[0:00] one of my favorite things to do in film
[0:02] criticism is to re-watch an old movie
[0:04] that I used to have very strong opinions
[0:06] about one way or another to see if I
[0:08] still feel the same way I've been
[0:09] meaning to do this with the Pirates of
[0:11] the Caribbean Trilogy the first three
[0:13] movies directed by Gore verbinski for a
[0:15] while now because those movies seem to
[0:16] have reputations that are set in stone
[0:19] everybody loves the first movie because
[0:21] it's a lean little action adventure
[0:22] movie with zero fat on it a perfect
[0:24] movie that doesn't require any work from
[0:26] the audience to enjoy it's got romance
[0:28] it's got action it's got comedy it's the
[0:31] ultimate throw it on when you're tired
[0:32] movie and you will be teleported two
[0:34] hours into the future completely
[0:36] refreshed and then there's the two
[0:37] sequels which are really one long movie
[0:39] that you need to set aside an entire
[0:41] evening to enjoy and which require you
[0:43] to bust out a notepad to keep track of
[0:44] all the characters but you know what I
[0:46] think we were spoiled in the 2000s in
[0:49] the 2000s we were getting big
[0:50] blockbuster movies directed by weird
[0:52] otour filmmakers that came out of
[0:54] nowhere literally every year movies that
[0:56] were wildly tonally different well made
[0:59] and memorable now I don't want to
[1:00] romanticize the past as if all the
[1:02] movies back then were great they weren't
[1:04] but when looking back at these two
[1:06] movies movies that have been widely
[1:07] derided for two decades watching them in
[1:10] the context of today's media landscape
[1:11] is a very different experience and
[1:14] actually I think if they had come out
[1:15] today they would be some of the most
[1:16] celebrated Blockbusters of the year I
[1:19] think the best way to address why people
[1:21] didn't connect with these movies as much
[1:22] as they did with the first one is by
[1:24] answering the question what do each of
[1:26] the main characters want in the first
[1:28] movie that question is really easy to
[1:30] answer will wants to save Elizabeth
[1:31] because he loves her what's his name
[1:33] also wants to save Elizabeth Elizabeth
[1:35] is just trying to survive but then wants
[1:36] to save will Barbosa wants to collect
[1:38] the Aztec gold so that he can eat an
[1:40] apple again and Jack Wants Revenge on
[1:42] Barbosa for initiating a mutiny against
[1:44] him pretty simple stuff okay now what do
[1:47] the characters want in the two sequels
[1:49] well Cutler Beckett wants will to steal
[1:51] Jack Sparrow's Compass so that he can
[1:53] use it to find Davy Jones's heart so he
[1:55] can use that to control Davey Jones
[1:56] himself which will give the East India
[1:58] Company total control of the seeds Jack
[2:00] Sparrow wants to escape the bargain he
[2:02] made with Davey Jones but fails to do it
[2:03] dies comes back to life and then wants
[2:05] to get Davey Jones's heart so that he
[2:07] can replace Jones as the captain of the
[2:09] Flying Dutchman and live forever we'll
[2:11] turn her again just wants to save
[2:12] Elizabeth at the start but then also
[2:14] wants to free his father from Davey
[2:15] Jones's crew which leads to him scheming
[2:17] to take control of the Black Pearl
[2:19] because it's the only ship faster than
[2:21] the Dutchman but when Matt fails he
[2:22] schemes with the bad guys to settle the
[2:24] Pirates on the promise of securing
[2:25] Elizabeth and his father's safety
[2:27] Elizabeth wants to save will at first
[2:28] but then she wants to get revenge on
[2:29] Cutler Beckett for killing her father
[2:31] leading her to push the Brethren Court
[2:33] of pirates to war with the East India
[2:35] Company what's his name wants to regain
[2:36] his position in the British Navy and
[2:38] does so by giving Beckett the heart but
[2:40] then regrets having done this and tries
[2:41] to redeem himself by helping Elizabeth
[2:43] Escape resulting in his death Davey
[2:45] Jones wants to maintain control over the
