With more and more attention going to the Hollywood visual effects artists currently protesting the way their jobs are becoming outsourced or eliminated entirely, there have been a lot of opportunities to marvel at the effects work that these companies do. There was the Best Visual Effects win for Life of Pi at the Oscars on Sunday-- which got even more attention after it was cut off by the Jaws music played by the orchestra. But that was really only the beginning of the visual effects celebration happening this week.
If you were amazed by the tumblr that reveals films before effects were added in, you have to watch this video posted on Facebook, in which scenes from TV shows you'd never guessed used green screen are stripped down to their pre-effects state.
Ugly Betty never ran into that NYC bus shelter? Monk never visited San Francisco? The ferry never exploded on Grey's Anatomy?!?! OK that last one was a little more obvious-- any time something crazy happens on a TV show, you can assume there's CGI involved, and there are some shots like that near the end of the montage. But while a lot of debate around how valuable visual effects is can revolve around huge movies like Life of Pi or Alice in Wonderland, this video reveals how crucial effects can be to even the simplest looking shows. Those green screen artists are likely among those currently protesting-- and among the ones who demand union representation to save their jobs.
