After Flash’s CGI Gets Criticism, Team Member Shares Reflect on What Contributed to “Poor” VFX

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Minor spoilers for The Flash await us.

The Flash has been in theaters for over a week now, and it’s made quite an impression on moviegoers, for better and for worse. Reviews for the DC film have been mixed to positive, and for the most part the general public seems to have enjoyed it. However, the film has also received its fair share of criticism, with arguably the biggest one having to do with the visual effects. Many didn’t hold back their displeasure with the CGI and seemingly wondered what contributed to it. Well, amidst the chatter, one team member weighed in, providing an honest take on what’s to blame for the “poor” VFX.

Zach Mulligan is a visual effects artist who has worked on several high-profile films, including The Bad Guys and Black Adam. When it comes to the last superhero movie he worked on, he saw the visual effects reviews. So he took to TikTok to share some videos in hopes of shedding some light behind the scenes. Mulligan clarified in one of the clips that despite his background as a VFX artist and animator, he was actually the production coordinator for Scarlet Speedster’s long-awaited solo movie. In this position, however, he was still able to communicate regularly with the artists and get a feel for the harsh working conditions. On that note, Mulligan attributes dull effects to the collaborative process between effects companies and entertainment studios:

The way VFX companies work is that [entertainment entities] will approach the visual effects companies and say, “Hey, I need 2,000 shots for this sequence”, and the visual effects studios will place a bid based on that quantity of shots. But here’s the catch – the amount of work per shot varies greatly. So one shot could have wire indent, another shot could have wire indent, smoke [simulation]fire [simulation]face replacement [and] green screen. Despite the difference in workload between these two moves, they are both considered one move each. Because of this, VFX artists are forced to work tireless, overtime hours almost every day, including weekends.

The host noted the sheer number of superhero movies coming out these days that studios have “cut back on the time to make them.” Zach Mulligan – who quit production after three months – also claims that as a result, visual effects companies are being forced to meet ‘insane’ deadlines or risk losing contracts to competitors. He added:

When you do so many projects with shorter turnaround times, the visual effects will always be worse. So if it looks like a VFX shot in The Flash was done in a week, it’s probably because it was.

The industry vet noted in his caption that “poor CGI” in the DCEU movie is “just the tip of the iceberg” and that “poor” effects are “too common” to consider. this stage. This discussion of substandard computer animation has gained momentum in recent months, and a number of people have made allegations about unsatisfactory working conditions for artists. Some studios have come under fire for alleged practices, including Marvel Studios. An artist from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania claimed that the film suffered due to unreasonable delays. And last week, the animators of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse spoke anonymously about their own working environments. They claim that due to a haphazard creative process, the upcoming sequel, Beyond the Spider-Verse, will be delayed.

As for The Flash, director Andy Muschietti addressed the effects and argued that they were presented as intended. He argued that this direction was due to audiences seeing a number of things from Barry Allen’s distorted perspective. Still, fans took issue with a few key moments, including the opening action sequence which sees Barry rescuing heavily CG babies and another involving a slew of multi-versal cameos. Fans will likely stick to their opinions on the effects of the DC movie and other high-profile titles. And presumably all the while, artists like Zach Mulligan will continue to share their experiences working on these productions.

You can see The Flash for yourself, as it’s hitting theaters now as part of the 2023 new movie release schedule. Fans can also read up on upcoming DC movies.

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