A VFX artist has spoken out over fan concerns about the recent Minecraft movie teaser and says that due to special effects choices, the clip is actually supposed to look that way, but will take a lot of work to fix it.
"I’m like 99% sure that what you see is just slap comps and what that means is that it's straight from the farm, slap it together and go," said VFX pro Valentina Sgro on TikTok. "We do this for temp edits so that the edits look better but the problem though is that it often looks like this and then the studio goes and puts it in a trailer." A slap comp is a very rough initial composite of a design that is usually used to test out different scenes or to help studios visualize the final output. Watch the full video below.
The good news is that, if Sgro is right, the teaser is by no means the final product but rather a mock-up. This will be a relief for Minecraft fans who have been beside themselves trying to work out whether the trailer is supposed to look as unfinished as it is, from the strange-looking animals to the floating cast, or if the final product will come out this way too.
However, the bad news is that the artist goes on to say how the use of a slap comp in the teaser is probably down to bad planning. "If they had planned it right it would have been DMP (Digital Matte Painting) now it's a complex VFX shot," explains Sgro.
The TikToker then goes on to say how it looks like the cast were filmed in studio lighting, which is another reason why they look so out of touch with the VFX background. This is also why objects such as the glowing blue cube do not reflect off of the cast as it would in real life.
The solution? The project will either have to go through a lot of reshoots with a practical set, or an extensive VFX edit, where artists will have to render grass, light placement, and more. "Design problems aside, a lot of this will probably get better, it all looks very very very early stages to me," adds Sgro, concluding that it will be "expensive" to fix.
The upcoming project, officially titled A Minecraft Movie, brings the highly popular video game to the big screen as sees main character Steve help save a gang of gamers survive in the block-tastic world. The cast includes Jack Black as Steve, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen.
A Minecraft Movie hits theaters on April 5, 2025. For more, keep up to date with upcoming movies heading your way this year and beyond.
