這兩天李安有些郁悶了。雖然自己的《少年派》在奧斯卡拿下4項(xiàng)大獎(jiǎng),卻無法滿足所有人的愿望。因?yàn)闉樗谱魈匦У墓緟s要面臨破產(chǎn)的現(xiàn)實(shí)。昨日又爆出,其中一名特效師Phillip Broste在其“臉譜”個(gè)人主頁上向李安寫了一封公開信,針對其致辭表示不滿,他稱,“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(xiàn),但你沒有,你讓大家失望了。”

李安在致辭中表示特效制作成本太高,希望還能更便宜點(diǎn)。最佳攝影獎(jiǎng)得主Claudio Miranda也沒有對3D藝術(shù)家們表示感謝。

李安的弟弟就此事替李安說話,“他得獎(jiǎng)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(chǎn)難過遺憾,但今天特效公司破產(chǎn)不是因?yàn)椤渡倌昱伞凡虐l(fā)生的。就是很單純的技術(shù)合作,又不是李安把他們公司搞砸的?!?其實(shí)不僅僅是R&H特效一家公司,去年,已有多家美國特效公司陸續(xù)宣布破產(chǎn)。

(特效公司的支持者在抗議)

后期特效師Phillip Broste致李安的公開信:

Dear Mr. Lee,
親愛的李先生:

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:
當(dāng)你被問及你那不可思議的影片《少年P(guān)i的奇幻漂流》的主要后期制作公司宣告破產(chǎn)時(shí),你說:

“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].”
“我希望費(fèi)用能更便宜,希望對于視覺特效制作方而言不是個(gè)難辦的生意。我說起來容易,但這非常困難。他們很難賺錢。研發(fā)費(fèi)用十分高昂,這對任何公司而言都是一筆很大的負(fù)擔(dān)。他們有輝煌也有艱辛,在那些艱辛的歲月時(shí),有些公司可能會(huì)無法存活?!?/div>

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.
我要指出的是,的確研發(fā)非常昂貴,的確要制作一部你這樣的電影需要很多技術(shù)和運(yùn)算能力,但花了你這筆錢的不是電腦芯片和硬盤。是這些特效師們幫助你創(chuàng)造了你的電影。

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.
所以當(dāng)你說“我希望費(fèi)用更便宜”時(shí),作為一名特效師,我覺得你是針對我們說的。為了制作出《少年P(guān)i的奇幻漂流》中的場景和表演,這些技術(shù)精湛的特效師們和辛勤工作的協(xié)調(diào)人、制作人花了成百上千個(gè)小時(shí)。更不要說那些寫出專有代碼,建起R+H流程的工程師們。這是你花錢的地方。我得說,從剛過去的那個(gè)晚上來看,你實(shí)在賺大了。

(老虎設(shè)計(jì)圖)

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?
巧的是,你的攝影指導(dǎo)Claudio Miranda同樣將這些壯麗的日落和景觀、這些助你贏得最佳導(dǎo)演獎(jiǎng)杯的動(dòng)畫表演歸功于自己,只字不提向這些特效師表示感謝。你提到了水池里的工作團(tuán)隊(duì),這點(diǎn)很好,但你是否還能向那些將水池變?yōu)橥粞蟠蠛?、在船上裝了只老虎的大家表達(dá)謝意呢?

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.
不管怎么說,這是一部世界頂級的作品。在《復(fù)仇者聯(lián)盟》主演們令人震驚的侮辱和輕蔑的介紹后——他們中至少兩個(gè)人在電影中有一半時(shí)間都是數(shù)碼動(dòng)畫合成人物——R+H憑借對你電影的精良制作獲得了獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)。正當(dāng)我們打算在這個(gè)全國直播的平臺(tái)上宣布破產(chǎn),我們的致辭被《大白鯊》主題曲打斷從而被剪短了。

If this was meant as a joke, we artists are not laughing.
如果這本來是一個(gè)玩笑,我們這些特效師可笑不出來。

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.
李先生,我相信你是個(gè)考慮周到而智慧的人,也是一名才華橫溢的電影工作者。但我同樣確信你和任何一個(gè)和你同等級的人都對你們對我們這一行帶來的痛苦和混亂一無所知。在電影工作室的要求下,我們的人拼命在全球爭取非法電影贊助。這些贊助過多擾亂了整個(gè)市場,從而在這個(gè)蕭條的經(jīng)濟(jì)下我們?nèi)圆粫r(shí)停發(fā)工資。你的視覺特效制作費(fèi)用已經(jīng)低于應(yīng)收的費(fèi)用??吹侥阈腋5亟z毫不了解這樣的事實(shí),這令我們很失望。

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.”
人人都說R+H是一個(gè)很好的工作地點(diǎn)。有一群很棒的人,公平地、尊重地對待他們的員工。很像Zoic工作室,我很驕傲為這家公司工作。但我開始懷疑在這樣一個(gè)充滿敵意的環(huán)境下,這些正面例子還能否存活?;蛘?,那些無薪酬加班、非法雇用等可怕的事情會(huì)不會(huì)成為常態(tài),一切只是因?yàn)槟愫湍愕碾娪爸谱魍聜兿胍百M(fèi)用更便宜”。

I for one won’t stand for it. Please join me.
僅表達(dá)我個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)。請關(guān)注我。

Warmest regards and congratulations,
送上最誠摯的祝福和祝賀!

Phillip Broste
Lead Compositor