How to use VFX effectively in your indie film

When to use VFX in your indie production, and how to plan and prep for it effectively to maximise your budget and make sure every dollar you spend is up there on the screen.

There is no doubt that VFX are becoming ever more popular in film, especially in the high end. Big budget blockbusters often have 200 person production crews and 2000 person VFX teams nowadays. That these cost a lot of money should come as no surprise; that is a lot of artists, and they do a lot of work that requires a unique combination of artistry and technical skill.

While a lot of directors with seemingly infinite budgets use VFX apparently for no reason other than that they can afford to, incorporating heavy doses of VFX into a small budget indie film can seem quite daunting.

There are generally three main reasons for using VFX in a film:

1. Creating fantastical fictional settings, creatures, and characters.

VFX can be very liberating because of the freedom to create things like Godzilla, aliens, exotic cities, and fictional worlds. While stop motion and miniatures can also allow filmmakers to step outside of the bounds of reality to execute their vision, VFX can, when executed well, offer much more convincing results. 

2. Safety.

A lot of VFX come into play in order to avoid putting the cast and crew in danger. One example is in Inception in one early dream sequence when a series explosions projects vast quantities of debris across the set. The practical SFX crew set up a series of pneumatic mortars and used them fire paper debris across the set, and the VFX crew created the hard physical debris like tables and chairs, and blasted them across the set in post. 

3. Cost.

Building sets can be prohibitively expensive, and sometimes not even feasible. They take time to construct and require space usually in a studio, and both cost. For a series that will be using the same location for the entire duration of a six month production, it makes sense to rent a sound stage and build a studio on it. Adding a translight outside the windows eliminates the need to composite a skyline into every shot. For a single scene it might make more sense to only build a partial set and use set extension to complete the scene. 

There are also more common uses for VFX, such as muzzle flashes, object removals and logo and screen replacements. 

Planning and preparation

It is true that VFX can quickly get very expensive. The best way to prevent VFX costs from ballooning to the point of bankrupting the production is to plan ahead for them. Get an expert on board early; Micheal Cliett, VFX supervisor for the first season of Shogun said he was one of the first people hired for the production, even before any of the production crew. He was closely involved in developing the look of the series and helping to determine how to balance between practical and virtual effects. 

For productions with finite budgets, last-minute changes to major VFX sequences can be financially disastrous, so it’s extremely important to hash out major creative decisions early. This was one of the factors that director Takashi Yamazaki cited as a money saver during post production for Godzilla Minus One. He worked side by side with the VFX artists throughout post-production, so he was able to provide immediate feedback to his team. 

Avoid Godzilla-sized VFX bills by making major creative decisions early

It’s very easy to get into the mindset that since VFX is all done on computers that it’s cheap. That attitude is what leads to eleventh hour design changes in major VFX sequences in big budget films, and it’s one of the reasons that those films are so expensive yet have some of the cheapest looking effects out there.

Always remember that the cost is not in the pixels, it’s in the artists’ talent and time. Artists want to deliver their best work; they are rarely willing to hand off the cheap-looking effects work that Marvel films are becoming famous for unless they don’t have any choice in the matter.

Pre-production

Previz might sound like a lot of extra work, but it can save a lot in the long run. Tools like Blender and Unreal are great for this, partly due to their being free. Animatics used for previz don’t need a lot of fidelity or detail, and can be invaluable for determining what scenes will look like and what will be practical and what will be virtual. They’re also great for experimenting with lighting and mood, which helps to streamline production along with facilitating the post production pipeline.

This is also a good time determine whether to use tools like chroma key. While on the surface chroma key seems like a time saver, if the chroma key screen is too close to the talent the spill can create extra work for the compositing artists. Compositors are skilled at removing spill from shots, but once again saving them work saves the production money. 

Mega-production, indie-advice

Tracking and rotoscoping tools are becoming advanced enough that chroma key is actually becoming less common nowadays. My VFX mentor, who was a compositor on The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Battle of the Five Armies, and Deadpool and Wolverine, advised me to focus on tracking more than on keying. This is a decision that a knowledgable VFX supervisor can help with early in the process, saving work down the road.

