「沒謝特效團隊」李安挨子彈

「沒謝特效團隊」李安挨子彈

• 2013-02-27
 
• 中國時報
 
• 張士達、吳江泉／綜合報導

▲《少年PI》在奧斯卡獲頒最佳視覺特效，４位獲獎者在後台開心合照。（路透）

▲R&H公司因電影《少年PI的奇幻漂流》再度暴紅，已租用的駁二特區７號倉庫加緊趕工中。（吳江泉攝）

　李安以《少年PI的奇幻漂流》在奧斯卡奪４大獎，卻不是所有人都跟著開心。該片特效團隊「R&H節奏特效」公司，日前申請破產且裁員。500名員工典禮場外抗議，一名員工還對李安上台致詞內容不滿，在推特寫：「你原本只需簡單地向這些人致意，就可讓大家正視他們的貢獻，但你沒有，你讓大家失望了。」

　場外抗議員工原指望有機會發聲，一次是《少年PI》獲視覺特效獎時，但謝詞遭致詞時間到的《大白鯊》音樂粗暴中止，一次則是李安獲導演獎時，他隻字未提特效貢獻。

　曾希望特效降價

　特效人員認為「R&H」的財務危機，暴露了特效工業在好萊塢日漸重要卻未獲重視的問題。他們在典禮後發布公開信，對李安曾表示「希望特效可以更便宜」大感不滿，認為正是特效人員長期辛苦奉獻，才讓片中大水池變成汪洋大海，讓不存在的老虎置身小船，李安才有機會上台領獎。

　他們認為該片獲最佳攝影的克勞蒂歐米藍達，也因特效後製才讓他的攝影如此絕美，卻也不曾感謝特效人員。信中表示相信李安是個體貼且優秀的人：「但我也相信你與你的同儕們，都同樣對特效人員的痛苦艱難視若無睹。」

　公司破產非因《PI》

　李安的弟弟導演李崗昨不解特效人員把矛頭轉向李安：「他得獎已感謝3000名劇組，就包含特效。他已多次感謝特效人員，且對特效公司破產難過遺憾，但今天特效公司破產不是因為《少年PI》才發生的。就是很單純的技術合作，又不是李安把他們公司搞砸的。」

　高雄市政府昨說，「R&H」在台公司財務獨立，獲得經濟部中小企業信保基金保證，向高雄銀行貸款並有國發基金及創投公司投資，資金已到位，３月展開第３期公開招訓人才，並進駐駁二特區，預計投資６億以上，聘用200多名有語言及數位內容專業能力的年輕人。

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An Open Letter to Ang Lee From a VFX Artist

Dear Mr. Lee,

When asked about the bankruptcy of Rhythm + Hues, the visual effects house largely responsible for making your film Life of Pi as incredible as it was, you said:

“I would like it to be cheaper and not a tough business [for VFX vendors]. It’s easy for me to say, but it’s very tough. It’s very hard for them to make money. The research and development is so expensive; that is a big burden for every house. They all have good times and hard times, and in the tough times, some may not [survive].”

I just want to point out that while, yes R&D can be expensive and yes it takes a lot of technology and computing power to create films like yours, it is not computer chips and hard drives that are costing you so very much money. It is the artists that are helping you create your film.

So when you say “I would like it to be cheaper,” as an artist I take that personally. It took hundreds of hours from skilled artists and hard-working coordinators and producers to craft the environments and performances in Life of Pi. Not to mention the engineers that wrote all of that proprietary code and build the R+H pipeline. That is where your money went. I’d say, judging from the night you just had, you got one hell of a deal.

Incidentally, those were the same gorgeous sunsets and vistas that your DP Claudio Miranda took credit for without so much as a word of thanks to those artists. And the same animated performances that helped win you the best director statue. Nice of you to mention the pool crew, but maybe you could have thanked the guys and gals who turned that pool into an ocean and put a tiger into that boat?

It was world class work, after all. And after a fabulously insulting and dismissive introduction from the cast of the avengers, at least two of whom spent fully half of their film as a digitally animated character, R+H won for its work on your very fine piece of cinema. And just as the bankruptcy was about to be acknowledged on a nationally-televised platform, the speech was cut short. By the Jaws theme.

If this was meant as a joke, we artists are not laughing.

Mr. Lee, I do believe that you are a thoughtful and brilliant man. And a gifted filmmaker. But I also believe that you and everyone in your tier of our business is fabulously ignorant to the pain and turmoil you are putting artists through. Our employers scramble to chase illegal film subsidies across the globe at the behest of the film studios. Those same subsidies raise overhead, distort the market, and cause wage stagnation in what are already trying economic times. Your VFX are already cheaper than they should be. It is disheartening to see how blissfully unaware of this fact you truly are.

