Mashable: There is a whole sector of directors and writers who would spend a considerable amount of time and effort to hone their cinematic masterpieces. The audience, too, would be eagerly anticipating their releases. After all, art can never be rushed.

When Marvel Cinematic Universe (owned by Disney), first began to launch their movies, they, too, would follow this rule religiously. But in recent years, the studios, for a lack of better expression, have acquired a taste to release ‘blockbuster’ ‘star studded’ ‘multimillion’ projects. To satiate this capitalist beast—and to grasp their clan of nerds or self-proclaimed 'cinephiles'—they began to launch movies and series within a brief span. Recently, they even introduced phases five and six of their MCU projects, with many releases taking place concurrently.

While the fourth phase led many to question Marvel’s intention and the direction they are taking, it has also highlighted the substandard use of VFX in their recent works, such as Thor: Love and Thunder and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law trailers. Recently, Vulture interviewed an anonymous VFX artist who sheds light on the studio's mismanagement, the poor working conditions, and how the studio bullies production houses to constantly change 'revise' the scenes.

“It’s pretty well known and even darkly joked about across all the visual-effects houses that working on Marvel shows is hard. When I worked on one movie, it was almost six months of overtime every day. I was working seven days a week, averaging 64 hours a week on a good week. Marvel genuinely works you hard. I’ve had co-workers sit next to me, break down, and start crying. I’ve had people having anxiety attacks on the phone,” the artist said. “Maybe a month or two before a movie comes out, Marvel will have us change the entire third act. It has tight turnaround times. So yeah, it’s just not a great situation all around. One visual-effects house could not finish the number of shots and reshoots Marvel was asking for in time, so Marvel had to give my studio the work. Ever since that house has effectively been blacklisted from getting Marvel work,” they added.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the source delves into the bad management and the directors’ incapability to work with VFX artists. The latter has been around since Jurassic Park (1995) and Terminator. So, by now, directors who want to venture into the fantasy or superhero genre should have had their basics in place. Instead, they still have no clear direction of what the movie should be.

Comparing these conditions to what Martin Scorsese wrote about Marvel in The New York Times in 2019, you realize he was quite right about a few things. “If you’re going to tell me that it’s simply a matter of supply and demand and giving the people what they want, I’m going to disagree. It’s a chicken-and-egg issue. If people are given only one kind of thing and endlessly sold only one kind of thing, of course, they’re going to want more of that one kind of thing,” he wrote.

COLUMN: If you think the CGI on a Marvel movie isn’t up to snuff, don’t blame the VFX artists. Blame their terrible working conditions.

Apart from the fact that the mental health of the entire globe has deteriorated over the years due to the pandemic, climate change, and the constant need to ‘prove your worth’; the testimony also highlights that many multinational corporations will throw their employees under the bus because they are replaceable. Moreover, VFX artists are not the only ones. Even entry-level assistant and support staff positions have been struggling since the lockdown began. So, may rely on unions to protect themselves.

If one testimony has brought to light many ethical and social issues, imagine what an entire production house will have you say. However, our idea that 'this is how the industry works' needs to be changed. And not just at the ground level but within varied vertical sectors. If we don't implement it now then we are just building a force of exhausted, irritated, underpaid, and absolutely angry artists.