After the Big Revelation
“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world“
-Jean-Luc Godard
If you are here, it means surely you also heard or read about the anonymous VFX artist talking about their poor working conditions. It is shocking. However, it is believable. The world runs in the name of exploitation. When we talk about big brands or any big production houses, related to the cinema or not, there is always a facade. We do not know what takes place behind the veils.
VFX is that part of the industry where artists all their life work behind the screens. No one knows their story. Their conditions hit saturation points. Until, one day, they realize, IT’S HIGH TIME!
A VFX artist from one of the biggest film production houses, Marvel studios, whom we will talk about in detail further while you read, came up with a big revelation. The artists have to overwork and are underpaid. And from overwork, the artist meant 64 hours a week, last-moment revisions, and unrealistic deadlines.
- Salary and working hour stats:
The movies that we watch on big screens or on our mobile devices are an outcome of a mega process. A plethora of editing and effects take place. A film is presentable when 1000-minute work pieces assemble. The hands behind that microscopic detailing are precious and worthy, undoubtedly.
VFX is one such career that requires detailing, sharp skills, and time management. Most of the VFX work includes time-bound projects. The average working hours of the VFX artist are 12 hours. There is no proper source of salary statistics for VFX artists. It varies according to position, quality of work, and place. Both, the salary and working hours for artists, highly depend on the factors like experience and workplace.
Like, VFX artists in San Francisco make the most with an average of $135,581. Meanwhile, according to a report, the average annual salary of a VFX artist in India is RS. 3.0 lacs per annum. The starting salary of a VFX artist in Australia is $42,920.The situation of the artists depends on a lot of things and not only on the clients. Place, skills, and experience are of utmost importance. Reportedly, Marvel pays an estimated median salary of $6,181 to their VFX artists.
The top VFX artists like Roger Guyett, Joe Letteri, John knoll, and Kelly port come in the top 86% of VFX artists that make $377,163 per annum. Roger Guyett is one of the top Visual effects artists. After being in business for 30 years, he has worked for 23 films including Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean. His net worth is estimated to be 7 million.
- VFX and animation:
It is not only one area of the film industry that suffers sometimes. VFX and animation, both are technical fields and related to cinema. The artists we have in both fields have different work to do. But the point of commonality of both fields is the condition of the artists. The conditions are relating to the positions the artist holds and the location as well. Geography is a paramount element that impacts this profession.
Where people love animation, the animators are working for 15 hours a day. Your guess is right! I am talking about Japan. Anime originated in Japan. People love their anime characters and their shows have been loved across the world. However, the animators in Japan have struggled after tasting enormous success.
“There are those who are so busy that they can’t go home. So they would crawl under their desk at work and sleep there for many nights, like a week or sometimes even a month.” – Nakamura in an interview with Asian Boss.
Nakamura is a young animator in Japan. When asked, she also said that her monthly income was 500 USD when she was working in a company. Then she became a freelancer and earned 300-400 USD. She worked for 15 hours a day and did not have any days off. Whatever flourishes globally, sets a standard that should only go high. This is the mindset of filmmakers or directors. They push the artists working for them.
The same situation occurs in the case of VFX artists. When a studio like Marvel hires a company for visual effects works, they are subjecting them to work that has no imperfections. In the end, it’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe they are working for! The directors that have worked priorly, their satisfaction is transient. They overestimate their satisfaction. Eventually, asking for better and better work. In return, this has made the artists feel drenched in workload and finally leave the studios.
Speaking about the directors, the anonymous VFX artist in the interview stated, “They have no idea what they want, demand endless last-minute revisions, and will blacklist anyone who comes up short.” This is why the team is also understaffed. People tend to leave as the work culture is not favorable.
- Marvel preserving its magnificence:
Marvel is loved for its action, characters, and visual effects the most. Which has started becoming unsatisfactory over time. The 4th phase movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) have not been up to the mark. There might be several reasons behind it. The one which has rapidly surfaced is the VFX of the films. The reason behind it took social media platforms by storm. Reportedly, the VFX artists working for Marvel have accused the production of certain dreadful working conditions they experienced. They have revealed that the technicians and artists have been subjected to tight deadlines, and overwork, and are also underpaid. Seems like they have been manipulated to work for more hours. That said, such consequences have come up.
“They’ll be like, “Can you just try this? Can you just try that? They’ll want you to change an entire setting, an entire environment, pretty late in a movie. I have had co-workers sit next to me, break down, and start crying. I’ve had people having anxiety attacks on the phone.” said a VFX artist in an interview with Vulture.
They call it ‘Pixel-F*cked’. When you are working for a name like Marvel, you would want to go with the philosophy of learning rather than earning. After a time, you might realize how idiotic a notion it turns out to be. However, for big production houses, such issues are trivial. From one point of view, it is bullying while from another point of view it is trying to achieve perfection.
- A Compound Conflict:
There are two sides to this complex issue that are translucent. The work culture of any big company should be employee friendly. Though, in the name of powerful productions, the working class should not suffer. Netizens have been bifurcated according to their own judgments. Today, we watch movies that have mind-boggling scenes that are made realistic by a team of artists and technicians. Most of us do not really bother about how they put it together. We, as an audience, are most responsible for a movie’s success. Altercations on this topic have stretched into cyberspace. The truth is obscure and has to be dealt with. Until then, the least we can do is stick up for movements that can make even a small change.
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