Stop Saying "They Put In No Effort"

One of the worst and most insulting arguments that is brought up in film/television is “The people behind this didn’t up any effort into it” or “the writing is lazy.” The people who use these arguments clearly have no idea what they’re talking about and come across as very mean spirited.

One of the most notorious examples of this argument being used is with The Emoji Movie. Many people claimed that the filmmakers just copy and pasted what previous works did before and made it with emojis. This assumption, however, could not be further from the truth. Director Tony Leondis was inspired by Toy Story as well as his personal life as a gay man to construct the film as a journey of self discovery. He initially wanted the emojis to go into the human world, but the producer, Michelle Raimo Kouyate, thought the world inside the phone was more interesting. It’s also worth noting that this film was completed in 2 years as opposed to the average 4-5. That means the storyboard artists, production designers and especially animators had to really push themselves to their limits just for the film to meet it’s deadline. But sure, they didn’t put any effort into the final product.

The word “lazy” is often used to describe a piece of media one does not care for. I’m sorry, but you’re inaccurate when you say “X was lazy.” Screenwriters spend so much time at their desks trying to write something special and unique and if the draft isn’t approve, they have to either rewrite it or come up with something new for another project. Animators especially are the furthest thing from lazy that you can get. Imagine having to set at a desk drawing slightly different variations of the same drawing all day and then doing it again the following day until the project is done. It’s especially difficult when deadlines are on the horizon and they have to spend the night at the studio just to complete the final frames of animation.

Then there’s the other aspects that goes into filmmaking such as cinematography, lighting, sound mixing, editing, stunts, practical effects, marketing, producing and so much more. This doesn’t just apply to movies and TV shows; video games, music videos, novels, comic books, and songs among other forms of entertainment have so much effort put into their craft for better or for worse. By calling a piece of media you don’t like “lazy” or say “they put in no effort” you’re undermining the very talented people that work harder than you think. Like I always say; your opinion is NOT law -.-