What is VFX?

Believe it or not, VFX (aka visual effects) have been around since the 1900s. While modern viewers might not deem a spaceship landing in the eye of the moon real visual effects, films like George Méliès’ “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) were only the humble beginnings of what we call ‘movie magic’. 

Early VFX 

When you think of visual effects, you probably think of larger than life scenes that were created with the help of a computer. However in Méliès’ case, his simple but effective effects like the one in the video below were actually created with a technique called substitution splice. 

While Méliès was truly a pioneer in the early VFX world, visual effects got a decent makeover as technology advanced. 

A Jurassic Combination

Take the blockbuster 1994 film, Jurassic Park. Many critics will agree that the visual effects seen in this film, most notably our favorite T-Rex friend, still hold up to today’s standards. That’s because Speilberg decided to get a bit creative with his VFX team and merge two types of visual effect techniques; computer animation and practical effects. You can learn more about that in this video:

So just think of our animatronic dino dude kind of like the Jaws shark got a digital makeover. 

Modern VFX  Magic

Fast forward 25 years or so, and advancements in AI and other tech have allowed filmmakers to get get away with some visuals that were previously unimaginable. For example, the VFX in Netflix’s “The Irishman” was actually able to reverse time for its three stars, Pacino, Peshi, and DeNiro. Interestingly enough, the VFX team was able to conquer this feat with a program development rather than a horde of animators. You can check out the process here: 

What Can The Brew Do?

As you can see, VFX isn’t child’s play. It takes a lot of knowledge and the right equipment to produce astonishing, believable visual effects. Of course, you know where you are, so you’re probably expecting us to brag about some of the VFX work we’ve done.

Well you’re right. Congratulations. 

Blinker

Digital Brew teamed up with Ringling College of Art and Design to do realistic visual effects for a TV commercial.

Gamefly

We got to combine our top quality 4K photography with composited motion graphics in this video for Gamefly.

The Warrior

This entire video was filmed inside an apartment living room. That’s the power of VFX for you. 

Benelli

One of our newest VFX projects… pretty sick if we do say so ourselves.

What do you say? Wanna learn more about VFX and how it can add an extra kick to your videos?

Let’s brew this!