Congratulations to "Life of PI" Visual effects team

Congratulations to  Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik De Boer, Donald Elliott
for Best Visual Effects on "Life of Pi". 
Best of Luck with R and H. Hopefully they can figure out a way to keep it afloat.

It is a shame that the academy wouldn't let him finish his speech before they played the "Jaws" music. I think what he had to say was worth hearing. Perhaps Hollywood doesn't want the public to hear what he had to say.

Having worked in the industry myself for many years, I have seen a lot of companies go under from the enormous weight of their own overhead. Without the support of the studios, it's impossible for them to survive in a globally competitive market. This is what is happening with Rhythm and Hues, the company that created the visual effects for "Life of Pi" (they also one an Oscar for their work on "Babe"). Their enormous operating costs became too great for them to sustain their overhead- a weekly payroll of anywhere between 500 an d700 individuals. Without a steady stream of work awarded to them , large companies like this cant survive. That, coupled with massive competition from overseas companies where labour is cheaper and it becomes another example of an industry being shuffled out of the States, similar to the steel and textile industries. 

What are the solutions to these problems? For one, the industry and it's vendors need to reconcile the tech with the costs and try to find a middle ground. Studios and industry representatives need to put the pressure on lawmakers to end subsidies for outsourcing. Create tax incentives for companies who keep work here in the states. But the Vendors have to give a little too. One producer recently commented on OccupyVFX's Facebook page that R and H hamstrung productions by claiming it used proprietary software it wouldn't share with outside firms. This prevented studios from farming out shots to smaller less expensive companies to save costs. There has to be a give and take. Many believe unionization will solve many of these problems. It's difficult to tell, however. Unions have always had a tenuous relationship with Hollywood in other areas. Film crews typically work long hours and many feel that without Union safeguards, the studios would take advantage for their own benefit.