[2:47] chest that contains his heart because he
[2:48] dies if anybody stabs it and he also
[2:50] wants to get back his ex-girlfriend the
[2:52] literal personification of the ocean
[2:53] Calypso Calypso also known as tiodama
[2:56] wants to get herself freed by the
[2:57] Brethren Court which cast Magic on her
[2:59] that found her to a human form so she
[3:01] needs the Brethren Court to get together
[3:03] declare war and then burn all the little
[3:05] items that they use to bind her so that
[3:07] she can be free again when she learns
[3:08] that Davey Jones was the one behind her
[3:10] imprisonment She Wants Revenge on him
[3:12] creating a Maelstrom that eventually
[3:13] consumes him Barbosa has been returned
[3:15] from the dead and kinda has to do what
[3:17] Calypso says so his goals are
[3:18] essentially just an extension of hers
[3:21] so you've got a pair of extremely
[3:24] hyperactive movies that have twice as
[3:26] many significant characters and almost
[3:28] all of them have their Central
[3:29] motivations and loyalties change
[3:31] completely over the course of the story
[3:32] which is just a lot for an audience to
[3:35] keep track of but in the context of
[3:37] today's media landscape where we have 20
[3:39] movies existing in the same universe
[3:41] where multiple monocultural franchises
[3:44] require audiences to be familiar with
[3:46] literally hundreds of characters the
[3:48] pirate sequels are damn near basic oh
[3:50] they're too long how dare you say that
[3:52] after your 13-hour stranger things binge
[3:55] foreign
[3:59] foreign
[4:06] Trends in the film industry over the
[4:08] last 10 years or so is the death of
[4:10] comedy films you know once upon a time a
[4:12] bunch of comedians would get together
[4:13] and make comedies or romantic comedies
[4:15] and they would be some of the most
[4:16] successful movies of the year do you
[4:18] remember that there's a lot of reasons
[4:20] for this decline though generally
[4:21] comedies are mid-budget and mid-budget
[4:23] movies as a whole have declined the last
[4:26] time a pure comedy movie cracked the top
[4:28] 10 highest grossing movies of the Year
[4:30] domestically was 2009 with the hangover
[4:33] yeah it's been more than a decade since
[4:36] a regular old comedy movie has been able
[4:37] to compete with the big noise action
[4:40] genre mashup roller coasters so most
[4:42] movies are now either made for five
[4:43] dollars in a dream or cost more than the
[4:45] GDP of some countries mid-budget movies
[4:47] on the other hand often made a lot of
[4:49] the revenue on DVD or Blu-ray sales
[4:51] which have dried up as a result of the
[4:53] rise of streaming at the same time the
[4:55] only companies that seem interested in
[4:56] pumping out comedy movies are those very
[4:59] same streaming services that killed them
[5:00] in the first place but to quote Quentin
[5:02] Tarantino on this Ryan Reynolds has made
[5:05] 50 million on this movie and 50 million
[5:07] dollars on that movie and 50 million
[5:09] dollars on the next movie for them I
[5:10] don't know what any of those movies are
[5:12] I've never seen them have you those
[5:14] movies don't exist in the Zeitgeist it's
[5:16] almost like they don't even exist but
[5:17] it's not just all of the factors I've
[5:19] listed out so far that's caused this
[5:20] it's that big noise movies are usually
[5:22] comedies too at least ostensibly
[5:25] Americans only go to the theaters a few
[5:27] times a year so I can't really fault
[5:28] them for choosing the movies where they
[5:30] get both jokes and explosions instead of
[5:32] just jokes the dominant player here is
[5:34] of course Marvel and I think the mcu's
[5:37] specific kind of humor is also partially
[5:39] responsible for killing even the lowest
[5:41] of low budget comedies parody movies in
[5:44] the 2000s we used to have this whole
[5:45] little industry of films that mocked
[5:47] whatever was popular at the box office
[5:49] they weren't that good but at least they
[5:51] existed like how could you ever make one
[5:53] today when the thing that is the most
[5:55] popular at the box office is the Marvel
