BSA306, VFX doc "Life After Pi", 29 August, 2017

Life After Pi documentary  by HollwyoodEndingMovie details how Rhythm & Hues, an academy award nominated and winning VFX studio was forced to declare bankruptcy 11 days before winning the Oscar for Life of Pi.  The VFX industry works for only 6 clients who are able to set prices by forcing them into fixed bid contracts.  Those clients are then able to change their minds about what they want done and the VFX artists have to do it on the original budget, no matter what.  3 months of delays on Life of Pi forced R&H to take money out of their own pockets to finish the movie instead of downsizing the workforce.  A brutal and sobering documentary for anyone who wants to go into VFX.  The interviewees suggested that having the director on site while they work would make a difference to creativity because the decisions would be being made in real time.  I'm sure that animation has it's own problems, but working in VFX definitely doesn't appeal to me after seeing this doc and others like it.