Visual effects

Visual effects (or 'VFX' for short) is the term given to a sub-category of special effects in which images or film frames are created and manipulated for film and video. Visual effects usually involve the integration of live-action footage with computer generated imagery or other elements (such as pyrotechnics or model work) in order to create environments or scenarios which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. They have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently become accessible to the amateur filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software.

Timing

Visual effects are frequently integral to a movie's story and appeal. Although most visual-effects work is completed during post-production, it usually must be carefully planned and choreographed in pre-production and production.

Categories

Visual effects may be divided into at least four categories:

• Models: miniature sets and models, animatronics
• Matte paintings and stills: digital or traditional paintings or photographs which serve as background plates for keyed or rotoscoped elements
• Live-action effects: keying actors or models through bluescreening and greenscreening
• Digital animation: modeling, computer graphics lighting, texturing, rigging, animating, and rendering computer generated 3D characters, particle effects, digital sets, backgrounds, etc..

Notable visual effects companies

• Animal Logic (Sydney, AU and Venice, CA)
• Boss Film Studios (Marina Del Rey, CA) - closed
• Bird Studios (London UK)
• CA Scanline (München, DE)
• CafeFX (Santa Maria, CA, US)
• Digital Domain (Venice, LA, CA, US)
• Double Negative (VFX) (London, UK)
• DreamWorks (LA, CA, US)
• Flash Film Works (LA, CA, US)
• Framestore CFC (London, UK)
• Giantsteps (Venice, CA)
• The Mill (London, UK; NY and LA, US)
• Hydraulx (Santa Monica, LA, US)
• Image Engine (Vancouver, BC, CA)
• Industrial Light and Magic (San Francisco, CA, US)
• Intelligent Creatures (Toronto, ON, CA)
• Mac Guff (LA, CA, US; Paris, FR)
• Moving Picture Company (Soho, London, UK)
• Rhythm and Hues Studios (LA, CA, US)
• Rising Sun Pictures (Adelaide and Sydney, AU)
• Surreal World (Melbourne, AU)
• Sony Pictures Imageworks (Culver City, CA, US)
• Tippett Studio (Berkeley, CA, US)
• Weta Digital (Wellington, NZ)
• Zoic Studios (Culver City, CA, US)
• Vision Crew Unlimited (Culver City, CA, US) - closed
• Red chillis(Bombay,India)

See also

• Animation
• Computer Generated Imagery
• 3D Computer Graphics
• Physical Effects — another category of special effects
• Bluescreen
• Front projection effect
• Rear projection effect
• Compositing

Further reading

• T. Porter and T. Duff, "Compositing Digital Images", Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '84, 18 (1984).
• The Art and Science of Digital Compositing (ISBN 0-12-133960-2)
• McClean, Shilo T. (2007). Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in Film. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-13465-9.