VFX/Animation Industry to protest the Oscars
Life of Pi (Fox) and Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal) together grossed almost a billion dollars worldwide. Rhythm & Hues Studios, the company that brought Richard Parker to life and created the bulk of the visual effects for these two Oscar nominated films, has just declared bankruptcy. Many of the artists who worked nights and weekends to create those effects are out of work and unpaid for weeks of work (including nights and weekends) on new tent-pole films for the same studios, Fox and Universal. It’s time for change!
(via Cartoon Brew)
The disrespectful behavior exhibited by Samuel L. Jackson during the award’s introduction and the trivializing “Jaws” cut off just as Westenhofer addressed Rhythm and Hues’ bankruptcy deserve more coverage than Jennifer Lawrence hitting the stairs just before her speech. These people are artists, not drones, creating visual masterpieces with hours of patience and perseverance. If you are an artist, of any measure, this should concern you. The company responsible for making you have feelings for a ship-wrecked predator, Rhythm and Hues, has declared chapter 11 bankruptcy. These studios are underpaid and under-appreciated. Spread the news, call out the Academy on its tactless dismissal of the hundreds of visual artists struggling to stay afloat.