[5:57] Cinematic Universe how could David
[5:58] Zucker ever make fun of this when it
[6:01] already looks like a David Zucker movie
[6:02] the point is every year while comedy
[6:04] movies don't make the the top 10 earning
[6:06] movies of the Year action comedies
[6:09] always do because when you break it down
[6:11] the biggest movies of the year are genre
[6:12] mashups but they usually only wear the
[6:14] clothes of other genres so to speak and
[6:17] this is why I want to get to the Pirates
[6:18] movies because while modern films have
[6:20] action scenes and they have comedy
[6:22] scenes they don't often have action
[6:25] comedy scenes what do I mean by that I
[6:27] mean scenes where the premise of the
[6:29] action is comedic where the comedy
[6:32] escalates over the course of the action
[6:34] scene where the comedy isn't just coming
[6:35] from characters making quippy one-liners
[6:38] over one another but where the visual
[6:39] presentation of the action is inherently
[6:42] funny itself so for the sake of this
[6:44] video I endured the two hour runtime of
[6:47] Ant-Man quantumania in one of the scenes
[6:49] you have two people with technology that
[6:51] can shrink or expand things fighting
[6:53] against Bill Murray at an alien bar and
[6:55] to get away they make a weird octopus
[6:57] turn really big and it eats Bill Murray
[6:59] this should be the funniest scene in the
[7:01] movie this should be the funniest scene
[7:02] of the year but the images are somehow
[7:04] so black land that they pass without
[7:06] leaving any impression whatsoever it
[7:08] just sort of happens and then they move
[7:10] on to the next thing the camera doesn't
[7:11] frame the action in a way that's comedic
[7:13] the scene doesn't mind the premise for
[7:15] every possible joke it could it's just
[7:18] there but the pattern this movie falls
[7:20] into that almost all of the Marvel
[7:21] movies not directed by James Gunn fall
[7:24] into is having the characters make jokes
[7:26] then have a beat of action then the
[7:28] characters make jokes about the action
[7:29] but the action isn't funny itself but
[7:32] the Pirates movies Peak action comedy
[7:36] [Applause]
[7:42] now despite the fact that the first
[7:44] movie is the one that pretty much
[7:45] everyone agrees is the best of the
[7:47] franchise going back and watching it now
[7:49] made me realize that the extremely
[7:51] kinetic action that the franchise is
[7:53] often remembered for didn't really
[7:55] originate in that movie it's Dead Man's
[7:57] Chest in at World's End where the
[7:59] Pirates films hit their action comedy
[8:01] Apex so let's establish a few things
[8:04] that good action comedy does the way the
[8:07] images are framed by the camera is the
[8:09] most essential part of this there are
[8:11] some kinds of shots that are just
[8:12] reliably funny I don't want to say
[8:14] inherently funny because comedy is
[8:16] subjective but if you have watched
[8:18] enough movies you will recognize them as
[8:20] moments where the filmmakers are trying
[8:22] to make you laugh for instance have
[8:24] something in the background of a shot
[8:25] undermine what is happening in the
[8:27] foreground gorbinski does this
[8:28] constantly in his movies in this shot in
[8:30] the Mexican for instance people steal
[8:32] Brad Pitt's car in the background while
[8:34] he is on the phone in the foreground in
[8:35] The Lone Ranger an intense fight in the
[8:37] foreground is undermined by Tonto
[8:39] climbing a ladder in the background in
[8:41] Dead Man's Chest Jack pulls himself out
[8:43] of an open grave in the foreground while
[8:45] a giant wheel rolls toward him in the
[8:47] background this is basically about
[8:49] putting the setup and the payoff of a
[8:51] joke in the same image and creating
[8:53] anticipation in the audience for it
[8:55] here's another instance of it in the
[8:56] same sequence while Elizabeth is in
[8:58] danger in the foreground the silly
[9:00] three-way fight on the big wheel Rolls
[9:02] by in the background which is another
[9:04] point about framing whenever things
