This is a surprisingly common strategy in some of the most highly security restricted VFX houses & studios. The studio wants to make their product as 'marketable' as possible and since audiences still value IRL shoots more than VFX...so hence the demand for the lying-in post-production content. In turn, the VFX artist feel underappreciated and don't get the public support for better pay or less demand for work.
Have you also noticed a common shift in behind-the-scenes content for films in the past 20-30 years? How many 'interviews' there are rather than actual behind the scenes film footage of people working on set? Thats because it's all been 'set up' by the clients and producers. They WANT you to believe 'movie magic'.
Notice how they never show artists working at computers in a dank, stuffy rooms? Clocking in 16 hours days non-stop for months? Notice they NEVER talk about the actual production challenges they had to overcome - DECLARING that to the public, would be a PR nightmare for the movie. Notice they never show you, the client screaming across the room because someone honestly mistake his demand for 'turquoise' instead of for 'sea blue'.
If artists put something in their showreel which they already used for marketing the movie as more IRL than it is...of course the studios might get called out and get a PR nightmare. Show reels have a VERY strict approval process and those who figure out how to circumvent the politics are the smart ones.
Same shit happened in the early days of Film & Media, before VFX was even a thing. The lies are ALWAYS there and have ALWAYS been there, hiding in plain sight.
The WHOLE industry is mostly lies when it comes to 'behind the scenes' content, there is a lot of shady practices that the public don't see. Thats what they like to call 'movie magic' when really the work can be quite mundane and not very exciting, or just downright abusive, dangerous, disrespectful and sometimes criminal. OSHS violations, sexual harassment & abuse, mental abuse, labour law violations, long hours of just waiting around onset and doing nothing, disorganized productions, not enough food to feed the crew, dishonest credits, rewrites after rewrites after rewrites, reshoots, travel and accommodation problems, logistical nightmares, faked audition tapes, people passing out or getting hurt in extreme weather conditions, artists developing health issues or injuries while working.
The Cosby, Weinstein & Epstein cases, rampant drug and alcohol abuse, Deaths of actors and workers onset.
This 'information' about it is all 'protected' under Non-Disclosure Agreements, and the lack of unionization across the industry. This in turn allows studios to pick and choose what they show to the public as 'movie magic'...and thus the cycle continues. The majority of the public have a VERY skewed idea about what it's actually like to work in the Film and Media industry.
Remember the writers' strike of the 2007s? Remember how many shows were affected drastically & how the public was SHOCKED at the turn out & how long and drawn-out negotiations were? When Animators put green screens in their profile pictures on Facebook to demonstrate the Life of Pi scandal after winning the Oscar for VFX- Never mind that the tiger they used onset almost DROWNED to death.
As VFX & the film industry evolved... some things got better, and some things got worse.
Never believe Hollywood Marketing.... it's all smoke and mirrors to hide the truth. Just enjoy the movie for what it is & if it looks almost impossible to do IRL? or too good to be tru? It's most likely got CG in it somewhere
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