VFX
How VFX Pros Transformed Worlds and Faces With Visual Effects
Without a juggernaut such as Avatar: The Way of Water in the running — and schedule changes that pushed big tentpoles, notably Dune 2, back to 2024 — this season’s visual effects Oscar race is shaping up to be a competitive one. The road to a nomination begins with a committee of branch members who […]
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Generative AI Is “Not To Replace The Human Aspect of Getting a Performance,” Asserts Digital Domain CTO
Digital Domain CTO Hanno Basse sees a lot of potential for the use of generative AI and machine learning in visual effects, but “not to replace the human aspect of getting a performance” with actors. “The human audience want to connect with human beings,” he asserted in a keynote Monday at the Society of Motion […]
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VFX Labor Issues Addressed at Honors Event: “Without Collective Bargaining, There Will Be No Progress”
Following the recent votes by VFX workers at Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel to unionize with IATSE, a call for collective bargaining received enthusiastic applause during an intimate Visual Effects Society Honors ceremony and reception Friday at Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center. Referencing the SAG-AFTRA strike and recently ended WGA strike, honoree Bob Coleman, a […]
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Walt Disney Pictures In-House VFX Workers Vote to Unionize Under IATSE
Visual effects workers at Walt Disney Pictures — the in-house VFX employees including data wranglers, witness camera operators, and other production staff — voted unanimously by a vote of 13-0 to unionize under IATSE in an election held by the National Labor Relations Board. “These workers’ collective action against the status quo represents a seismic shift in […]
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Digital Domain Enters Into Partnership With PRG
Visual effects company Digital Domain has entered into a non-exclusive partnership with production tech and services provider PRG (Production Resource Group). Per the “co-brand” agreement, when required for certain projects, the two companies will offer their services as a sort of “one stop shop.” That might include areas such as virtual production, for which PRG […]
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‘Oppenheimer’ VFX House DNEG Responds to Pay Cuts
Days after the lead visual effects house behind Oppenheimer and Dune was reported to be undergoing cost-cutting measures that included pay cuts as high as 25 percent, DNEG is elaborating on those plans. “As we continue to proactively review this difficult situation, we have been consulting closely with our employees and teams across the globe,” […]
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Marvel Visual Effects Workers Unanimously Vote “Yes” to Unionize
It’s official: In a unanimous vote, the visual effects employees at Marvel Studios voted to unionize with IATSE in a closely watched election held by the National Labor Relations Board. The vote marks the first time a unit of solely VFX workers has unionized with IATSE. Voting closed on Monday after the International Alliance of […]
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Visual Effects Society Responds to Complaints of Studios Downplaying VFX Work: It’s “Time to Bring VFX Into the Light”
The Visual Effects Society, which represents 4,500 members in 45 countries, asserts that VFX artists “deserve credit where credit is due.” The honorary society issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, in response to THR’s Sept. 1 story titled “VFX Pros Expose the Hidden Costs of Selling a Movie as ‘Real,’” which tackled the trend of […]
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VFX Pros Expose The Hidden Costs of Selling a Movie as “Real”
“Everything that we shot is completely practical” said Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie in a behind-the-scenes video about the film’s high-octane Rome-set car chase. Added star and producer Tom Cruise, “we’re doing it right.” The comments continue the trend of filmmakers and studio marketing departments emphasizing how productions do things for […]
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“Responsible AI”? Some Hollywood VFX Pros See the Upside
As artificial intelligence continues to be a focal point in Hollywood amid the actors and writers strikes, terms such as “responsible AI” and “ethical AI” became key messaging for computer graphics thought leaders gathered in Los Angeles for the 50th SIGGRAPH conference. “The generative AI era is upon us, the iPhone moment of AI, if […]
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‘Haunted Mansion’: How VFX Brought Classic Ghosts to the Big Screen
In creating Disney’s new movie Haunted Mansion, members of the visual effects team took walks through the iconic Haunted Mansion ride for inspiration. In the ride, which first opened in 1969 at Disneyland, guests walk through the gate and into the Mansion before being guided into “Doom Buggies” in which they ride through the haunted […]
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‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’: VFX Team on Creating a Young Harrison Ford and How Mads Mikkelsen’s Villain Survived That Train Fall
Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic, which won Oscars for the visual effects in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom, returned to use every trick in the book on the whopping 2,350 VFX shots in the fifth installment of the franchise. In the opening action sequence of Indiana […]
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