[9:06] unexpectedly or quickly enter or leave
[9:09] the frame the audience interprets it as
[9:11] a joke this actually happens twice in
[9:13] that Elizabeth's scene first with the
[9:15] big wheel and then with the
[9:19] here's another example of it in another
[9:21] Gore verbinsky movie Rango
[9:23] [Music]
[9:26] oh no Elizabeth is in trouble again
[9:32] these kinds of jokes are enhanced by a
[9:35] particular kind of shot that often has
[9:36] very little camera movement and where
[9:38] the camera is held level to the ground
[9:40] this creates a kind of play-like look
[9:42] where things are able to come on or off
[9:44] stage comedy shots also often pull back
[9:46] to make the protagonists look small and
[9:48] when things are small our brains seem to
[9:50] think that that's funny like when will
[9:51] and what's his face are fighting here
[9:52] and the camera is pointing up at them
[9:54] they look awesome when it's a flat shot
[9:57] and they're far away it looks funny
[10:01] I often think about this shot from Dead
[10:03] Man's Chest where six men fall to their
[10:05] deaths you could film that scene in a
[10:07] hundred different ways to a hundred
[10:08] different effects like imagine if the
[10:10] camera showed us the POV of the people
[10:11] inside the cage in their final moments
[10:14] that would be horrifying but because we
[10:16] have an overhead shot it reads as a joke
[10:18] because look at them get small suckers
[10:22] all of these techniques and more are on
[10:25] constant display during both the major
[10:27] action comedy scenes of the sequels the
[10:29] rolling ball scene and the rolling wheel
[10:31] scene is there something just inherently
[10:32] funny about things rolling I mean I
[10:34] don't need to do any analysis to say
[10:36] that this shot is awesome another big
[10:37] part of this is the union between music
[10:39] and editing the Pirates movies have one
[10:41] of the liveliest soundtracks out there
[10:48] [Music]
[10:57] but it isn't just that the music is good
[11:00] it's that the music is used with a
[11:02] purpose and the movie is edited to the
[11:04] beat here Jack Sparrow swings up to the
[11:06] sails of a ship and the horns come in
[11:08] right when his feet touch the wood
[11:13] foreign
[11:14] [Applause]
[11:16] I know that this sounds like the most
[11:18] basic thing in the world but I actually
[11:19] think it is a hugely underrated reason
[11:21] for why people did not connect with the
[11:23] later Pirates movies that weren't helmed
[11:25] by verbinski the music in those movies
[11:27] does not as reliably capture the tone of
[11:30] the action and will often repurpose old
[11:32] themes without much care for what that
[11:33] music originally meant
[11:48] like the fourth movie opens with what
[11:50] should be a fanciful little Escape scene
[11:52] but the music has an unearned intensity
[11:54] to it
[12:02] but the original trilogy is Flawless on
[12:04] this note I can't describe it any other
[12:06] way than that when the music plays and
[12:07] I'm watching people swing swords I want
[12:09] to be swinging a sword too
[12:13] [Music]
[12:18] everything that I've described in this
[12:19] section though takes a lot of time
[12:21] planning and coordination to pull off
[12:23] and these are things that a lot of
[12:25] modern Productions struggle with for
[12:26] instance it's no surprise the action and
[12:28] The Comedy of a Marvel movie don't feel
[12:30] like they overlap because from a
[12:31] production perspective they pretty much
[12:33] never did Marvel often has second unit
[12:35] directors who handle the action while
[12:37] the credited directors work on the rest
[12:38] of the movie there's still many great
[12:40] examples of modern action comedy though
[12:42] particularly in animated features and
[12:45] last year's Best Picture Winner
[12:46] everything everywhere all at once was
[12:48] masterful at marrying action in comedy
[12:50] but I do think it's something that we're
[12:52] seeing less of in the Pirates Trilogy
[12:54] particularly Dead Man's Chest did it in
