hues studios type private industry visual effects cgi animation founded november 1 1987 ; 28 years ago 1987 11 01 website rhythm.com rhythm & hues studios is an american visual effects and animation company that received the academy award for best visual effects in 1995 for babe in 2008 for the golden compass and in 2013 for life of pi . it has also received four scientific and technical academy awards . 1 the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013 . contents 1 history 1.1 1987 2012 1.2 2013 2 life after pi 3 selected filmography 4 awards 4.1 academy award for best visual effects 4.2 bafta award for best special visual effects 5 further reading 6 references 7 external links history edit 1987 2012 edit rhythm & hues studios was established in los angeles california in 1987 by former employees of robert abel and associates john hughes pauline ts o keith goldfarb cliff boule frank wuts and charles gibson . 2 the company uses its own proprietary software for its photo realistic character animation visual effects as well as for those that are more stylized . in 1999 rhythm & hues studios acquired visual effects house vifx from 20th century fox . 3 2013 edit by the time rhythm & hues began to work on the 2012 ang lee film life of pi the company had become a global one with offices and artists in india the mumbai suburb of malad and hitec city which is a part of hyderabad malaysia cyberjaya just outside kuala lumpur canada vancouver and taiwan kaohsiung . 4 5 6 7 8 9 artist abdul rahman in the malaysian branch underscored the global nature of the effects process saying that the special thing about life of pi is that it was the first time we did something called remote rendering where we engaged our cloud infrastructure in taiwan called cave cloud animation and visual effects . 10 the r & h vfx visual effects supervisor bill westenhofer said that discussions of the project began with ang lee in august 2009 . 11 12 westenhofer noted that lee knew we had done the lion in the first narnia movie . he asked does a digital character look more or less real in 3d we looked at each other and thought that was a pretty good question . 13 he also stated that during these meetings lee said i look forward to making art with you . this was really for me one of the most rewarding things i ve worked on and the first chance to really combine art with vfx . every shot was artistic exploration to make the ocean a character and make it interesting we had to strive to make it as visually stunning as possible . 14 rhythm & hues spent a year on research and development building upon its already vast knowledge of cg animation to develop the tiger . 15 the british film institute s sight & sound magazine suggested that life of pi can be seen as the film rhythm & hues has been building up to all these years by taking things they learned from each production from cats & dogs to yogi bear integrating their animals in different situations and environments pushing them to do more and understanding how all of this can succeed both visually and dramatically . 16 however a short time after life of pi was released rhythm & hues studios filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11 on february 11 2013 . 17 around 254 people were laid off at that time . 18 this led to a demonstration of nearly 500 vfx artists who protested outside of the 2013 academy awards as rhythm & hues was nominated for an oscar which it won for life of pi . 19 inside during the oscars when r & h visual effects supervisor bill westenhofer brought up r & h during his acceptance speech for life of pi the microphone was cut off . 20 this started an uproar among many visual effects industry professionals changing profile pictures on social media such as facebook and twitter to show the green key color in order to raise awareness for what is happening to the effects industry . 21 in addition director ang lee was heavily criticized by the community for not acknowledging their work in the effects laden film in his acceptance speech when he seemed to thank just about everyone else 22 and for earlier complaining about the costs of visual effects . 22 23 on march 29 an affiliate of prana studios 34x118 holdings llc won the bidding of rhythm and hues in a bankruptcy auction . 24 the sale was valued at about 30 million . 25 in may the el segundo headquarters building was sold for 25 million to real estate developers who will turn it into a campus for companies . 26 at the same time the malaysian unit became an independent stand alone entity now known as tau films http www.taufilms.com as it was not part of the sale . 27 28 life after pi edit in february 2014 christina lee storm and scott leberecht released the documentary life after pi to youtube . 29 the documentary details both the reasons behind the bankruptcy as well as the general difficulties faced by the visual effects community . it contains a number of interviews with former rhythm & hues employees including co founders john hughes and keith goldfarb . bill westenhofer also discusses his experience at the oscars as he accepted a visual effects award for rhythm & hues work on life of pi . 