The Green Thing

Hey guys!

Finally we hit our third month of the year! Isn't it crazy how time flies?
Before we know it, it's gonna be summer time, and then end of year. Scarrryyyy!!!
That's why, use our time wisely! :)

Anyway, a lot of things happened during my last post and this one.
One of the big issues is about what's currently going on in the visual effects (vfx) industry.

As we all know, our movies nowadays are heavily done using vfx. The Avengers, Life of Pi, The Hobbit, to name a few. And it seems that the demand for vfx houses and artists are greater than before.

So, with the Hollywood Blockbuster movies are doing well, what makes the vfx industry suffer, to the point of a couple of well-known vfx houses went bankrupt, and vfx artists around the world are doing a protest?

Well, after reading a lot of resources, I came to a conclusion that it's because of the unrealistic demands from the employers (not the vfx houses, but the movie production houses that hire them). To put it simply, the artists were expected to work long hours without having any compensation. Some of them even haven't gotten paid for a few weeks and then got let go. (Maybe the employers were expecting the artists to survive by eating grass and stone, or go back to hunting like in pre-historic era.)

And it's very ironic, just when Life of Pi received the Oscar for best visual effects, Rhythm & Hues (R&H); the vfx house that was responsible for all the work, filed for bankruptcy 2 weeks prior.
And what set the alarm was, as the film's supervisor from R&H delivered his speech and was about to talk about R&H's financial condition, his mic got cut off and the background music started playing!
Dude, it happened right on the Oscar's acceptance speech!
It's like the Hollywood asked them to shut up.
So yea, that was the moment that started all these protests and support groups.

And to support the industry and the artists who suffer from unfairness, a lot of people have changed their profile pictures in facebook to be a green square (a green screen where vfx artists work on).
There's even a facebook page about "VFX Solidarity International" which gathers more than 60,000 people to join hands, whether or not they're an artist.

I, myself am not a vfx artist particularly, but being an artist, of course I feel what they're going though! That cheap practices are also happening in Illustration industry too. There are a lot of people who offer to pay us with experience instead of money.
And sadly, a lot of newbies are taking it. I also used to think like that.
But now? Offering an experience only? Get out!
I think I can find something that pays fair AND gives me an experience. Thank you very much.

Really, I honestly think business people really have to see us as "human beings" not just some commodities that can do art.
You guys need our talent, so why can't you appreciate us more? :)

I was having a silly idea. What if one day, all artists united to finally step down from the industry. What would that be?
What would a movie looks like without all those cool effects?
What about a game? Or a TV show?

Maybe we all need to stop and think for a bit.
That's if we care. Well, I do big time. What about you? :)

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Wow, this turned out to be a rant section by itself lol. I was gonna make it short and then combine it with other topics, but I guess now it deserves its own entry :p



Until then!

Mutia~