Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists

Gravy

Lee Stranahan is a Filmmaker, Writer, Photographer who writes for the Huffington Post. He has crafted an Open Letter To James Cameron. This is a must read: Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists

Via fxguide

Dotcommer · February 6th, 2010, 03:47 AM

We're in a bit of a bind I would say. If we start standing up, asking for "fairness", the employers only recognize that as "pay us more" which could be upsetting to them and could force more of our work to outsourcing to save on costs. Our industry has kind of gone the way of the education system here in America. Teachers are underpaid and generally disrespected, however they're invaluable to our country. You'd think someone who guides and shares knowledge for the future generations would be highly revered, idolized, appreciated.

Well, same thing goes for vfx.

I'm a little unsure how this letter will do. I appreciate it to be sure, but I don't believe it will move action upon this subject, let alone reach Cameron.

Am I being too cynical about this?

tommy138 · February 6th, 2010, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dotcommer

Am I being too cynical about this?

Nope same here, but of course it's good to see that there's little murmurs springing up now and again. There's a new fxguide podcast addressing the situation now as well (might have a listen at work on monday).

I still think that we're screwed though.

jaywallace23 · February 6th, 2010, 04:10 PM

dammit... someone beat me to posting this. I thought I was about to bring the news.

Dotcommer · February 6th, 2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaywallace23

dammit... someone beat me to posting this. I thought I was about to bring the news.

Lemme guess, "is Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists good for vfx peeps?" would have been the title, right? -_-

jaywallace23 · February 6th, 2010, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dotcommer

Lemme guess, "is Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists good for vfx peeps?" would have been the title, right? -_-

LOL... That sounds a good title, but I can't say for sure. I usually make my titles on the spot. Like all of my previous posts, their titles were created on the spot.

faulknermano · February 6th, 2010, 07:17 PM

Lee's appeal to a moral sensibility is fine, but it seems to be such a strange strategm in the context of today, and of being commercial. We should learn by now that being paid more has nothing to do with fairness, except what you're willing to accept is fair - through negotiations, or threat. I pity marginalised vfx artists (being one of them), but it's really our problem, not Cameron's, and - dare I say it - not the vfx companies' executives, producers', etc's problem. People operate on their own system's economics, some of them embracing it as a religion when times are good; we lived by it - and reaped the good stuff when it was there, but now we suffer by it. If vfx artists are being paid peanuts, it's perhaps that suitable replacements are readily available elsewhere. If suitable replacements are available then that means you're not that special, or not special enough to warrant being paid a very, very large peanut. Times are moving fast, software and hardware changing at an astonishing rate, and new talent jumping in. A bit scary, especially if you're growing old and getting outpaced, and can't convince anyone that your 'experienced' eye is worth more than the new guy's flash with the new app.

jaywallace23 · February 6th, 2010, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faulknermano

Lee's appeal to a moral sensibility is fine, but it seems to be such a strange strategm in the context of today, and of being commercial. We should learn by now that being paid more has nothing to do with fairness, except what you're willing to accept is fair - through negotiations, or threat. I pity marginalised vfx artists (being one of them), but it's really our problem, not Cameron's, and - dare I say it - not the vfx companies' executives, producers', etc's problem. People operate on their own system's economics, some of them embracing it as a religion when times are good; we lived by it - and reaped the good stuff when it was there, but now we suffer by it. If vfx artists are being paid peanuts, it's perhaps that suitable replacements are readily available elsewhere. If suitable replacements are available then that means you're not that special, or not special enough to warrant being paid a very, very large peanut. Times are moving fast, software and hardware changing at an astonishing rate, and new talent jumping in. A bit scary, especially if you're growing old and getting outpaced, and can't convince anyone that your 'experienced' eye is worth more than the new guy's flash with the new app.

very well said.... <3

Aruna · February 8th, 2010, 08:23 AM

Heh. Lee's a good guy. I talked to him via his radio show a while back, touching on wages. I think the open letter to Cameron is a good idea, not because it's going to affect Cameron at all, but because it's going to get the information out to the public airwaves simple because it has Cameron's name on it.

