VFX Beat: Most Discussed Posts

Some Inconvenient VFX Industry Truths

rkerrigan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:12:09 -0800

The major hurdle with the unionization of visual effects artists is that we would need to gain support within the walls of the studios. Unfortunately the studios have long since written off our welfare.

California Visual Effects Industry Gets Weaker Every Day

rkerrigan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:31:28 -0800

Several years ago an article in the Los Angeles Times an unnamed producer was quoted as saying “If I don’t put a visual effects house out of business, I haven’t done my job.” Visual effects folks all over the business found themselves searching for the name of this offender and a rope.

How Do You Define an Artist?

rkerrigan — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:33:23 -0800

I recently witnessed a conversation where a young fine artist told a Flame artist to his face that he did not consider him an “artist.” Obviously things heated up. As films employ hundreds of creative contributors, who among them do we really consider an “Artist?”

TRON: Legacy Review

rkerrigan — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:52:47 -0800

The first imperative for a producing company is that a film be profitable, preferably obscenely profitable, but for a viewer and lover of films the most important criteria of a movie is to transport us to other worlds and into the lives of other people in an entertaining fashion. An American film director once said: “a film is an immensely likable group of people doing an impossible task”. The producers of TRON: Legacy failed to embrace any element of this quote.

The Going Stays Rough for California VFX Houses

rkerrigan — Mon, 17 May 2010 09:32:59 -0700

CafeFX going on hiatus is just another example of how the state of California sits by and watches a great and green business fade into the sunset.

Tired of Keeping Your Head Down? A Modest Proposal...

rkerrigan — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:54:54 -0700

A call to arms for filmmakers to implement a large scale letter campaign to bring the work back to California. Business is controlling the economy (and the government) and is satisfied to let the American worker scramble on his way down to match the standards of living of our competitors. Letters to the governor, our senators and state assembly seem to be the most powerful tool in our arsenal. The greatest power we have is in awakening ourselves, then awakening our representatives to the missed opportunities that exist and giving them the incentive to make changes.

On the Road with Rick in Paris

rkerrigan — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:51:27 -0800

Many great adventures start with a journey of some sort. Not much happens when one stays in his rutted path and hopes the phone to ring. The visual effects business has been quiet for me these past two years and frankly I must consider that after thirty-two years in the saddle this horse is no longer prepared to carry me. This is something that many are currently facing worldwide. I’m not alone in this nor are you. One must also consider if the battle to remain within is ultimately worth the struggle required as wages spiral downward and competition becomes more extreme in its willingness to make any sacrifice to compete.

Kiss Your Hard Work Goodbye – Learn To Abandon Your Art

rkerrigan — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:23:31 -0700

Film and television particularly are the paramount mediums of abandonment. Despite our best efforts sometimes our work is connected to a film or show that sinks like a bag of kittens. It’s all part of the whole picture. Blessed is he who goes unscathed. You have to just learn to let it go…

What To Do Until The Cavalry Arrives...? Follow Your Bliss...

rkerrigan — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:51:46 -0700

A discussion of some of the ways various visual effects artists fill their time and their wallets while waiting for the current shortage of entertainment jobs to be over.

True Grit Review

rkerrigan — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:50:53 -0800

True Grit fits into the Coen Brother’s expanding body of work. Their scripts are not scripts of painful labor, deadlines, script-writing programs or marketing demands but of self-amusement. At the end of their day, they can be satisfied not only with the product but the process undergone. To sit and watch one of their films is to lean forward with a combination of bemusement and apprehension. True Grit does not disappoint. It’s a lot of fun.