According to a VFX artist who worked on both movies, Marvel prioritized the visual effects on Wakanda Forever over Quantumania. There has been a lot of criticisms over the VFX on the latest Marvel projects, plus plenty of reports of severe burn out from artistic teams. With Marvel producing so much content it seems like VFX houses are overworked and corners are being cut. To be frank, you can see that on some of the final products, especially on Disney+. Though, the movies don’t get a pass either.
Two sources who’s identities have been hidden spoke to Vulture about how bad things have gotten working for Marvel. The outlet claims this source has worked on multiple Marvel shows and movies and specifically referenced here, had worked on both Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Here is what they said about the prioritization of both movies.
VFX Technician Jim*
“In terms of priority, Wakanda Forever was definitely at the top of the list. All the money went to that. All the best resources went to that. It’s understandable given the context — with Chadwick and everything and how well the first film did. But it did diminish the ability to carry Ant-Man all the way through.”
“For Ant-Man, there were a lot of editorial changes happening toward the latter third and fourth of the project that were just too late. There’s a point of no return. Why certain things were changed, why certain notes were nitpicked longer than they should have been — that’s on Marvel. But it definitely did cause a lot of tension, turmoil, and weight on everybody at [company name redacted].”
“Unfortunately, it is noticeable that there were shortcuts. Certain things were used to cover up incomplete work. Certain editorial cuts were made to not show as much action or effects as there could have been — likely because there just wasn’t enough time to render everything. There was a lot of shortening and rolling of shots (rolling is when you don’t shorten or lengthen a shot — you just move it a few frames in the cut). It really did feel like certain scenes were trimmed or otherwise altered to either save money, save time, or cover up the inability to get it done.”
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“Why didn’t we push back? You don’t want to do anything that’s going to jeopardize your livelihood in the slightest. Part of that means when an executive decision comes down the line that says, “This is what we’re going to do,” you just assume you don’t have the power to say anything against it. You can’t be like, “Well, that’s kind of shitty. Shouldn’t we do something better?” Because that will never happen.”
“A lot of us are sitting here thinking, The money is there. Why is it not coming down? Marvel spending a bit more money to pay more VFX people wouldn’t make that much of a difference for the executives all the way at the top. But if it comes down to them not being comfortable with their bank numbers and us working until burnout, we lose out every time. Honestly, I equate it to human greed.”
“Overall, I think what they came up with is satisfactory. It’s a good placeholder for the beginning of Phase Five. But I think there was so much potential for this story, for the visual effects in general — I think the movie is getting the reviews it’s been getting because Marvel is doubling down as much as possible on constricting quality. They’re squeezing blood out of stones. And we’re out of blood.”
VFX Artist Conor*
“Wakanda Forever took precedence. It felt like the higher-up and supervisor roles were shifted around to put that on their plates and there was a smaller team working on Ant-Man. It was on the back burner — less of a pressing thing.”
“Maybe the director had an idea of what he wanted, but he wasn’t 100 percent clear. We had a rough environment that we were sticking a few main characters in. At that time, we weren’t told where the characters should be in that environment. We were just going with what felt right.”
“Then there were times when we were creating an actor’s entire action: Ant-Man moving across something. And you just think, Why didn’t they film it the right way or how they wanted in the first place? Why are we having to redo and re-create? Why do we have to Frankenstein together an actor’s performance? A quick shot that maybe takes two seconds would have to be redone 20 times to get the look that they want. There was a lot of reworking, a lot of inefficiency. I ended up taking over and reworking a large portion of other artists’ work — which is not how things usually go when you are working for other studios.”
This paints a rough picture of life working on VFX. For some this might seem like a dream job? However if you know the quality isn’t there yet and don’t get to finish it? Well, that would be really frustrating. Not to mention the crazy hours, which they should be getting compensated for. I mean without VFX, you just can’t make these big budget superhero movies.
The Marvels
According to The Wrap, the reason The Marvels has been delayed till November is for more time in post-production. Which to me usually means getting the VFX finished in time. Marvel definitely has a VFX issue, and until they pony up the money for more studios, that won’t change. Unless, the pace of release slows down, which is exactly what is rumored to be happening. I would say expect delays to everything already announced by Marvel Studios at this point.
There are also rumors flying around the Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will not make it’s slot in 2025. Though, nothing to hang your hat on for now.
What do you think of the report Marvel prioritized the visual effects on Wakanda Forever over Quantumania? Leave us your thoughts in the usual spot.