[12:56] ways that are still memorable and unique
[12:58] whatever qualms I have about the writing
[13:00] of these two movies are usually silenced
[13:02] when I'm watching three dudes fight on a
[13:05] giant wheel
[13:07] foreign
[13:07] [Music]
[13:15] that has permeated major Hollywood
[13:17] Blockbusters is an aversion to sex and
[13:20] sex appeal apart from the obligatory
[13:22] topless shot they put in the trailers
[13:23] that tricks women into thinking every
[13:25] action movie will somehow feel like
[13:26] Magic Mike big Blockbusters have become
[13:28] pretty sterile on this front this trend
[13:30] exists alongside an audience backlash
[13:33] against any depiction of sex in this
[13:35] kind of entertainment if you've glanced
[13:36] at Twitter in the last year or two
[13:38] you've almost certainly seen one viral
[13:40] tweet or another to crying the need for
[13:42] sex scenes in any movies whatsoever the
[13:44] typical reason given for this is that
[13:46] sex scenes are indulgent and they don't
[13:48] push the plot forward but I think those
[13:50] are overly General claims yes sex scenes
[13:53] can be indulgent but so can literally
[13:55] any other kind of scene we don't need to
[13:57] see John Wick kill every single henchman
[14:00] in every single John Wick movie but
[14:02] isn't that why you came if all that
[14:04] mattered to an audience was moving the
[14:07] plot forward then reading a Wikipedia
[14:08] summary of a movie would be the same as
[14:10] watching it and while sex scenes may not
[14:12] always push the plot forward it's
[14:14] obviously possible to write them in ways
[14:16] that do in ways that show us more about
[14:18] the characters sex is a fundamental part
[14:20] of our humanity and denying it a place
[14:22] in our stories makes them less authentic
[14:24] experiences but what's funniest to me
[14:26] about all this howling against sex
[14:28] scenes is that again it's happening at a
[14:31] time when those kinds of scenes are
[14:33] already largely absent according to a
[14:35] 2019 report in Playboy using IMDb data
[14:38] sex and Cinema in the 2010s was at its
[14:40] lowest point since the 1960s while sex
[14:43] scenes are more common in TV series
[14:44] they've disappeared from bigger
[14:46] Hollywood movies for a few reasons one
[14:48] of which is the same reason why there
[14:49] are fewer comedies now the death of the
[14:51] mid-budget movie mid-budget dramas were
[14:53] typically where this kind of scene lived
[14:55] and those have been dried out of the
[14:56] industry since tentpole films are made
[14:59] for all audiences all ages and all
[15:01] International markets sex and sex appeal
[15:03] have often been the first things that
[15:05] are tamped down on in order to broaden
[15:07] that appeal and then there's the Pirates
[15:09] movies so horny they need to be locked
[15:12] in a labyrinth what
[15:14] service
[15:15] this may I know yeah
[15:18] though this isn't without its drawbacks
[15:20] the one moment I genuinely despise from
[15:22] these movies is when Elizabeth gets
[15:24] upskirted at the start of the third film
[15:25] a throwaway joke that undermines her
[15:27] otherwise strong characterization I
[15:29] don't think I'm overstating things to
[15:31] say that Elizabeth Swann is a genre
[15:33] defining character what all action
[15:35] adventure heroines aspire to be just to
[15:37] give you an idea of how significant she
[15:39] is on the Wikipedia page for
[15:41] swashbucklers they give a list of 76
[15:43] examples of the archetype and while this
[15:44] is by no means a definitive list only
[15:47] six of the examples are women characters
[15:49] like Elizabeth are rare and when they
[15:51] are attempted they are rarely as well
[15:52] drawn as her she transcends all of the
[15:54] negative tropes typically associated
[15:56] with women in swashbucklers she might
[15:58] begin as the traditional Noble lady who
[16:01] the hero aspires to court but that is
[16:03] far from her only purpose in the story
[16:04] and while she can scheme just as well as
[16:06] the other Pirates she's not a lying
