Rhythm and Hues Studios

Rhythm & Hues Studios is a 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.

1987–2012
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). 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.

2013
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 of Kuala Lumpur), Canada (Vancouver), and Taiwan (Kaohsiung). 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)".

The R&H VFX (Visual Effects) Supervisor Bill Westenhofer said that discussions of the project began with Ang Lee in August 2009. 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." 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." Rhythm & Hues spent a year on research and development, " building upon its already vast knowledge of CG animation" to develop the tiger. 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."

However, a short time after Life of Pi was released, Rhythm & Hues Studios filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, on February 11 2013. Around 254 people were laid off at that time. 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. 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. 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. 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) and for earlier complaining about the costs of visual effects.

On March 29, an affiliate of Prana Studios, 34x118 Holdings, LLC won the bidding of Rhythm and Hues in a bankruptcy auction. The sale was "valued at about $30 million".

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. At the same time, the Malaysian unit became an independent "stand alone entity" (now known as Tau Films) as it was not part of the sale.

Life After Pi
In February 2014, Christina Lee Storm and Scott Leberecht released the documentary Life After Pi to YouTube. 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.

Selected filmography

 * 2015
 * Seventh Son
 * I


 * 2014
 * 300: Rise of an Empire
 * X-Men: Days of Future Past
 * Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb


 * 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
 * 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
 * X-Men


 * 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

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects

 * 2012: Won: Life of Pi
 * 2007: Won: The Golden Compass
 * 1995: Won: Babe

BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects

 * 2013: Won: Life of Pi
 * 2007: Won: The Golden Compass, Visual Effects