Dear Mr. Lee,
親愛的李安先生
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:
“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].”
"我希望能做的便宜點，這樣特效公司的經營就不至於如此艱辛。對我而言，說很容易實際卻不易執行。對他們而言，賺錢很不容易，研發經費相當昂貴，這對每間公司來說都是很大的負擔，他們都有賺錢或虧損的時候，但在低潮時有些公司就是撐不下去。
。"
。"
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.
然而，我只是想要對此提出說明，沒錯！特效研發是一筆昂貴開銷，它也需要大量的科技設備和電腦運算來完成像"少年Pi"這樣的電影，但是你要知道，並不是那些電腦晶片或硬體在花你如此多的錢，而是這些幫助你創造這部電影的藝術家們。
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.
所以當聽到你說："我希望能做的便宜點"時，身為特效藝術家的我對此非常介意，但我想我也有責任要讓你瞭解實際狀況：少年Pi的特效與呈現是花了許多高竿的藝術家投入數百小時才雕琢而成，加上賣命工作的現場助理與特效製片來回協調，才能製作出電影裡令人讚嘆的場景與動物表演，更不用說還有工程師寫出長串合適的程式碼並建立起整部電影的製作流程，而這些才是花掉你大把鈔票的地方。我必須說，尤其在你今晚靠著少年Pi得到最佳導演如此殊榮之後，你的不適當發言影響重大。
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 mentionthe pool crew, but maybe you could have thanked the guys and gals who turned that pool in to an ocean and put a tiger in to that boat?
順帶一提，你的攝影師Claudio Miranda贏得了奧斯卡最佳攝影，但是電影中那些燦爛美麗的夕陽落日卻是特效人員的功勞，得獎時他連謝謝都沒說一句。而為你贏得最佳導演的許多動物角色，牠們的表演其實也是出自動畫師的巧手。很高興你有提到在造浪池現場的工作團隊，但是或許你也應該謝謝把那個游泳池變成大海，把老虎放進船裡的幕後人員，不是嗎？(編按：救生船上的老虎其實都是由電腦繪圖所產生，可以說整部片有超過八成的老虎以及其他會動的動物都是來自特效團隊默默的辛勤努力，讓牠們看起來栩栩如生，而且可以做到任何導演希望的表演。)
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 it’s 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.
畢竟，少年Pi的特效是世界一流的作品，入圍奧斯卡並不意外。頒獎典禮開始，首先是復仇者聯盟一票演員驚人的羞辱與失焦的開場(影片)，他們出現的原因大概是因為電影中有兩個重要角色(浩克&鋼鐵人)幾乎由特效人員一手打造，接著R&H靠著你優秀的作品贏得了實至名歸的榮耀"奧斯卡最佳視覺特效"，但是當得獎的R&H團隊要提及他們面臨破產困境時，在全國轉播的情況下得獎感言卻被硬生生的截斷(影片)，還是用大白鯊的主題曲。(編按：大白鯊在當年也以視覺特效聞名並獲得票房上的巨大成功，今年的奧斯卡用該片主題曲做為提醒得獎人演講超時的提醒，但R&H四人的感言其實才進行不到兩分鐘，甚至比李安的得獎感言還短。)
If this was meant as a joke, we artists are not laughing.
假如這是個玩笑，我們藝術家笑不出來。
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.
李安先生，我相信你是個聰明、有想法並且深具才華的電影人，但是我同時也深信，你和你的電影朋友對於我們產業是多麼的無知，並且忽視了你加諸在我們身上的痛苦與混亂焦慮。我們的老闆們在好萊塢片廠的要求下爭相競逐在世界各地的"非法"補貼(編按：像是R&H與高雄市政府的合作，"非法"指得應該是雇用條件違反美國勞基法)， 那些多增加的補貼經費扭曲了市場行情，在整體經濟蕭條下使得薪資停滯。老實說，你的視覺特效支出已經比它原本應有的價錢還要便宜了，因此對這件事實的無知，你得獎後充滿喜悅的發言實在令我們深感沮喪。
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.”
在視覺特效產業的人都知道，R&H擁有優質的工作環境且有著很棒的公司領導階層，對待底下員工既尊重又公平。更多的好公司像是：Zoic Studios，我以自己曾在那工作過深感驕傲，但是我不禁開始擔憂，這樣正派的好公司是否將面臨同樣的存亡危機，又或者是讓不發加班費以及訂定不合勞基法的雇用合約，這些糟糕至極的事變成常態，只因為你和你那圈子的製片人想要"更便宜"。
I for one won’t stand for it. Please join me.
我無法接受這樣的事，如果你也不同意的話，請加入我們的行列。
Warmest regards and congratulations,
Phillip Broste
後記
奧斯卡頒獎典禮場內星光熠熠，導演明星光鮮亮麗鎂光燈閃個不停，場外特效藝術家卻為產業擔憂，群聚抗議電影業逐漸擴大的貧富差距。隔行如隔山，李安是電影人不可能完全瞭解整個幕後製作的流程與困難，更不會知道有多藝術家為了他的影片與靈光乍現熬夜加班，費心賣力只為了成就電影中完美的影像，"少年Pi"是一部倚賴電腦繪圖相當重的電影，甚至現在賣座的電影有高達八成都是特效取向，當奧斯卡光還只集中在少數人身上時，當票房收入只落入電影公司高層口袋時，當特效公司一間間倒閉關門時，當特效藝術家開始要走上街頭為自己發聲爭取權益時，這封公開信所要傳達的訊息確實是個警訊，值得我熬夜翻譯，也值得所有想要看好電影的人關注與留意。
最後來讓我們看"少年Pi"當中很重要的一場戲的making of，一分多鐘一鏡到底的美麗影像全由特效藝術家所完成，製作公司是R&H的下包廠商法國的BUF特效公司，藉此也可以知道事前的研究非常重要，而特效的錢究竟花到哪裡去。
{vimeo}60239413{/vimeo}
延伸閱讀1 R&H的CG動物進化史