Music video by Taika Waititi, director Thor: Love and Thunder and Tisa Thompson (Valkyrie), commenting on the film’s visuals, as part of an interview on Diversity It went viral, causing discomfort in the sector, and for good reason.
The clip became popular around the same time that Druv Govil, a member of the visual effects team at guardians of the galaxy D Spider-Man: Homecoming, posted on twitter criticizing the labor policy of Marvel Studios. As he explained, it is especially difficult to work with research, with intense work sessions that end in the burning of many professionals.
In the viral clip, Taika Waititi and Teesa Thompson laugh at Korg’s appearance in the scene. Both suggest that in some frames it looks too unrealistic. The comments seem out of place because, after all, they are criticisms of the team that Waititi is ultimately responsible for as director. Thor: Love and Thunder.
The clip has been cited on social media as a telling example of a lack of tact and sensitivity towards a team of people who have to deal with impossible delivery times and low wages. Druv Govil explained that working with Marvel Studios pushed him to leave the Hollywood visual effects industry. “They’re a terrible client and I’ve seen a lot of colleagues break down due to burnout while Marvel kept cutting budgets.” Although Goville may not mean Thor: Love and Thunderthe film seems to suffer from the same problems as the rest of the studio’s production.
Todd Sheridan Perry, another visual effects specialist who has worked with Marvel, explained in March 2022 that due to the near-impossible timeline, the final scene Black Panther did not achieve the desired quality, as he explained in an interview for reverse. The final battle was particularly criticized for its low quality due to the very short time the studio had to complete.
In the same article, Kerry Conran, Director Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), one of the first films to use almost entirely digital visual effects, explained that the industry expects you to do a good job, quickly and cheaply. But you cannot do all three things at the same time. “It’s a cliché, but you can only pick two,” he said.
Thor: Love and Thunder suffers from the same problem as every other Marvel Studios title.
In the end Thor: Love and Thunder suffers from the same problem as every other Marvel Studios product. There are times when the visuals just don’t seem up to par. Even his own director accepts this in interviews.
In this sense, Alvaro Wasabidirector, screenwriter and content creator with a YouTube channel delved into why we still see poor visuals in films with big productions, especially films like cats, Harry Potter or Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s not just a matter of budget and time, it’s a matter of culture within the studio.
And here’s the hardest thing to change, the culture of work in Hollywood, where directors seem to have little regard for the development of visual effects in films. A particularly serious problem in the case of Marvel Studios.
