VFX Artist Explains What It's Like Working for Marvel (Vulture)

[Timothy Hunter]

The MCU list of directors is large so let’s just look at phase 4.

Cate Shortland: Somersault, Lore, Berlin Syndrome, Black Widow

Destin Daniel Cretton: Short Term 12, The Glass Castle, Just Mercy, Shang-Chi

Jon Watts: Clown, Cop Car, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home

Chloe Zhao: The Atlas Mountains, Daughters, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider, Nomadland, Eternals

Sam Raimi: (too many to do them all) The Evil Dead, Darkman, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Taika Waititi: Eagle vs Shark, Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit, Thor Love and Thunder

Ryan Coogler: Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Seems like a good mix of directors with different backgrounds. Some have directed a lot while others have only directed a few. Does quantity matter more than quality?

I really don’t think the directors are the real issue here anyway. The real issue brought up by this thread is simple mismanagement. An effects house promises they can deliver work for an agreed upon price knowing that the price they agreed to is too low. This leads to understaffing to keep costs down which leads to overwork or what’s commonly known in the video game industry as crunch.

Hiring more experienced directors won’t solve crunch. It has been a problem in the video game industry for decades and only recently have some workers started to unionize. That’s the only real solution. VFX artists in the movie industry should learn from their video game counterparts and start the unionization process now and not wait because this isn’t just an issue with Marvel, they are simply the biggest player.

This in an industry wide problem that only continues to get worse as more and more movies rely heavily on cgi. That means more work and job security for vfx artists but without a union they are at the mercy of badly managed effects houses who will work them to the bone and replace them if they complain about it.

The problem is bigger than one studio so the solution must be as well.

I never said that hiring directors with a background in action movies would be the be all end all solution to these problems affecting VFX houses. I was simply agreeing with the person being interviewed in regards to some of the directors of the Marvel movies lack of experience with CGI potentially being a hindrance.

[WebLurker]

What's the government doing to prevent people from joining unions?

The government can mandate that people join unions, but that's a different argument.

Yeah, thinking I was crossing my wires there with other issues.

[James Cameron]

“Your issues” are vague, misleading, and hollow though

“Disney is one of the worst.” That doesn’t say much. And the extent to which you defend it shows the true nature of this “airing of grievances” you’re putting out.

How many more “worsts” are there? 1? 2? 10? If Disney is in a sea of other companies doing the same thing, consistently calling out one is rather telling.

And how much “worse” is Disney? A tiny fraction? A long mile? Who’s judging this objectively? Or is this all just your “feels”?

And what would we be judging anyway? Your article states the two main things Disney needs to fix is hiring experienced directors. The VFX artists being underpaid and overworked is directly linked to their inability to leverage their worth and VFX houses competing for projects.

Why are you so upset about this? It's not that deep. You need to accept that this is how I feel and I can say what I want, so can you. I really don't get why you're prolonging this. I get you love Disney but how about let me not love Disney in peace if we can't even engage in a peaceful discussion?

[HollowSage]

Why are you so upset about this? It's not that deep. You need to accept that this is how I feel and I can say what I want, so can you. I really don't get why you're prolonging this. I get you love Disney but how about let me not love Disney in peace if we can't even engage in a peaceful discussion?

What did you expect to happen when you started this thread? That people would simply indulge you and jump aboard your hate train?

Here’s where you messed up. It’s one thing to argue about your favorite movies and tv shows. However you took a serious issue that has a real negative effect on people’s lives and rather than engage in an honest discussion about it you simply want to use it to attack a single company you don’t like.

That’s not cool man. You made it obvious that you have no real interest in the actual problem or hearing about actual solutions to the problem. You simply want to use it to score some fictional points against Disney. That’s not only disingenuous but it’s an insult to anyone who actually cares about this problem.

If you want to make threads ranting about Disney that’s fine but don’t use real world problems to play your little games. Unless you are prepared for the kind of push back you’ve gotten in this one.

[Bunch of Coconuts]

Why are you so upset about this? It's not that deep. You need to accept that this is how I feel and I can say what I want, so can you. I really don't get why you're prolonging this. I get you love Disney but how about let me not love Disney in peace if we can't even engage in a peaceful discussion?

