Some Inconvenient VFX Industry Truths
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.
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.
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?”
Last Thursday night was the annual Visual Effects Bake-off held at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Theater in Beverly Hills. For your ninety bucks you could attend the pre-event party at Kate Mantellini and get packed together in what was called by my drill instructor during boot camp as “balls to butts.” Plus eat crab cakes.
January 7th I was fortunate enough to (once again) see James Cameron’s Avatar on the big screen, projected in the Stag Theater at the Skywalker Ranch in Dolby 3D Digital Cinema. There’s nothing like a state-of- the-art theater to really set the hook for the 3D experience. The film also proves that improving image quality is perhaps the easiest goal to accomplish in this day of technical marvels.
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.