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With so much static between the film industry and the visual effects industry these days, more and more conversations pop up about the part that VFX play in films. Do movies need visual effects? The short answer is yes.
Going to the cinema to see a film used to be about telling stories and entertaining the audience, because film makers are story tellers and story tellers just want their stories heard or seen. Even in the beginning the cinema was a place that people saw the impossible, a train coming right at them surely going to come through the screen and into the cinema smashing the chairs, but it didn’t As the film industry has evolved so have the special effects to go with it. Visual effects are a means of helping a director better tell their story. Sometimes the help needed is extreme, like in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Life of Pi, and sometimes it is more subtle, like Forrest Gump and Amelie.
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Now statistically less people are going to the cinema, but movies are still made, and there are definitely still people going to watch. With flat screen TVs in most homes and families investing in small home theater systems, the allure of the cinema becomes less. That is not to say that seeing films on the big screen with the large theater surround sound system doesn’t have its merits, because it does. However I feel that with the rise of home entertainment and viewing of films at home means that the film’s that make the best use of large screens and big sound systems; tend to be ones with very large VFX budgets. It is also these movies that do the best in the box office sales. This is the same box office sales that have become the measuring stick for whether not a movie is successful. With all the friction between VFX and film studios, I am sure there are film executives who would like to say that visual effects are not needed to make a good profitable film, however, if using the all-time box office sales is any indication, then VFX play a very large part in the success of a film. Going through that list of top box office sales, I notice two things; one that you must go a fair way down the list before you find a film you think might not be heavy with visual effects, but secondly many of the top films use VFX masterfully to help tell great stories.
As 3D visual effects are conceived and executed by artists, they use many methods for speeding up their work, but their is no getting around the fact that for good VFX it takes new technology, talented artists, and time to complete. Visual effects artists are talented individuals all working together to help a director visualize their story. A harmonious partnership between film studio and VFX studio creates great storytelling, and fantastic movie going experiences for all. In order to smooth the relationship between the industries, there will have to be changes and compromises made. A couple years ago the Visual Effects Society wrote an open letter about the problems that were facing the industry as a whole, and more recently another open letter was written by a VFX artist, but to Ang Lee. There is no doubt in my mind that visual effects are a major part of the television and film business and art form, and will continue to be for many years to come. Hopefully like the actors, sound engineers, electricians, etc, the visual effects artists will have the same rights and privileges of those other careers within the film industry.
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