Don’t play the “u mad bro” card. You’re smarter than that.

If you want a place to just rant and rave about Disney with no feedback, go create a blog.

[James Cameron]

What did you expect to happen when you started this thread? That people would simply indulge you and jump aboard your hate train?

Here’s where you messed up. It’s one thing to argue about your favorite movies and tv shows. However you took a serious issue that has a real negative effect on people’s lives and rather than engage in an honest discussion about it you simply want to use it to attack a single company you don’t like.

That’s not cool man. You made it obvious that you have no real interest in the actual problem or hearing about actual solutions to the problem. You simply want to use it to score some fictional points against Disney. That’s not only disingenuous but it’s an insult to anyone who actually cares about this problem.

If you want to make threads ranting about Disney that’s fine but don’t use real world problems to play your little games. Unless you are prepared for the kind of push back you’ve gotten in this one.

I mean I agreed with literally everything everyone said in this thread and I made that pretty clear. And I've clarified myself so many times at this point so what does it matter? Still failing to see why it's so serious.

Don’t play the “u mad bro” card. You’re smarter than that.

If you want a place to just rant and rave about Disney with no feedback, go create a blog.

Don't recall ranting or raving in this thread but I'm really sorry that the discussion took this turn

[James Cameron]

https://gizmodo.com/disney-marvel-mo...are-1849385834

David describes Guardians of the Galaxy as being one of the favorite projects that he’s ever worked on. But even he agrees that Marvel’s process is inconsistent. “The worst was when Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were coming out. They actually bumped up that release by a month but they hadn’t told us. I remember being on the floor with my team and one of my artists comes to me and says, ‘Hey, you see this?’ and he shows me the article saying Marvel bumped the release date up a month.”

Marvel failed to tell the VFX team working on the film that the release date had changed. David went to his supervisor, who also hadn’t heard anything about it. Marvel eventually got back to the studio and said that they had “forgotten” to tell them. “So we found out from a press release that we had one less month to work on all these shots.”

Very in depth article regarding the industry problem as a whole but with some fascinating tidbits about Marvel specifically

"Marvel is the worst example of a lot of the problems in the industry,” said Sam. “It would be one thing if sometimes it was really bad, sometimes it wasn’t… But with Marvel, it seems like every single time it’s the same thing. So, one, they tend to be as bad as you’re going to get and they’re consistently that bad.”

[Bunch of Coconuts]

Original releases for both Infinity War and Endgame were only bumped up by a week each, not a whole month.

So yeah, a bit of exaggeration there.

[James Cameron]

Original releases for both Infinity War and Endgame were only bumped up by a week each, not a whole month.

So yeah, a bit of exaggeration there.

Nah, a week push is a huge deal if you're already being overworked.

[gonnagiveittoya]

Nah, a week push is a huge deal if you're already being overworked.

Which is very different than what theyr'e saying in the press, that it was a whole month lost.

[hyped78]

I don't think this surprising at all?

It's the same in the video games industry.

[Bunch of Coconuts]

Nah, a week push is a huge deal if you're already being overworked.

Never said that.

I'm pointing out the difference between "a week" and the stated "month."

[Tofali]

Another article about the VFX houses complaints and it looks like Marvel Studios has allegedly found a solution

If you’re unaware, Marvel Studios has currently sought the work of outside companies to produce their VFX. This is how essentially every other production company functions as well. But because Marvel has so many projects in the works all of the time, they’re constantly using dozens of studios across the world. This has generated a lot of legal loopholes, tough schedules, underbidding between studios, and other issues that VFX artists are finally vocalizing. In response to this, Marvel Studios is considering the creation of their own VFX house, as revealed by one of our sources.

https://www.screengeek.net/2022/08/1...-new-vfx-plan/

[James Cameron]

another article about the vfx houses complaints and it looks like marvel studios has allegedly found a solution



https://www.screengeek.net/2022/08/1...-new-vfx-plan/

lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooo

hope they offer good healthcare at least

[Tofali]

lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Those VFX artists still don't have a solution to their problems thou but at least they won't have to complain about the workload from Marvel and they'll still have to contend with their employers. That's if Marvel does start their own vfx house.

hope they offer good healthcare at least

That is a must they're no longer a third party that's doling out contracts.