People are noticing bright green squares popping up across their Facebook pages and wondering what’s going on. It’s not another secret message sent around to fool one gender or the other, nor is it an early start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Those in the know are aware that the particular shade of green being passed around is the chroma key color used in green-screen techniques. It is being spread across social media channels to bring awareness to the unappreciated and underpaid visual effects (VFX) artists working in this country. Some think it’s just about Oscar snubs, but the bigger picture focuses on the fact that movies are pulling in record breaking billions in box office revenue while the visual effects studios that help create the magic are going bankrupt and the artists that create the effects are losing their jobs because of the current climate in the industry.
More and more movies released include stunning visual effects. This isn’t just for sci-fi and action movies, but those genres tend to rely most heavily on the work 3D animators and visual artists are doing. Backgrounds, foregrounds, lighting and even complete characters are being rendered digitally even in comedies and dramas. Despite the fact that these movies are succeeding at the box office, the artists that are creating the magic are struggling to keep their jobs. Visual effects houses are closing their doors in a domino effect due to financial difficulties. In the past year, Matte World Digital, which did the digital effects for Independence Day and Titanic, closed its California offices and DreamWorks Animation announced that it’s laying off 350 employees before unveiling plans to team up with China Media Capital (CMC), Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and Shanghai Alliance Investment, Ltd. (SAIL) to develop animation and live action content.
For struggling effects artists, the last straw came as the company honored for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Rhythm & Hues, went bankrupt despite the movie grossing half a billion dollars at the box office to date. As Bill Westenhofer, VFX supervisor on the project, accepted the award and tried to make mention of the problem his time was cut short and he was unable to highlight the current concerns of his company. He told reporters, “…I wanted to point out that we aren’t technicians. Visual effects is not just a commodity that’s being done by people pushing buttons. We’re artists, and if we don’t find a way to fix the business model, we start to lose the artistry. If anything, Life of Pi shows that we’re artists and not just technicians.” To add insult to injury, Ang Lee, accepted the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi and managed to thank everyone involved with the picture except the visual effects team.
On top of the social media campaigns launching across the internet, VFX artists are protesting and picketing as they consider unionizing. It’s unclear when and how a resolve will arise but the process of how movies are made and the visual effects are achieved will surely be affected by this situation.
Photo courtesy of Heather Fairchild
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