VFX & Finishing

VFX and finishing are the invisible heroes of production. They are the elements that help take a scene from a normal looking shot or unrecognizable green screen to an enchanted forest or a time from long ago. There are many tools that are utilized to make illusion have emotion and feel real. It can seem overwhelming when you sit down and hear all of these tools and phrases when we talk about your shot. In an effort to help educate, we put together a list of some of those tools that we use with some visuals aids to help make things clearer.

Previsualization

In the same way an orchestra can’t play Beethoven without sheet music and a conductor, with VFX you can’t shoot from the hip on set. If you want to make sure all of your elements line up at the end of the day you need to plan it all out first. This includes storyboards and even rough animations to make sure the camera operators, lighting team, and actors all know what is happening and are in the right place at the right time. When it all comes together it truly is sweet music.

Photo Real Compositing

This is the unsung hero of production. When done correctly, this is the invisible key to adding that CG character, location, or prop. It can also be the removal of people, cars, scars, stands, or even whole backgrounds. Its sole purpose is to transport your audience into your story without them even knowing it.

Finishing

Finishing is the last step in the process. It’s where you add the final touches of color adjustment and polish. It can also mean preparing your project for the large array of forums that animation and VFX play back on- whether it’s film, television, documentary, website, mobile phone, or any other device that is still to come, we are there to make sure you look your best.

Simulations

You can do so much with practical effects these days, but sometimes you need an effect to move a certain way or act in a way that is very hard to control or is dangerous to do naturally. This is where computer simulations come into play.

Match Moving or Tracking

There are several different types of tracking, but at the end of the day it all comes down to making sure the elements that are added match the movements of the camera or actors seamlessly.

Clean-up

On set in a production things are moving fast and there are a lot of moving pieces. Nobody is perfect and sometimes you need to adjust or remove something in your shot that was supposed to be there. Sometimes you have to film in a place where you can’t remove things but the location is the perfect fit for the story. This is where clean up is the invisible king. It’s not always needed but when you do it’s priceless to have at your disposal.

Rotoscoping

There are times in a production where you want to add some visual effect elements or animation to a scene, but they need to be behind something you filmed. This is where rotoscoping comes into play. Rotoscoping is the process of animating a line around a subject to help act as a mask for the elements you want to add. This is a more time consuming process than using a green screen to help separate elements from one another, but there are times where green screen just isn’t practical either.