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The problems were myriad from the start.
I was like, Okay, I cant even tell my family where I am?
What is this the Manhattan Project?!
Then there was the job itself.
They said, Okay, well, do you want a job on our next show?
And I said, No.
The minute I deliver [movie name redacted], Im never coming back, this person says.
(Marvel declined to comment on these claims.)
3,Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, andThe Marvelswill have been released.
But when it comes to translating comic-book heroes for the screen, VFX goes far beyond digital touch-ups.
2, or a virtual character likeShe-Hulk.
This kind of work requires an immense labor force.
Thirteen different houses worked onAvengers: Endgame, for instance.
Superhero genre work tends to yield results that cement careers.
You might do spectacular work on something likeThe Irishman, says one retired VFX supervisor with decades of experience.
And they say, Okay, we can guide this person to do what we want.
Everybodys giving their opinion, and sometimes theyre giving multiple notes on the same frames.
Youre like, What direction do I go with this?
(Marvel declined to comment on Feiges involvement.
An insider close to the company, however, says that Feige does not approve every VFX shot.)
They dont figure stuff out early enough.
This animator recalled a whole portion of an action sequence that hadnt been storyboarded before postproduction.
It was just, This hero avoids many things for this amount of time.
Basically, the studio said to the VFX artists, Figure it out.
Make it look cool.
They had no idea what they wanted to do.
Since the movies work so well, people think,Oh, well thats the way to do it.
Thats the hard part.
Theres a better way thats less stressful on the artist and less expensive for sure.
The workers I spoke with said they fear the existence of a blacklist allegedly perpetuated by Marvel executives.
The blacklist is very talked about, a Georgia-based VFX worker says.
I dont know anyone thats seen it for real.
But its a common thing that comes up whenever effects people talk together.
The biggest way to get on the blacklist is to leave a show early for any reason.
She is known in the industry as a kingmaker.
If she likes you, you are going to get work and move up in the industry.
If you have pissed her off in any way, youre going to get frozen out.
Alonso heads up Marvels dedicated mini-studio, Marvel Studios Animation, which is behind such shows asWhat If …?
A senior animator there says MSA suffers under its own impossible deadline structure and pixel-fucking style of dysfunction.
I do feel like were padded by money.
(Marvel declined to comment on MSA.)
If youre not honest and transparent about your abilities, they can probably blacklist you.
If you overestimate your own capacity and say, Sure.
Their goal was to establish more equitable pay rates and raise awareness of the value of VFX work.
Eventually, they burned through everyone they could.
And Marvel was like, Where are they getting these numbers?
A producer showed them the rate poll.
How do we stop it?
Because we cant have people talking about rates.
I told them I didnt know anything.
(Marvel declined to comment on its staffing processes.)
There is no simple explanation for why visual-effects professionals have not formed their own union yet.
I think our No.
Theres so much union activity in Hollywood.
In Speights estimation, effects workers now find themselves confronted by historical headwinds.
Is this the year we unionize?
There has never been a higher level of interest among VFX workers in this country and beyond.
