A story dropped on The Gamer over the weekend that has grown arms and legs. They found an older Reddit thread where VFX industry professionals were sharing their experiences. They published a story about the complaints of some in the industry about Marvel. One of our Outposters is a VFX artist and he hit us up with the story over the weekend. The story has exploded, with outlets like Den Of Geek, Collider and Dark Horizons are all over it.
So here we come, tip-toeing up to the fire, giggling like the little lunatics we are, with a can of gasoline in our grubby little paws.
Many people said the VFX on Thor: Love And Thunder had some shonky moments. The feedback after the She-Hulk teaser what that the effect still clearly needed a lot of work. Moon Knight had some moments, too. The Reddit thread throws some light on this and, as we all know, hell hath no fury like creatives who have had just about enough of the sh*t from their clients.
With the VFX being a target of criticism, the artists have spoken out, saying that “crunch” conditions with unfair expectations, short deadlines and demand for multiple options to accommodate last minute decisions are making Marvel Studios an undesirable client.
The threads feature people talking about burn-out, sleep deprivation and health impacts from long-term work on these projects. The post that started it all says:
“Marvel has probably the worst methodology of production and VFX management out there. They can never fix the look for the show before more than half the allocated time for the show is over.
The artists working on Marvel shows are definitely not paid equivalent to the amount of work they put in. The charm for working on a Marvel movie is way over rated now and I would rather be happy working on a TV series after decades and decades of this.”
One more chimed in with:
“I request to not work on them, movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, they’re becoming our biggest client. They expect a smorgasbord of options so they can change their mind 3 more times. I have seen grown men punch walls and throw monitors from the stress.”
Post-pandemic, as the whole industry starts up and begins to move at speed to clear backlogs, this is just piling on the pressure. Deadlines are slipping all over the place as slates are juggled, and these VFX delays are adding to it. There is also a shortage of skilled VFX artists out there. Freelancers… name your price!
The floodgates opened on the Reddit forum. Here are a selection of comments:
“On Thor they ask for a complete mini-sequence 2 or 3 weeks before deadline…”
“I am on my third Marvel project in a row and literally just woke up 5:30 am on a Saturday with stress going ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’. It’s 6 am now and I am making a reel to apply someplace that has projects other than Marvel because I can’t do this anymore.”
“I broke down a couple of times and have seen the strain it can put on marriages. But hey the $$ was fantastic. Fuck Marvel as a client, the credit name is not fucking worth it.”
“It took me over six months to recover from WandaVision’s crunch. It’s not worth it. Not when there’s better run projects that look just as good out there.”
Anyone else out there among our beloved Outposter community work in VFX? Got anything to share or get off your chest?
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