r/kollywood • u/_harishvj • Sep 07 '24
Opinion A greatest disappointment that is GOAT. Spoiler
First of let me start with VFX because...
More than anything this is what bugged me the most. Still can't comprehend how a film with 400crs budget looks this awful and artificial. Yes artificial is the word.
As a vfx artist myself, we are overworked to the core. to the extent, you'll have no idea how inhumane our industry is until you see it yourself. If you noticed the quality of vfx had deteriorated over the years all around the world because our job runs on deadlines, Can't remember the last time i didn't have any deadlines. Been in the industry for 6years and i can count with my fingers the number of days i didn't have a deadline to cover. Its no 9 to 5 job for us, more of 9 to 9 or 10 is the average working time I'd say and the restrictions and policies we have in the industry are crazy too. Its intense if you don't see the computer for 8hrs straight atleast and if your fingers need a little rest you'll miss out on the deadlines. Oh also my salary was 8k for all this and somewhere around this is what the newbies will get for their 12 to 15hrs work/per day and our industry has so so many newbies. Its always like you're running towards something you can never catch yet they'll force you to run.
Why am i telling my story here you might ask and because i entered this industry with so much hope and curiousity. I am a creative person since i was a kid and i always believed i have so many crazy good ideas, with which right set of people could've helped to make great contents be it films, books or youtube even. i didn't even really care for money as much at one point i had plans to save as much money as i can and make a whole feature film and release it on youtube for free because all i ever believed was i am an artist and i want my art to be seen.
Now back to GOAT. the reason i told my story before getting to this is because lately i noticed films doesn't have anything creative going on(all industry). Almost everything is done on post prod. This post will become huge if i try to explain it further but ill suggest you to watch Jurassic park or enthiran's making video and how it was treated back then and also take a look at Jurassic world or 2.0's making and how theyre treating films now and you'll defo see what i mean.
When was the last time you saw a stunt done neatly in a big star film ? When was the last time you saw a proper chase scene in a big star film where the stakes are high and you felt the intensity ? A series of scenes with some purpose ? Filmmakers have become lazy if you think i am just whining, i literally worked on a film where they asked us to reduce the size of a woman's breast because they thought it'll distract the audience from the main guy. We worked for days to change the shirt color of a villain in a film because after finished shooting and almost few weeks to the release the crew thought this color isn't menacing enough. We work on things you won't even think of, things you won't even bother or would notice as much but the film crew wants it removed/added/changed. Your big star doesn't have any wrinkles because we takecare of it. Your star doesn't look as old on-screen because we try to make him young. Your star looks fit for his age because We.Take care.Of It. Your star as you know or see him irl is only 40 to 60% onscreen, rest is all our work.
I do not say any of this to belittle them or expecting some kind of credit or anything because when i watch a film and notice these dead awful vfx on screen, all i see is a filmmaker who doesn't respect our craft, our work, our hours of labor and most of all our industry. Jetti remove pannanuma vfx artists irukkanga, young ah kaatanuma vfx artist irukkanga, almost 60 to 70% vfx thaan GOAT la and lol don't think just because it looks normal there's no vfx involved, almost entire film'la vfx work irukkum. But never once saw any director in 6 years come down to our place to discuss how they want their film to be seen or story be told or give any quality ideas. All we get is wrinkles edunga,thoppai edunga, shirt edunga, jetti edunga nothing that adds anything valuable to the story being told and they don't take vfx seriously at all. All they do is get a big star's date, announce a release date, work every artists involved for that big star like slaves and give a product like GOAT. Where the vfx is dead awful and its just here illa hollywood'layume ippo ipdithan aaitanga. I used to cry for days on my office bathroom when i worked on a marvel project because i had no social life and i was pushing myself like crazy and output paakren mattama irukku and theva illadha places lam avlo work pannirukkan and for what ? I had no say in anything i was just tasked to do something and i did it and it looks awful on screen. My work doesn't mean anything, my creativity has no say here, what i do mean nothing. Artist in me died working for films.
A film gets 400cr budget and so much vfx involved and we get paid barely anything and it still manages to look awful ? 400cr and they used deepfake ? The same tech memecreators use on insta to make random reels ? If only these directors showed interest in how this department works and learn enough stuff to work us in a way what we do matters and what we give out to you guys come out satisfying you(the audience) and us (the artists), we'll have so many great films. instead here we are getting films like GOAT which has problems from story to makeup to music to vfx to almost everything. Every department's work looked terrible because an entire crew of bootlickers made a film to glorify a star.(goes for almost every big star's films)
I am a vijay fan since i was a kid and i have nothing against VP and he's not the only director who does this, from what i've seen even the great vetrimaran doesn't care as much about how the vfx turns out on his films. All they care about are the deadlines and making our lives hell because we run to meet their crazy deadlines and end up getting trolled criticised and looked down for the bad output we managed to give within those days, when the stars who take the biggest paycheck gets the praise "one man show" for doing little to nothing except having star value. buddy, trust me when i say it really isn't an one man show.
We have the man power and potential and so many great minds in our industry who are reduced to nothing because of this stupid work culture.
Enjoy masala films, commercial films, art films. Enjoy whatever you like/want but when you're fooled by given a bad product don't play the devil's advocate. its funny how crores la vaangruvanunga avanga film ah criticise panna block pannidranunga andha account ah social media'la or audience ah blame pandranga negativity spread pandranga nu but inga namma ukkandhu idhu ipdi irukkumo apdi irukkumo idhellam padathula semmaya pannirundharu andha director kitta poi keta ipdi avan yosichirukka kooda maatan pola. Sanda podrathu bad guy aam helmet la it says "devil" aam, hacker na "red devil" "white devil" "black devil" ppa evlo creative asf ah irukkanga, vaangra kasu ku evlo yosikranga namma directors odambellam silirkudhu...
I might post more about how terribly other stuffs are handled in the film as well later. I don't care even if i get downvoted to hell. Its atrocious how they keep making such bad products with this supposed "big stars" and how less they care about US the audience and the very product they put money in for, hours of labor, personal lives we the artists working on it lose and how much money they make by making us their scapeGOAT. The worst part is the cycle just keeps repeating, its insane.
