05
de Febrer
de
2016
Act.
05
de Febrer
de
2016
As a small boy he enjoyed inventing machines with tools from Bauhaus rather than running around after a ball, thus the professional future of Lluís Rivera was never that far from where it is today. He has just won the Gaudí prize for special effects for Anacleto, agente secreto (Javier Ruiz Caldera, 2015) thanks to the work done by his special effects company, In Extremis Film Services, which this Saturday could come away with its first Goya prize for the same work.
"Prizes above all provide credibility. When you get an award, the party atmosphere generates conversations with providers, people who are making films, and that is how you find out what projects are underway," says Rivera. He is positive about the Goya award ceremony, where he hopes to repeat his success in Barcelona. "I always go believing I'll win, in the same way that I always think the effects will come out well and that we will get more work. I am always very positive, in life and in business," says the entrepreneur.
Located in Sabadell, his company was born after he became involved in filming during the height of the economic crisis. "It all began with Ànimes, a film that did not have much money and I provided the effects. After it was over, I thought that it was just another life experience, but the producer of REC called me and I realised that there was a niche here," Rivera told VIA Empresa.
Since that experience, In Extremis Film has taken part in the filming of El Cuerpo (Oriol Paulo, 2012), Los últimos días (Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, 2013) and REC 4 (Jaume Balagueró, 2014), among others, and in a few days filming will start on xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (D. J. Caruso), starring Vin Diesel, in the Dominican Republic. Getting into the US market has made them more competitive, given that "in a film like xXxyou can have a special effects budget of two million dollars while, for example, for Anacleto it was between 100,000 and 150,000 euros. And, what's more, in the US you have to compete," he says.
As Rivera explains, the winners reinvest in inventing machinery to improve their special effects. "If you have the money, we can do it. However, in the US they have so much money and so many years producing and experience making films... They have the time they need," he points out.
Special effects made in Sabadell
Catapults, machines for making rain, snow, fog, in short, all the effects that a film needs to be credible, In Extremis Film designs everything in their industrial unit in Sabadell, a city with a good entrepreneurial atmosphere that is "full of ideas". And the business is working. "We are now filming two ads, preparing another and making new machinery, because we make everything we need ourselves: the machines for the specialists, the catapults, the flight effects, explosions, fans, machines for making rain or explosions... We make all of it ourselves," points out Rivera, who has an engineer with whom he develops what he thinks the film market might need. "We are a company that invests a lot. There are a lot of people who do not do that because no one is asking them to, and I think that no one demands it because no one has it and if they did, they would ask for it," he argues.
In an industry like this, the volume of production is quite irregular. "As far as staff goes, it varies a lot because it is a company that goes through cycles: suddenly you have a lot of work, then suddenly it falls off, but in all we have between seven and 10 employees. Beyond that, we take people on depending on the filming we have," he says. They mostly work on film productions in Spain, the US and the Caribbean, as well as Morocco.
Rivera has confidence in his team and their work. The way they manage the special effects unifies the three suppliers that a film production needs. "Normally in film, there are a lot of separate suppliers. For a scene in which someone shoots someone else and they fall to the ground, there are three suppliers involved: the specialists, the one with the weapon and the one who does the blood special effects. We wanted to unite these three concepts as it seemed the best way to do it, both for financial reasons as well as for the service: it is easier to come to an agreement with one person than three," he says.
With the same confidence, Rivera does not see a first Goya prize as unattainable to accompany the two Premis Gaudí, which he won in the last two editions. "Although El Desconocido (Dani de la Torre, 2015) has its moments, you could say that because of the volume of things in the film Anacleto is a strong candidate to win."
"Prizes above all provide credibility. When you get an award, the party atmosphere generates conversations with providers, people who are making films, and that is how you find out what projects are underway," says Rivera. He is positive about the Goya award ceremony, where he hopes to repeat his success in Barcelona. "I always go believing I'll win, in the same way that I always think the effects will come out well and that we will get more work. I am always very positive, in life and in business," says the entrepreneur.
Located in Sabadell, his company was born after he became involved in filming during the height of the economic crisis. "It all began with Ànimes, a film that did not have much money and I provided the effects. After it was over, I thought that it was just another life experience, but the producer of REC called me and I realised that there was a niche here," Rivera told VIA Empresa.
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| In Extremis Film designs effects that take the viewer by surprise. Ceded |
Since that experience, In Extremis Film has taken part in the filming of El Cuerpo (Oriol Paulo, 2012), Los últimos días (Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, 2013) and REC 4 (Jaume Balagueró, 2014), among others, and in a few days filming will start on xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (D. J. Caruso), starring Vin Diesel, in the Dominican Republic. Getting into the US market has made them more competitive, given that "in a film like xXxyou can have a special effects budget of two million dollars while, for example, for Anacleto it was between 100,000 and 150,000 euros. And, what's more, in the US you have to compete," he says.
As Rivera explains, the winners reinvest in inventing machinery to improve their special effects. "If you have the money, we can do it. However, in the US they have so much money and so many years producing and experience making films... They have the time they need," he points out.
Special effects made in Sabadell
Catapults, machines for making rain, snow, fog, in short, all the effects that a film needs to be credible, In Extremis Film designs everything in their industrial unit in Sabadell, a city with a good entrepreneurial atmosphere that is "full of ideas". And the business is working. "We are now filming two ads, preparing another and making new machinery, because we make everything we need ourselves: the machines for the specialists, the catapults, the flight effects, explosions, fans, machines for making rain or explosions... We make all of it ourselves," points out Rivera, who has an engineer with whom he develops what he thinks the film market might need. "We are a company that invests a lot. There are a lot of people who do not do that because no one is asking them to, and I think that no one demands it because no one has it and if they did, they would ask for it," he argues.
Fire&Explosions from In Extremis Film Services on Vimeo.
In an industry like this, the volume of production is quite irregular. "As far as staff goes, it varies a lot because it is a company that goes through cycles: suddenly you have a lot of work, then suddenly it falls off, but in all we have between seven and 10 employees. Beyond that, we take people on depending on the filming we have," he says. They mostly work on film productions in Spain, the US and the Caribbean, as well as Morocco.
Rivera has confidence in his team and their work. The way they manage the special effects unifies the three suppliers that a film production needs. "Normally in film, there are a lot of separate suppliers. For a scene in which someone shoots someone else and they fall to the ground, there are three suppliers involved: the specialists, the one with the weapon and the one who does the blood special effects. We wanted to unite these three concepts as it seemed the best way to do it, both for financial reasons as well as for the service: it is easier to come to an agreement with one person than three," he says.
With the same confidence, Rivera does not see a first Goya prize as unattainable to accompany the two Premis Gaudí, which he won in the last two editions. "Although El Desconocido (Dani de la Torre, 2015) has its moments, you could say that because of the volume of things in the film Anacleto is a strong candidate to win."
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| A shoot in which In Extremis Film recreates rain. Ceded |