[16:08] Femme Fatale Elizabeth could also just
[16:10] have been a damsel in distress but
[16:12] instead she always gets herself out of
[16:14] trouble and then saves the men who are
[16:16] there to rescue her but in a way where
[16:17] the anti-woke Brigade never
[16:19] even realized it was subverting that
[16:20] Trend in the first place she enters the
[16:22] world of piracy in the most vulnerable
[16:24] of positions captured and made to wear
[16:27] flimsy dresses but then she gets free
[16:28] put some pants on and becomes the pirate
[16:31] king what an arc and sex is an essential
[16:33] part of her development and why her
[16:35] character resonated with audiences the
[16:37] question of Elizabeth's sexual Awakening
[16:39] is actually Central to the entire plot
[16:41] of the trilogy remember these movies
[16:42] start when Elizabeth falls off a cliff
[16:44] into the sea and the Aztec coin sends a
[16:47] message to Barbosa that leads to the
[16:49] sack of Port Royal and everything to
[16:51] follow but why does Elizabeth fall off a
[16:52] cliff well because she was feeling faint
[16:54] when Admiral Lutz's face proposed to her
[16:56] and because she was wearing a corset
[16:58] that was too tight the demands of
[16:59] femininity and Womanhood are literally
[17:01] strangling her and so it's at Sea that
[17:04] Elizabeth finds identity and agency the
[17:06] second movie starts with her wedding
[17:07] being interrupted by Will's arrest so
[17:10] the question of how Elizabeth will grow
[17:11] up into a woman is constantly at the
[17:13] center of the narrative the real Stakes
[17:15] of the films there isn't an explicit sex
[17:17] scene in the Pirates trilogy but sex
[17:19] permeates all three films in ways that
[17:21] movies of this budget simply don't
[17:23] anymore there are three movies of build
[17:25] up to Elizabeth having sex but when she
[17:27] finally does have sex it's her pleasure
[17:29] that is the focus at World's End is the
[17:31] only Disney movie that ends with the
[17:33] implication that the main character is
[17:35] getting head how can you hate these
[17:37] movies on top of all that I am genuinely
[17:39] in awe of how seriously the Pirates
[17:41] movies take the romance in this Trilogy
[17:43] like sure they can be fun and silly
[17:45] genre trash in other places but when
[17:47] will and Elizabeth are looking at each
[17:48] other Han Zimmer scores it like he's
[17:50] making War and Peace
[18:00] years since at World's M came out and I
[18:02] don't know if there's another
[18:03] Blockbuster film that achieves the kind
[18:05] of breathless yearning like these movies
[18:08] did
[18:17] the Pirates Trilogy are some of the best
[18:20] looking Blockbuster films of all time
[18:21] they are right up there with the Lord of
[18:23] the Rings at the top of the mountain the
[18:25] fight choreography is great the stunts
[18:26] are great the locations are eye-popping
[18:28] and just look at the color saturation in
[18:30] these images the movies have greens that
[18:32] are greener than the money I get to
[18:34] explain this stuff to you and blues that
[18:36] are Bluer Than the other money I get
[18:38] paid to explain this stuff to you I'm
[18:39] Canadian my money is all different
[18:41] colors I know this might be a weird
[18:42] thing to comment on since even an
[18:44] episode of Survivor can point a camera
[18:45] at an island and crank the color
[18:47] saturation up but the point is that most
[18:49] big movies don't do this and constantly
[18:51] go for this desaturated gray blue look
[18:54] watch 10 movies that came out in the
[18:56] last year and then watch a scene from
[18:57] the Pirates movies and it will feel like
[18:59] the freshest breath of air your eyeball
[19:01] lungs have ever breathed on top of that
[19:03] let's talk about the CGI and motion
[19:05] capture in this movie to date I still
[19:07] think Davey Jones is the most convincing
[19:09] computer generated character ever put to
[19:11] screen every part of him is believable
[19:13] he's intimidating and slimy and fully
[19:16] realized more than that he's you used
