By: Scott Johnson on February 26, 2013
During the Oscars, The Avengers cast had a rather interesting exchange before presenting the Academy Award for Achievement in Visual Effects. Samuel L. Jackson started by saying, “And here are the nominees for..” Then, Mark Ruffalo interrupted, “You just skipped a big chunk.” Samuel L. Jackson questioned, “Did I?” Robert Downey Jr. added, “You did. It’s important that visual effects are given the respect that they deserve. This was a huge year for the effects.”
When the VFX winners were accepting their award for Life Of Pi, Bill Westenhofer was cut off by the Jaws theme. As director Kevin Smith tweeted, “They literally cut off the VFX winner while he was trying to talk about the issues facing the VFX community. Classy. #SMoscars”.
What Bill Westenhofer was attempting to relay was that Rhythm & Hues Studios, who provided visual effects for Life of Pi, had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In fact, visual effects artists held a protest near the Oscars to bring attention to issues facing the VFX industry.
In order to show support for the VFX industry, many users on Facebook and Twitter, such as Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, have been changing to green profile images. It’s meant to represent that if it weren’t for the VFX industry what you would see at movies instead of great special effects is a green screen.
