Special and Visual Effects : it's a shame what hollywood is doing to the v/fx industry

it's a shame what hollywood is doing to the v/fx industry

Hollywood wants bigger and better but want it for near free when it comes to visual effects.

Having to take a job at 5% above cost then having to lay off hundreds of people should be news worthy, especially since the finished product went on to make over $500 million. These events shouldn't be a blip of "oh gee that's terrible".

Rhythm & Hues is just the tipping point, studios closing after doing a huge project has become to much of the norm. Things have got to change and sooner rather than later.
http://io9.com/5987131/why-the-visual-effects-industry-protested-the-o scars-and-how-the-academy-insulted-them-in-return



Brought to you by Carl's Jr

Re: it's a shame what hollywood is doing to the v/fx industry

More information on the protests:

http://thinkinganimationbook.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-piece-of-pi.html


Contrary to what the rest of the world thinks, the artists working on movies are not rich. Artists receive no residuals, royalties or back-end bonuses from the award winning films they work on. On a union movie set every person working on a film is covered. They have a residuals, pension, health benefits, but not the post production artists. Even puppeteers are SAG covered. Thus, "If the work VFX/Animation/CG artists create is the main reason these movies are blockbusters, why don't they get a piece of the pi?"


It's the same situation even in feature animation. As an animator, even if I was Union, I wouldn't get residuals or royalties... but the "voice actors", who do less work then I do, get all that and more. It's a really screwed-up bass-ackwards situation.


NOT JUST VFX: The folks working in CG Animation for studios like Dreamworks, Disney, Pixar, BlueSky, etc. are feeling the push to create more profit too. See the breakdown below of recent closings of VFX and Animation Facilities.

(list of studios)

Although the green square on facebook makes reference to the behind the scenes of VFX, CG Feature Animation is suffering the same layoffs and outsourcing. Artists at big studios working on intellectual properties fear losing their job. Staff positions with benefits and sick days no longer exist. Newbie animators with little to no experience are being hired and trained only to find a sink or swim attitude. If the newbie doesn't cut it in production, they are let go. You get three weeks to prove you can work at the same level as a seasoned artist. The race to the bottom is about to hit rock bottom. The next few months, will reveal what is in store for the industry as a whole.


F_cked up is what it is.

Re: it's a shame what hollywood is doing to the v/fx industry

Calling it f-cked up is putting it lightly. If things don't change, eventually, you're going to see these jobs being outsourced to China and India which will inevitably lead to some sh!tty FX work regardless of how large the film's budget is.

Re: it's a shame what hollywood is doing to the v/fx industry

A lot of the jobs are being outsourced already. Most VFX studios have facilities in India or China now-a-days. Did you hear about the Digital Domain fiasco? I believe they were just bought out by a Chinese company.

Actually Rhythm and Hues, despite being bankrupt, just opened up a studio in Taiwan:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/rhythm-hues-is-hiring-in-taiwan-79 464.html

Yeah, the whole industry is a mess.

Top