30 31 32 33 selected filmography edit 2015 seventh son i alvin and the chipmunks the road chip 2014 300 rise of an empire x men days of future past 2013 percy jackson sea of monsters r.i.p.d. the secret life of walter mitty 2012 big miracle the cabin in the woods django unchained the hunger games life of pi snow white and the huntsman 2011 alvin and the chipmunks chipwrecked hop moneyball mr. popper s penguins x men first class 2010 the a team marmaduke percy jackson & the olympians the lightning thief yogi bear 2009 alvin and the chipmunks the squeakquel night at the museum battle of the smithsonian 2008 the incredible hulk the mummy tomb of the dragon emperor 2007 the golden compass alvin and the chipmunks evan almighty 2006 charlotte s web garfield a tale of two kitties happy feet night at the museum superman returns x men the last stand 2005 the chronicles of narnia the lion the witch and the wardrobe elektra ice princess 2004 around the world in 80 days garfield the movie scooby doo 2 monsters unleashed 2003 the cat in the hat daredevil elf the lord of the rings the return of the king x2 2002 men in black ii scooby doo stuart little 2 the sum of all fears 2001 cats & dogs dr. dolittle 2 harry potter and the philosopher s stone the lord of the rings the fellowship of the ring planet of the apes 2000 how the grinch stole christmas little nicky x men fantasia 2000 1999 anna and the king the green mile the story of us stuart little 1998 babe pig in the city the parent trap stepmom 1997 batman & robin 1996 kazaam the nutty professor 1995 babe batman forever waterworld 1993 hocus pocus awards edit academy award for best visual effects edit 2012 won life of pi 34 2007 won the golden compass 35 1995 won babe 35 bafta award for best special visual effects edit 2013 won life of pi 36 2007 won the golden compass visual effects 37 further reading edit lee kevin . video essay the animal menagerie of rhythm and hues . sight & sound british film institute . december 21 2012 . life of pi s digital magic . los angeles times january 17 2013 . zahed ramin . beyond talking pigs and chipmunks . animation magazine april 2 2012 . references edit prana studios buys bankrupt life of pi vfx house rhythm & hues rhythm & hues looks to finish seventh son the hollywood reporter 1999 03 03 . rhythm & hues rounds up vifx . allbusiness.com . retrieved 2010 12 14 . a glimpse of rhythm & hues asian facilities work on ang lee s masterpiece life of pi . making of life of pi in conversation with r & h rhythm & hues taps nvidia technology for life of pi . animation world network november 26 2012 a first mate bares his fangs creating a tiger for life of pi . the new york times november 16 2012 rhythm & hues makes skies soar computer graphics world november 27 2012 malaysian team behind special effects for life of pi and snow white movies local touch to life of pi new straits times november 26 2012 life of pi s digital magic . los angeles times january 18 2013 exclusive life of pi s stunning effects . the daily news corporation november 26 2012 how life of pi animators visualized ang lee s blank slate . chicago tribune december 12 2012 life of pi a tiger s tale fxguide november 26 2012 vfx team dares to take tiger by the tail . variety magazine december 15 2012 video essay the animal menagerie of rhythm and hues . british film institute s sight & sound magazine december 21 2012 variety 2013 02 12 . rhythm & hues bankruptcy reveals vfx biz crisis . variety.com . retrieved 2013 02 13 . rhythm & hues gets 17 mil loan from universal fox vfx protest at oscars images from the picket line audio interview http www.fxguide.com quicktakes visualeffectsprotestatoscars biggest oscars snub a shark attack on the vfx industry . the san francisco chronicle . http www.hitfix.com motion captured the visual effects community sees red in the wake of oscar protest and on air snub 2 a b pulver andrew february 26 2013 . ang lee under fire from visual effects artists over life of pi speech . london the guardian . giardina carolyn . oscars 2013 vfx artists blast disgraceful tv moments . the hollywood reporter . two day roller coaster ends delivers l.a. vfx studio to indian owners . variety march 28 2013 . rhythm & hues finalizes sale to prana studios . los angeles times march 29 2013 . developers buy rhythm & hues ex headquarters in el segundo global showbiz briefs chello zone goes hardcore pawn ; karlovy vary celebrates schatzberg ; r & h malaysia goes it alone rhythm & hues malaysia to fly solo under new identity life after pi official video documentary chronicles bankruptcy of visual effects firm rhythm & hues revealing rhythm & hues life after pi doc exposes grief anger and troubled business video youtube documentary life after pi chronicles collapse of rhythm & hues video life after pi doc on fall of visual effects house to debut news life of pi wins best visual effects oscar a b best visual effects bafta 2013 winners bafta 2007 winners external links edit rhythm and hues rhythm & hues studios at the internet movie database retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rhythm and hues studios & oldid 734948610 categories visual effects companiesbest visual effects academy award winnersacademy award for technical achievement winnersamerican animation studioscomputer animationcompanies established in 1987companies that have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcyprivately held companies based in california navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschespa olnederlands portugu s edit links this page was last modified on 17 august 2016 at 18 30 . text is available