The other day, I read an open letter from Lee Stranahan, a VFX veteran and blogger. The letter was to James Cameron, director of the wildly successful Avatar. You should read the letter at The Huffington Post. Since Avatar’s biggest draw is the ground-breaking and stunning visual effects, Cameron knows better than most just how important VFX is.

Most movies made today have at least some VFX shots in them and many of those elements (backgrounds, environments, characters, etc.) are primary story telling vehicles. Visual effects have also been a way to save a lot of money on shots that would otherwise be too costly to produce. It often surprises my friends to learn just how much of their favorite movies were shot primarily on sound stages. It surprises me sometimes too!

One would think that such an important tool in filmmaking would be treated as such… Important. In fact, this is not often the case. It is considered necessary, but not valued. It’s pretty frustrating to see the names of VFX and CG artists listed toward the end, if not dead last during the rolling credits of a movie. The situations we often joke about as ‘war stories’, sleepless and stress-filled nights, 7 day work weeks and endless job insecurity, are not isolated or rare incidents. This is what one experiences regularly during the post-production of a movie.

I don’t really think this or any letter will bring about any substantive change, but I do think it raises some important problems that I, for one, considered a given in the professional world.