By all accounts, R+H is a fantastic place to work; a truly great group of people who treat their employees with fairness and respect. Much like Zoic Studios, the fabulous company that I am proud to work for. But I am beginning to wonder if these examples of decency will be able to survive in such a hostile environment. Or if the horror stories of unpaid overtime and illegal employment practices will become the norm, all because you and your fellow filmmakers “would like it to be cheaper.”

I for one won’t stand for it. Please join me.

Warmest regards and congratulations,
Phillip Broste
Lead Compositor

Editor’s Note: This open letter was posted on Broste’s Facebook page, and we reprint it here with permission from the author. Thanks, Mr. Broste. Keep fighting the good fight. 

- See more at: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/an-open-letter-to-ang-lee-from-a-vfx-artist.php#sthash.uvJPl0lU.dpuf

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風光之下-台灣特效產業的借鏡

        第八十五屆奧斯卡風光落幕，場內星光熠熠的同時，場外卻有一批因公司破產而不知何去何從的特效人員群聚抗議。這個極端的場景赤裸裸的揭穿特效產業在電影裡興風作浪之外的真實面貌－如同各種跨國企業一般，充斥著剝削和壓榨。

      承包【少年Pi的奇幻漂流】特效的Rhythm & Hues Studios（R&H）公司會破產當然不會是李安的關係，李安的應對就我個人來看也沒什麼太大的問題。因此，在這件事情的思考上針對「個人」的討論我想並沒有太大的意義。我們該思考的是，究竟是什麼樣的事情導致這個表面上風光的產業必須破產走上街頭呢？

       財團法人台灣文創發展基金提出一份關於全球電影市場觀察的產業報告，在這份報告裡面指出，全球電影市場自從金融海嘯之後呈現穩定成長的狀況，而3D特效電影更是成為電影市場中的主流，不管是在發行量或是實質獲益都有顯著的成長。在2010~2012之間，全球最賣座的電影中有二十五部都大量採用了3D特效。此外，雖然製作3D特效所費不貲，但是高成本的同時亦能達到高回收的成果。根據數據顯示，使用3D特效的電影較沒有使用的電影平均能多四千一百萬美元的票房收入。

       特效公司並沒有因為電影更賺錢而獲利，那麼錢到底跑到哪裡去了呢？

        Edward Jay Epsteiny在《大銀幕後－好萊塢錢權秘辛》裡用了「數位鴻溝」（digital divide）這個詞生動的描繪出特效技術人員和好萊塢拍片現場彷彿兩個世界的迴異面貌。電腦繪圖人員不像大明星或大導演等拍片現場的人員有發光發熱的機會，大多是默默的埋首於一個個小隔間裡，鎮日面對著冷冰冰的螢幕繪圖。而這些技數人員的雇用並不像是劇組有固定的工作團隊，而是由承包的電腦公司雇用而來。為了壓低製作成本（這點和台灣的代工模式頗有異曲同工之妙），承包的電腦公司往往削價競爭，很多時候常會出現前一鏡頭和後一鏡頭是由兩家不同的電腦公司承包的情形出現。書中引述一位製作人的說法：「像是為家裡的每一間浴室各找一名叫價最低的水電工。」這種發包模式可以知道，特效產業和代工廠並沒什麼不同，領固定的錢做固定的事，電影再怎麼大賣都因為分配不均使得特效公司只能置身事外。

     全球化的時代，較為低階的技術工作（例如去背）甚至會被發包到中國或印度，低廉的人力成本使得美國本土的技術人員處境更為困難。另外，稅金補貼也是打擊美國特效產業的原因之一。為了吸引外國產業入駐，往往會提供稅金上面的減免。例如同樣一件發包案，美國的特效公司和加拿大的特效公司以相同價錢得標，但是加拿大特效公司就能夠拿到30~35%的稅金減免，而這個錢往往是流入擁有發包權的電影公司口袋裡。

      這樣的情形，也無怪乎場外抗議者會高舉「“I Want A PIece Of The Pi Too” Stop Subsidies!」

      談美國特效產業的情形，說實在頗有種「別人吃麵，在旁邊喊燒」的感覺。因為台灣唯一的困境就是根本沒有產業可言，有的只是厲害的技術人員和許許多多前仆後繼想投入的熱血青年。但是，換個角度想這未嘗不是一種契機？當李安和【少年Pi的奇幻漂流】替台灣掀起一股電影熱，政府紛紛開始想扶植產業的同時，不該只是看到國外特效產業的風光，更應該看見底下那不堪的一面，別讓台灣重蹈他人覆轍。