[19:18] appropriately within the environment
[19:20] that the CGI is enhanced rather than
[19:22] being distracting most Davey Jones
[19:24] scenes take place at night so it always
[19:26] looks like the strange lovecraftian
[19:28] elements of his design are coming out of
[19:30] the darkness but even during the day he
[19:32] looks great because the inspiration
[19:33] behind his design and the design of his
[19:35] crew that they are people made out of
[19:37] sea creatures and plants fits within the
[19:39] context of the scene they don't look out
[19:41] of place on the deck of a boat or in a
[19:43] storm or anything by the ocean and even
[19:46] when the film puts him in an environment
[19:47] that he should look weird in they
[19:49] managed to make it all look like it
[19:51] coheres with Stark lighting choices like
[19:53] Davey Jones should look really out of
[19:55] place at fancy British tea time but he
[19:58] doesn't because the Stark yellow
[19:59] lighting makes him and the human
[20:01] characters all blend into a single image
[20:03] the thing is though there was a cost to
[20:06] these movies looking this good in the
[20:08] past year or so there have been a number
[20:09] of reports about the poor working
[20:11] conditions for most of the people in the
[20:12] VFX industry stories which came out
[20:15] alongside widespread criticisms of the
[20:17] quality of the CGI in a number of
[20:19] different movies and TV shows such as
[20:21] Marvel's She-Hulk there are a bunch of
[20:24] factors that have created these
[20:25] conditions first the consolidation of
[20:27] Hollywood Studios means that each
[20:29] individual Studio has a lot more
[20:31] bargaining power when it comes to making
[20:32] demands of VFX artists most VFX artists
[20:35] work on a freelance basis with the
[20:37] studios and so they are in constant fear
[20:39] of alienating a client and losing out on
[20:42] all of their work this means that movie
[20:44] studios like Marvel can make outrageous
[20:46] demands of VFX artists expecting them to
[20:49] work on unrealistic schedules and to
[20:51] make enormous changes late into the
[20:53] process something they are notorious for
[20:55] the VFX studios are also in competition
[20:58] with one another to secure contracts
[21:00] with the movie studios so they have to
[21:01] under bid one another meaning that the
[21:03] margins are very thin or non-existent
[21:06] the majority of VFX workers are thus
[21:08] both underpaid and overworked when you
[21:10] multiply this all by the fact that the
[21:12] number of projects that need major VFX
[21:14] work has exploded over the past decade
[21:16] you've got an industry that has had a
[21:18] Breaking Point to give you a picture of
[21:19] just how bad it is almost every Studio
[21:21] has some sort of cry room where people
[21:23] would just go into and cry for 10
[21:25] minutes and then come back out and do
[21:27] their job that quote is from an io9
[21:28] article that includes Anonymous
[21:30] interviews with a number of VFX workers
[21:32] on the issue one of the artists
[21:33] specifically identified Pirates of the
[21:35] Caribbean at World's End as a Flashpoint
[21:38] for the industry Disney made
[21:39] increasingly huge demands on the VFX
[21:42] Studios who managed to pull off the
[21:43] project despite the massive time crunch
[21:45] a lot of us in the industry saw that as
[21:47] a really bad thing because we recognized
[21:49] that we were never going to get more
[21:51] than this amount of money and this
[21:52] amount of resources because they
[21:54] finished the Pirates of the Caribbean
[21:55] and that's exactly what happened so look
[21:57] I hope my love for these movies is
[21:59] coming through but obviously it's also
[22:01] hard to know that something I'm attached
[22:03] to was also objectively bad for a
[22:06] generation of VFX artists the movie
[22:08] looks incredible but I take a worse
[22:10] looking Blockbuster movie about silly
[22:12] Pirates if it meant an industry that had
[22:13] healthy working conditions for the
[22:15] people involved right now though we've
