Digital Arts recently posted an article on the VFX Emmy nominates which include a lot of great tv shows like: Game of Thrones, Black Sails and Vikings to name a few. Here is the game of thrones one below! To read the full article please click here [embed]https://vimeo.com/133433110[/embed] What do you guys think?! I know I can't wait for the next seasons of these shows and the visual effects is looking incredible!
Unbelievable, unwatchable and unavoidable?
A recent article on cracked.com titled: 6 Reasons Modern Movie CGI Looks Surprisingly Crappy has been making the rounds on social media recently. I've seen people sharing it with myself and other visual effects artists and including comments along the lines of "told you so" and "sort it out!".As a visual effects artist, I can't help but feel like they're calling us the bad guys, but is that really true?
In a response to the latest VFX Blockbuster behemoth Avengers: Age Of Ultron, the article claims that a significant and growing percentage of the public is weary of the big visual effects driven films today. The article goes on to list reasons like the tendency for blockbusters to ignore the laws of physics in big action sequences (unbelievable), ubiquitous and over the top orange and teal grading palette (unwatchable) and a general criticism for the overuse of CG for absolutely everything, everywhere (unavoidable).The author occasionally channels Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) in Jurassic Park when he said: "(they) were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."To be fair, I agree with a lot of the sentiment of the article. Even as a film visual effects artist for whom it is in my best interest to see more visual effects in movies, as a film lover I'm almost always in the "less is more" camp when it comes to the tricks of my trade.The bottom line: We shouldn't blame the visual effects artists for the excesses of the studios. The studios who make these crazy visual effects bloated blockbusters are first and foremost in it to make money (art comes a little further down the list for them) and they have observed that more often than not, lots of visual effects = lots of money at the box office. It makes sense that they're going to shoehorn in more and more visual effects chasing that lovely filthy lucre.As long as the visual effects heavy blockbusters keep bringing in the lions share of the unprecedented billions at the box office during this "golden age" of studio profits, they are not just going to stay the course, they are going to turn it up to Eleven.
New kid on the block
Could you use an extra £8,720?!
UK workers gave their bosses nearly £32bn worth of unpaid overtime last year – an average of £6,050 each if these hours had been paid – according to new analysis published today (Friday) by the TUC for Work Your Proper Hours Day.The report estimates that on average, London workers earn £20.45 per hour and work 8.2 hours of overtime per week - loosing out on £8,720 per year!That's a lot of unpaid overtime across the board for all industries here in the UK. We're guessing that if this report only looked at the Visual Effects Industry, the value of unpaid overtime to each vfx worker would be even higher!How much are you loosing out on? You do the math!
Full report here:Workers contribute £32bn to UK economy from unpaid overtime
SplineBomb: MPC lays off 150 artists
MPC let go 150 artists http://t.co/VYdJJ41BCj @VFXSolidarity @VFX_RANT @scott_squires— SplineBomb.com (@SplineBomb) January 27, 2015
#VFX facts worth repeating over and over again
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYtqkJWcdB0[/embed]
Make sure you can come to our VFX Christmas bash
At the Nellie Dean of Soho, Monday, Dec 8th from 6.30pm
"This story only highlights what MPC wants people to believe"
A recent article in ‘Variety’ about the London company is being met with a storm of protest from within the VFX community. Commenters complain about a toxic corporate environment and describe deplorable working conditions.The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is said to have "managed to fly high without losing sight of crucial details, notably its people."Which drew comments in response that include:"Having worked at MPC I have to say that this story is hilariously inaccurate….in fact it’s the complete opposite of reality. Within the VFX industry they are known to be treat their artists awfully.""This story only highlights what MPC wants people to believe. Anyone who has worked there or knows someone who has, knows this story to be a PR exercise and nothing more."Jennifer Wolfe writes on AWN:"The real news is the 135+ comments that have been posted in Variety’s comments section, most of them describing deplorable working conditions, including massive amounts of overtime without pay and a toxic corporate environment."And VFX Soldier comments:"MPC is sort of the Walmart of the VFX industry: It’s a powerful company that treats it’s workers just poorly enough to where they can get the most amount of work out of them."Readers who commented on the article generally regarded the story as a "puff piece". Reportedly, huge weekly workloads of between 60 to 100 hours are "always risking deadlines and quality." Commentary ranges from outrage to anecdotal evidence."100 hour and over workweeks are the NORM… not just sometimes, all the time. People blocking the exits so you cannot leave until 3am dailies are completed is the NORM. Does this sound like a decent workplace? They BLACKLIST.""Talk about management practices, blacklists, bullying, things they’ve done which is illegalsuch as not keeping track of OT""Absolute nightmare. So many broken promises. Underpaid undervalued and treated like a slave. I was ill with stress multiple times, got RSI and entered work each morning with gut wrenching anxiety.""Most of these stories are true. MPCs working hours are beyond unrealistic and disgusting.""This puff piece was just the straw that broke the camels back. If Benson already knows what it’s actually like working there and is signing off on this kind of PR fluff then that’s depressing. If he doesn’t it’s just worrying.""Talk to your employees! Talk to the staff, to the artists, to the technicians. Let them come to your office regularly, they don’t bite: you’ll be immensely surprised of what goes on. And believe me: you’ll company will finally make proper use of its workforce and make way more money."One commenter encourages the readers "to try and improve the job and an industry that, reading the comments here, you clearly still care about."Late Friday the number of comments has reached 300.
LINKS:variety.com/2014/film/news/moving-picture-co-finds-valuing-artists-is-the-best-effect-1201346561/awn.com/news/workplace-conditions-mpc-called-poisonousvfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/varietys-mpc-puff-piece-reveals-vfx-industry-woes-few-solutions/