This is also the time to sort out workflow considerations, such as:

1. Format to send to VFX (usually EXR or DPX image sequences)

2. The color space to send shots to VFX in (usually the linear color  ACEScg)

3. The color space to send shots back to editorial (usually the same linear color space)

4. The format sent back to editorial (again, usually EXR or DPX)

5. Project management platform, such as Autodesk’s Flow Production Tracking, formerly Shotgrid.

Test the pipeline with some sample footage to ensure that everyone is on the same page before post-production begins. 

During production

There is quite a bit of production data that can be very helpful for the VFX artists.

1. Lens and camera data

For static shots, record the focal length, aperture setting, and the focus distance of the lens.

On the camera side, record color balance, ISO, location, height, orientation and tilt.

This information helps the artists replicate the perspective and field of view to match the footage, which reduces guesswork and makes it easier for the VFX artists to do their jobs.

Alternatively, just write it all down...

2. Lighting

This is where the chrome ball and color charts come into play. Remember that the VFX artists were not on set and will likely not have access to the DoP to learn about the lighting setup; while it’s possible to reverse engineer the lighting from the plate, a lighting reference saves time, which means it also saves money.

3. Plate

Capture a plate shot, sometimes referred to as a reference, for the environment without the actors, effects, or anything else so that the VFX artists have access to that data. This is another time saver for the VFX artists, since they will not need to create a clean plate before getting started on the compositing process.

4. Tracking markers

To integrate effects into shots with camera movements, the artists need to be able to match the camera movements in post in order to integrate the virtual elements into the shot. For that they need high contrast objects to track. This is where tracking markers come in, and are especially critical when using chroma key screens. In a shot without a chroma key screen, double check to make sure that there is something in the shot for the artists to track. Tracking can be a big task; some bigger VFX studios have teams dedicated to motion and camera tracking. 

This is not an exhaustive list, but should serve to illustrate the benefit in having a member of the VFX team on set to help provide advice to the production as well as take care of recording the data that the post teams need. While this may seem like a significant expense, skilled VFX artists are expensive, so saving their time saves the production money.

Post-production

By the time you get here, everything should be easy. *Should be*. Pic: 
337227742 ©  Dragoscondrea | Dreamstime.com

Having sorted out the workflow up front, this part should be a smooth process of getting stuff done. When the film is picture locked, send the clips requiring VFX to the post house(s). As the artists complete revisions they need prompt feedback so that they can keep progressing. 

This is especially critical for VFX shots that require CG in addition to compositing. Since every shot requires compositing as its final step in the VFX pipeline, if there is a last minute change to a CG model it could end up going through the entire pipeline a second time, including the compositing stage, so a small change can quickly spiral into a giant furball of extra work that pushes deep into overtime for the most expensive artists in the VFX pipeline: the compositors.

Finding artists

Places like ArtStation, Backstage, and FilmLocal are good places to look for VFX artists of every level. Not all talented artists work for studios; some prefer to work freelance. There are also groups on sites like Facebook dedicated to networking for independent filmmakers, and organizations such as the Vancouver Post Alliance, as an example of one in my local industry. 

Another good place to look is film schools. Find ones that have VFX programs and look at the student reels; most film schools publish them to help promote their students. The best ones are usually the ones in film hubs because those film schools recruit instructors who work in the industry, so their recent graduates are skilled but not experienced so they are often more willing to take on low paying jobs to gain experience and new material for their reels. They will typically take longer to get the desired results than experience artists, but most graduates will be able to get the job done.

Final thoughts

The fact that in recent years some of the most compelling and engaging visual effects have been on lower budget films, and in reality most viewers didn’t notice most of the VFX in most of these films shows that spending a vast quantity of money on VFX is not the best way to achieve great VFX. By planning ahead, getting the artists on board early to help with the planning process, and being efficient and decisive, it’s possible to deliver compelling VFX even with a limited budget.

tl;dr

• VFX can create fantastical settings, creatures, and characters, offering filmmakers the freedom to visualize their unique ideas more realistically compared to traditional methods like stop motion or miniatures.
• Safety is a significant reason for using VFX, as it allows for dangerous scenes, such as explosions or stunts, to be executed without putting cast and crew in harm’s way.
• Using VFX can be more cost-effective than building elaborate sets, saving both time and money, especially for productions that require extended timelines in limited locations.
• Proper planning and early involvement of VFX experts can prevent costs from ballooning and ensure that creative decisions are made early, streamlining the production process and enhancing the final visual output.