George Lucas, one of the true pioneers of the digital filmmaking era, presciently named his visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic. Perhaps, in his visionary way, he foresaw a future in which the miraculous became mundane, when the work of effects had lost its magic and become just another job to be done. Because baby, we’re there.
Every summer seems to bring an ever-fatter harvest of effects-laden tentpoles, and this year is no exception. Shape-shifting robots, legions of superheroes, death-defying time-travellers, planet-conquering apes, galaxy-rocking interstellar battles, and on and on and on. Now, I don’t go to see them all … if any. But in the interests of keeping a meta-eye on the industry, I watch trailers and read reviews. And I’ve noticed something.
No-one talks about the effects anymore. Despite an unprecedented number of big effects movies hitting the Cineplex, I cannot recall the last time I saw a review that commented on the effects work. Spectacular effects are now accepted and expected, too common to comment upon. Effects have become just another below the line item along with the grips, gaffers and catering. A commodity.
It’s a long long way from the business I knew, only a couple of decades ago.
I kind of stumbled into the industry in the early 90s. I was working with a progressive little post production company in Vancouver which specialized in effects for tv spots. We partnered up with a former employee to build a digital visual effects facility – Canada’s first. We had financing, we had work, we had talent and we had tech – by God, did we have tech: Canada’s first and only seats of Kodak’s game-changing Cinesite platform. Anyone remember Kodak?
They were thrilling times. The capabilities of digital image manipulation seemed to grow and mutate almost by the minute, and the promise to the film community was an alluring one: anything you can imagine, we can create. Anything. Visual effects artists were hailed as the new heroes of Hollywood. Meanwhile, every production, design, animation and effects company on the continent was busily adding ‘digital’ to their business card in an effort to show that they knew and spoke this strange new language.
But even as this new wave took hold, a counter-revolution was underway. The miraculous digital tools became cheaper and cheaper, dramatically lowering barriers to entry. Shops that had invested millions in ‘ware were bidding against upstarts who paid a fraction for newer gear that could do the same job. Demand rose, supply rose faster, costs fell, competition increased, and a race to the bottom ensued.
The industry hit a nadir of sorts a couple of years ago, when Ang Lee accepted the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi, a film that, without visual effects, would have been two hours of a boy in a boat (not to say that such a premise could not make a compelling film, but you know what I mean). In his acceptance speech, Mr Lee took time to thank his crew, his actors, his agent, his set builders, even his lawyer … but not one word for the army of artists who created the extraordinary effects that were the meat of the movie.
Perhaps the director, who reportedly felt that the effects cost too much, thought he had rewarded the effects team sufficiently without needing to thank them from the podium as well. Or perhaps it was a case in which the filmmakers just don’t get how much blood, sweat and tears goes into creating these miraculous visions. You tap a couple of keys, and then the computer does all the work… so what’s the big deal? The sad post script to the affair was that even as Mr Lee was failing to acknowledge the contribution of the vfx team to his film, the primary effects vendor, Rhythm & Hues, was filing for bankruptcy.
Not to say the industry is in trouble. VFX is big business in Vancouver these days, thanks to tax credits, a fertile film industry and oodles of available talent. Sony Imageworks is moving its HQ there, joining several other global effects houses that already have operations in the city. In warehouses and lofts and studios all over the city, thousands of artists toil in obscurity, making magic in the dark, crafting miracles for your amusement.
Big business, indeed.
Post script: there is still magic to be found in filmmaking, sometimes in unlikely places. Take this latest video from OK Go.
No fancy effects, no edgy editing, no digital wizardry. Just a meticulously planned and choreographed feast of trompe l’oeil trickery, filmed in a single unbroken take, with a fine, catchy soundtrack. Bravo.