[22:17] got both an in industry with unhealthy
[22:19] working conditions and a tsunami of
[22:21] movies and TV shows with subpar effects
[22:23] it's the worst of Both Worlds and to be
[22:25] totally clear it's not the case that the
[22:27] people working on the shows that come
[22:28] out today are somehow less talented than
[22:30] the ones that came out years prior it's
[22:32] that they're not given the proper time
[22:34] to do their best work and that's the
[22:35] worst case scenario for everyone
[22:37] involved except for the big studios as
[22:39] I'm writing this both the actors Union
[22:40] and the writers Union are on strike
[22:42] while VFX artists at Marvel in Disney
[22:45] have voted to unionize I hope they
[22:47] succeed and if you do too then well
[22:49] there's not much you can do but the
[22:51] least you can do is not take to social
[22:52] media to blame underpaid workers when
[22:54] your favorite thing gets delayed by a
[22:56] couple of months blame the studios
[22:58] instead taking a look back at the
[23:00] Pirates Trilogy today is a wild
[23:01] experience it feels like those movies
[23:04] came out at a focal point for a lot of
[23:06] different trends that have robbed the
[23:07] industry of a lot of the life that it
[23:09] once had there were movies that were
[23:11] Everything at Once action comedy horror
[23:13] romance Adventures but it really was
[23:16] just those three First movies there is
[23:18] no chance of me doing a re-analysis of
[23:20] the fourth or fifth films because the
[23:22] main reason those movies don't work is
[23:24] simple they weren't directed by Gore
[23:26] verbinski Gore verbinsky is a pretty
[23:28] interesting director and in doing the
[23:30] research for this video I dived into his
[23:32] entire filmography a filmography which
[23:35] hasn't had a new entry in seven years so
[23:38] I've actually made a whole second video
[23:40] about his movies it's called whatever
[23:42] happened to gore verbinsky this is a
[23:44] full 30 minute long video essay that I'm
[23:47] really proud of and if you've enjoyed
[23:49] this video I think you'll get a lot out
[23:51] of that one and you can watch it right
[23:52] now on nebula if you don't know nebula
[23:55] is a fantastic streaming service that I
[23:57] helped make with a bunch of other
[23:58] educational YouTubers that you're
[24:00] probably familiar with it's a place
[24:02] where we can make videos that don't have
[24:03] to worry about the YouTube algorithm or
[24:06] getting demonetized for instance Maggie
[24:08] mayfish recently made a fantastic nebula
[24:10] original series called unrated that
[24:12] explores the history of sexuality on
[24:14] film you can watch all of that good
[24:16] stuff for an absurdly low price if you
[24:18] sign up with my link you can get 40 off
[24:21] of an annual plan of nebula which works
[24:23] out to a little over two dollars and
[24:25] fifty cents a month I mean come on on
[24:27] top of that you'll get access to nebula
[24:29] classes like this one by my friend
[24:31] Patrick H Willems which is a practical
[24:33] tutorial to becoming a filmmaker also
[24:36] for the month of September only nebula
[24:38] has a lifetime membership deal oh what's
[24:41] that well for three hundred dollars you
[24:43] can have access to nebula forever yes
[24:46] forever this is the best way to support
[24:49] creators on that platform because one
[24:51] third of the money goes directly to
[24:52] supporting this channel while the rest
[24:54] of it goes to the development of more
[24:56] nebula Originals you can save more money
[24:58] by getting an annual plan but you can
[25:00] help make nebula a better platform today
[25:03] with a lifetime membership so give it a
[25:05] look with the other link I've shared
[25:07] below a big thank you to everyone who
[25:09] has already signed up for nebula and
[25:11] another big thanks to my patrons for
[25:12] supporting me on patreon keep writing
[25:15] everyone
[25:16] thank you
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[25:29] [Music]
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