I mean, check it.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...=f&aqi=g10&oq=
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...&aq=f&aqi=&oq=

mike beckman · February 8th, 2010, 08:59 AM

yeah, the letter keeps the debate going amongst the vfx people, which is probably where it's most useful. I doubt Cameron would be willing to come forth and say "thanks to he academy and thanks to the scores of people who accepted less than they were worth to work on this film."

If the end result of people actually getting paid what they're worth is that the work vaporizes, then it's not a sustainable model in the first place. I don't anticipate that in the future we'll be given the option of paying $5.50 to see "The Wrestler" vs. $12.50 to see "Avatar". (I know that pricing for the imax version is higher, so maybe it is happening on a small scale.) -but what an interesting experiment that would be.

boomji · February 9th, 2010, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aruna

Heh. Lee's a good guy. I talked to him via his radio show a while back, touching on wages. I think the open letter to Cameron is a good idea, not because it's going to affect Cameron at all, but because it's going to get the information out to the public airwaves simple because it has Cameron's name on it.

I'm glad you're saying that aruna.
It's sad how he's being shot down else where and within the community

Lets assume for a moment that nothing of what he says is relevant or will have any consequence.Still if there was a chance (in hell) that something could come out of this butterfly effect wouldn't it be for the better ?

If someone were looking from the outside they'd point first to the fact that "His own people think he's nuts"

Lee if you're reading this...Thank you.
Where I'm coming from i know i'm ten times worse off than the average artist in the west and it's not going to change any.But the fact that you are at least tying to effect something for the better of your community has my respect.

b

Aruna · February 9th, 2010, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomji

I'm glad you're saying that aruna.
It's sad how he's being shot down else where and within the community

b

LOL. Were you reading the CGTalk thread too?

It got closed up pretty quick. That's not going to happen here.

theta · February 9th, 2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aruna

LOL. Were you reading the CGTalk thread too?

It got closed up pretty quick. That's not going to happen here.

Thank God this isn't CGTalk, where you have to tiptoe around Leigh and her PMS fueled lockdowns.

As far as the letter goes, I agree 100%, I just don't think Cameron will give a rat's ass. From everything I've heard, through people who've worked with him first hand, he's an asshole - Things like tons of people getting hurt during the filming of Titanic, and him not caring at all, unsafe working conditions, etc...

I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the other side of this issue either.

citysiren · February 9th, 2010, 05:47 PM

"Unlike every other craft in the film industry, there is no union for visual effects artists. This seems to be a matter of timing as much as anything. Modern visual effects techniques are only a few decades old, and the digital side of the visual effects arts really only has about 20 years of history as a popular filmmaking tool. The other filmmaking disciplines such as acting, directing and music composition date back to the very beginnings of the film industry."

idk about you guys but i actually learned and was taught about Melies and The Lumière Brothers, visual effects is just as old as film itself. I was also taught that modern compositing software is based on these old techniques (optical printer) so the above statement just baffles me.

also james cameron knows nothing about visual effects. he is one of those people we hate, that say "fix it in post". and the things the visual effects artist FIXES, he takes the credit for even though he has no right to.

also its a little off topic but i wanna know how someone who knows nothing about visual effects becomes a visual effects supervisor? has anyone seen the gnomon master class overview of the feature film vfx process. the title is super misleading, i was hoping to learn something but all i heard was the ramblings of Jeffrey A. Okun talking about i dont even know. just from hearing him talk about everything i can assume he knows nothing. maybe i'm wrong.

i'm tired of james cameron's name being even associated with vfx.

also i think james cameron is fully aware of the issue and probably doesnt want to change anything. he is happy and rich taking all the credit.

FKMaster · February 9th, 2010, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by citysiren

also james cameron knows nothing about visual effects. he is one of those people we hate, that say "fix it in post". and the things the visual effects artist FIXES, he takes the credit for even though he has no right to.

also i think james cameron is fully aware of the issue and probably doesnt want to change anything. he is happy and rich taking all the credit.

i think james cameron is a little different than others directors...
he know exactly the technical stuff what he expained in this video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aao0YSITuxc

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_450263.html

and titanic is over 10 years old...i think his mind changed....

but anyway....its not james cameron problem thats why cgi artist have no rights.