This week, the Walt Disney Company began company-wide layoffs, impacting departments across the organization, from the home video team to ESPN. According to reports, certain sectors were hit hard. Marvel Studios lost almost its entire visual development team. Over the past two decades, these artists have shaped the look of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from costume design to the films’ biggest moments, winning numerous awards along the way.
One particularly heart-wrenching post was by artist Wesley Burt, who lamented the irony of “holding one-on-one termination meetings in a conference room with my Loki mural.”
The visual development team consisted of about 13 to 15 people, artist Michael Uwandi, a former member of the team, told Polygon. Uwandi left Marvel Studios after working on several recent projects. moon night and Captain America: Brave New World.
“A lot of times when these movies are planned, they are assigned a specific character,” Uwandi says. “But usually we don’t even have a script to begin with, so we can design characters, costumes, etc., and create the visuals that inspire the movie.” [and] A keyframe is basically a still image of a movie scene, usually action-oriented or story-oriented. ”
In other words, the visual development team not only designs the costumes, but also shapes the story with the specific director and writer of the film or TV show.
The Marvel vis development team has been there for 20 years and to disband like that is a real shame for these people who showed loyalty to the company.
Another former team member, who spoke to Polygon on condition of anonymity, worked on films such as: deadpool & wolverine and Fantastic Four: First Stepsnotes that collaboration between a staffed visual development team and rotating teams for various films and television shows wasn’t always smooth.
“this [visual development team] that was what kevin did [Feige] I really wanted it because I’m a manga fan. [he had] “There was a particular vision of how things should be translated,” the source says. “It was often said that this team is very specific and that other departments don’t like being on this team. It’s not a rivalry, it’s more like some kind of political relationship.” [were] It’s happening between these different departments. ”
So why are they cutting back on visual development? Sources told Polygon that Marvel has significantly expanded its visual development team as it continues to expand its episodic content on Disney Plus, and the cuts are based on direction from the studio. Still, our only artist source, we can’t help but wonder if they could have been more easily disposed of due to inside relationships.
“I know a lot of these different departments, especially costume design, didn’t like being with us.”
Despite the alleged infighting, Marvel managed to bring a consistent “house style” to its films, uniting the work of dozens of filmmakers and even across different genres. Two former team members who spoke to Polygon said the cohesiveness between the MCU films was a direct result of having an in-house visual development team.
Uwandi said the visual development team often played a role in interpreting Marvel characters from the comics to the big screen.
“A lot of them are big fans. [of Marvel comics]“Their understanding of the source material is on a whole other level,” he says. With this kind of understanding, you don’t have to study while designing, so you can actually play around with design. [it]. Of course, we still do that, but when you understand something to that level, you know exactly what the fans want. They know exactly how to push and pull while remaining fan friendly. ”
In contrast, those in the film industry tend to “run away” from the comic book look, Uwandi says.
With Marvel’s success being such a big part of it, what does that mean for the future of the MCU? Uwandi says the benefit of having a team like this together in-house is “familiarity and comfort,” which translates to agility and momentum in development. On the other hand, if an artist moves from project to project, working in different studios and with different design sensibilities, it will take longer for the project to get off the ground. These job cuts were made to save money, but Uwandi says the move is “short-sighted.”
Cuts may also affect the quality of the film, as Uwandi said the team’s camaraderie made the work better.
“When you work in a company, you get inspiration and motivation from your co-workers, and I was inspired and thought, “Oh, I need to step up,” says Uwandi. “It’s not internal, so it’s a lot less personal.”
Uwandi also feels that while each film had its own team, the visual development team was the last line on all those projects, and losing the team could lead to a lack of coherence in the MCU going forward. Removing it could lead to inconsistency between movies.
The question, of course, is the availability of generative AI and whether at least some of these jobs will be replaced by generative AI. “I don’t really know, but unfortunately I wouldn’t be surprised,” Uwandi said.
Another Polygon source who recently worked at Marvel claims that outside collaborators who work on MCU projects with specific directors (as opposed to in-house visual development teams) sometimes use AI in their work.
“We definitely feel that’s part of it,” they say. “A lot of things are being pushed towards AI. There were other teams that were already using AI. I don’t know if Marvel declared it, but a lot of teams were using AI. It wasn’t the visual development team, but other teams that were going to come in, like the art department and the costume designers, were already using AI.”
A third former member of the visual development team, who also requested anonymity, said the move has less to do with technology and more to do with how Disney thinks about full-time and contract labor.
“I can say that do not have Because, thanks to AI, we plan to rehire on a freelance basis,” they say.
Either way, the decision to part ways with its visual development team signals the end of decades of Marvel relying on artists to interpret its comic book works for mainstream consumption.
“It’s unfortunate that people are losing their jobs and careers,” Uwandi said. “The Marvel Viz development team had been there for 20 years, and to see it disband in that way is a real shame for the people who were loyal to the company. They could have gone elsewhere, but they chose to stay with Marvel.”
Polygon has asked Marvel and Disney for clarification on the scope of the layoffs and the suggestions made in this article by former employees. I will update with any additional comments or clarifications.
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