houdini and create scripts to speed up production;
In-depth knowledge of the 3D pipeline to manage all stages of a visual effect from start to finish.

Photo credit: IMAGE FROM THE MOVIE FANNY, starring Léokim Beaumier-Lépine, Milya Corbeil Gauvreau, and Adelaïde Schoofs

Any advice for students who also dream of creating waves as majestic as those of FANNY?

The visual effects industry is more competitive than ever. For those who want to make a name for themselves, it's no longer enough to master the basics; you also need to stand out with a strong talent, whether artistic or technical:

“Job opportunities are becoming increasingly difficult to find in VFX. There are now a lot of people looking for work, and honestly, too many graduates for the actual demand. But funny enough, it takes me back to when I was starting out. A time when there wasn't much demand, so the competition was just as fierce,” says Marc Hall.

To achieve this, there are two complementary paths. On the technical side, it's not just a matter of mastering software like Houdini:

“You don't just need to know how to use the software, you also need to know how to create scripts and tools that speed up the work.”

On the artistic side, it's essential to cultivate skills that go beyond digital tools:

“I'm thinking of photography or video. Knowing how to frame an image, use lighting to highlight things, or even composition to tell a story. All of this relates directly to 3D animation and visual effects work.”

And finally, some fundamental advice:

“You have to put your ego aside. The work is meant to be criticized and will be ardently and constantly criticized. You have to get used to it right away, and even embrace it.”

Want to reproduce the texture of water with precision? Learn how to create dynamic water movements and majestic waves using the FLIP method via Geometry Context (SOP) on Houdini.

Sign up for the free online training course Houdini 20.0 – FLIP Oceans and Fluids Specialization presented by Vincent Fortin with the NAD-UQAC School on the EXPERTS platform, powered by SYNTHÈSE.

Marc Hall's career path

From a young age, Marc Hall had a passion for DIY and cinema. He enjoyed recreating props from films that inspired him, such as the robot Johnny 5 from Short Circuit (1986) and the Ghostbusters' equipment. He also sculpted characters straight out of his imagination, without imagining that this could one day become his profession.

Initially convinced that he wanted to go into the automotive industry, he enrolled in mechanical engineering. However, a traffic accident disrupted his plans and Marc missed the start of the semester, leading him to temporarily switch to industrial design.

It was during an AutoCAD class that a classmate introduced him to Kinetix 3ds DOS, a software program that would later become the famous Autodesk 3D Studio Max. The revelation was immediate. Fascinated, he dove headfirst into the world of 3D.

This discovery changed the course of his life. Marc Hall enrolled at I.C.A.R.I, a private school in Quebec specializing in animation and visual effects, where he completed an intensive 10-month program. He devoted 12 to 14 hours a day, sometimes more, to his studies, and his determination was rewarded with outstanding grades that quickly opened the doors to the job market.

In 1999, he landed a job at Fly Studio, where he brought photorealistic objects to life. At the same time, he took on more and more freelance work, often working more than 80 hours a week. He gained experience at a rapid pace and constantly enriched his portfolio.

His career continued at Digital Dimension, where he rose through the ranks to become CG supervisor. Among his most notable projects was J.J. Abrams' series LOST, for which his work earned him an Emmy Award.

At the end of 2005, he went freelance full-time. He traveled, helped studios get organized, and, in response to demand, gradually assembled a team. In June 2006, this adventure took a new turn: he officially launched AA. Studios.

Discover Marc Hall's career path