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I often get asked from people in the media industries what’s the difference between SPX and VFX.
Aren’t they just the same…
well there’s one big well… no
VFX is the abbreviation for visual effects and SPFX is the abbreviation for special effects. Same difference right? Well although they would seem similar VFX or SPFX differ on a number of areas. although both are extremely technical by nature Special effects covers everything that can be found on a film set during the production stage. There are generally speaking three major stages to a film production process that encompasses most tasks. There is preproduction, production- everything that is done before a film shoot, planning, story boarding, financing, casting and assembling your crew. Production is the process of filming on a set and post production covers everything required during the wrap of filming.
Pyrotechnics for instance is done on set therefore this is deemed a special effect. Similarly different lighting or some animatronic usage could be considered special effects.
When I grow up I still want to be a director
steven speilberg
Everything that is done during the post production stage is considered visual effects. This includes CGI (computer generated graphics) such as animations and other pixel related wizardry.
Special Effects – SPFX
A special effect is where the movie magic happens right in front of you on a film, television or theatre production. Some other industries also use them but predominantly they are used in film production. Practical effects quite often save significant amounts of post production work time and money. Generally if it can be done on set although the upfront costs can seem off putting it may save a lot of time trying to replicated it later in post production.
Special effects are illusions or visual trickery – Making movie Magic
Example: SPFX in action on a film set
By Comparison
Visual Effects – VFX
Visual effects are the latest trend in films and predominantly came to light after the 70’s although special effects have been around for over 100 years now. Namely two prominent directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas after 1977 only strengthened
the new norm through engagement with the likes of George Lucas’s Star Wars IV and Steven Spielberg’s Close encounters of the third kind
Making Movie Magic
If you are wanting to have a look at one the books I highly recommend getting
check out the Winston Effect from literally the master himself Stan Winston below.
If you are looking for some other content around VFX you can check out What is VFX? What is CGI?.
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