SFX or VFX - what's the difference and which to use for your film | TOP 6 TIPS

 SFX or VFX? What do they mean? What's the difference?!

A lot of people seem to think Special and Visual Effects are the same thing or get them mixed up, especially as they are both of course technically ‘visual’ and they’re seen all the time in films and TV.

Special Effects (which are sometimes called SFX or practical effects) usually refers to on-set techniques that were done in real time, in camera on the day – and this would be things like pyrotechnics, rain machines, animatronics or puppets, miniatures, or perhaps stage blood and prosthetic makeup. (Confusingly, SFX can also refer to sound effects!)

Visual Effects (which gets referred to as VFX or sometimes Video Effects) normally refer to things that weren’t there on the day but are digitally added later –now this might be things that were filmed separately such as weather or action elements, or shots done with green screen where you are removing a background and adding another one which is often called a ‘plate’, or maybe it’s full computer generated imagery or CGI which will get added in to a finished shot. On big film and TV productions that use a lot of effects, there will be a discussion during pre-production about which approach to use for each shot, and many films use a combination of both.

But most importantly, both SFX and VFX are methods of enabling you to enhance the narrative of your story. Now I regularly do experiments with both practical and digital effects as you might have seen on my YouTube channel, and I’m always trying to get great results with very little budget. But when I try these effects, even as individual experiments, I’m always trying to root them in storytelling - they are still little sequences with a beginning, a middle and an end – there’s usually a setup and a pay-off. So if people ask me what kind of effects they should use in their short films, I usually start by saying it will be a better film if the effects support the story and not the other way round.

And using both these kinds of effects in your films can really up your production value if they are done well. But if done badly they can look incredibly distracting. But let’s say you do want to use some effects to add to your story - well how do you choose the right type of effect for your script, and how do you execute it properly? Well, here are my top 6 tips to choose between SFX and VFX.

TIP 1 - WHAT WILL IT CO$T?

Tip number one is to think about cost. Now in general it often used to be cheaper to do more effects practically, but as digital programs have got more and more advanced and more affordable, more low-budget filmmakers are generally choosing to do more in post-production instead of on the day to get the results they want.

Now of course if you’re just hosing down a window pane with some water to create a rain effect, that’s one thing - but an explosion or muzzle flash from a gun might be cheaper and of course safer to add as a separate element if you are on a low budget.

However, I would say that now that these ‘drag and drop’ effects elements are so common and often not composited very well, just remember that with a bit of creativity you can get some incredible results in-camera using practical methods that might well make your work stand out in a sea of badly-composited VFX.

For example, I find that using miniatures is very rewarding as you can shoot and light these for real and they can save a ton of 3D CGI or compositing work and they can look very realistic, because of course they are.

However, it’s often the case for tricky things such as maybe big weather elements that if you are going to include a lot of shots, especially wide shots in a big location where it would be just too costly to reproduce a practical weather element such as rain or mist each time, then this is where I’d probably be more likely go down the digital route for consistency and budget.

But to me the best visual effects are the ones that nobody notices, so this could be as simple as adding a character filmed against a green screen into a location that was too difficult or expensive to film in – and if nobody questions the shot because they are engaged in your story, then that’s the result you want.

TIP 2 - KEEP IT REAL

Tip number two is something I always do when starting a project, and that is to ask ‘what can be done for real?’ and then I always work backwards from there.

I’m one of these people who always thinks that if it can be done in camera, then do it in camera, and I believe the more you can film for real the better and the more convincing your shot will be, So even with my experiments which are mostly done with digital compositing and visual effects, I’ll usually include a few practical details too to help sell the shot. So a lot of the experiments I’ve done combine both SFX and VFX.

TIP 3 - BREAK IT DOWN

Tip number three is to work out if you can break a shot down into multiple elements, because often this might help create the perfect shot from several different ones if you are doing something that is difficult to repeat. And you can still use this approach if you are mostly filming with practical effects, as you may want to add some digital finishing touches to improve the result.

This technique of multiple elements also works for an experiment such as a fake long-take, as seen in films like 1917 or Birdman. I will often take an idea for a shot like this, break it down into lots of small parts that can be filmed separately, and then overlay and combine those real elements later.

My car-jump video is a good example of this, where we shot the beginning in the car and the ending on the road, and a jump in the middle, and then composited these together to look like one long take. If it’s a shot like this that you have broken down into lots of different elements, then I also recommend making a shot list of these so that you can use that on the day and you don’t miss anything.

TIP 4 - DO A TEST!

Tip number 4 to help work out whether to go for a practical effect or a digital one is to do a test. Now if I am trying an effects shot that is complicated, I will always shoot a basic test or at least experiment first a little bit to help plan what can be done on the day practically, and what needs be done later on.

This helps me to know if something will work or not I before commit time and money to filming it, and if it doesn’t work I can alter it or maybe find another solution. The good thing about creative experiments is, you can try ideas and if they don’t turn out that great, it’s not like you need to show them to anyone.

TIP 5 - TRIAL AND ERROR

Tip number 5 is I think crucial for low budget effects and that is: trial and error is key. Often I will film and check if an idea will work on the computer before actually wrapping filming. I will keep filming, checking, filming, checking.  Now obviously this depends where you are filming and how long you have to get your shot, but sometimes you just won’t know what will fully work until you have tried it in your edit.

If it doesn’t, perhaps you can reshoot it – and if it is a shot that can repeated, having more time is often a good substitute for having more money. So if I only have one chance to get what I need and I’m not coming back, I will just keep doing more and more takes until I get what I think is the best result. All anyone ever sees is the best take, not the 5 or 10 that didn’t work.

Of course it’s its something that can only be done once like pyrotechnics, then you have to just hope you get it in one take, and you just have to plan as much as you can.

TIP 6

Tip number 6 for choosing between SFX and VFX is think about what you will be editing on. Now of course if you are using practical effects on the day, you might not need to do any editing at all, so if you are more interested in achieving everything in camera then this isn’t as much of a concern, although you might still want to add some embellishments like colour grading.

But if you are going to be doing more VFX work then it will probably help to work out what program you will use in advance. Now most non-linear editing programs like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere allow you to at least stack a few layers on top of each other and do some basic compositing with things such as green screen elements.But for anything more complicated than that you will probably need a more dedicated composting program such as Da Vinci Resolve’s Fusion, or my favourite which is Adobe After Effects.

And if you want to learn After Effects very quickly from scratch to get results like I do, then you can always check out my dedicated mini course on that here:

►Learn how I plan, shoot and edit VFX and learn more about my course in my FREE webinar: https://www.diymoviemaking.com/pl/2147517057

If you are planning on doing a lot of 3D work you could also check out programs like Blender, Maya or Cinema 4D. However new programs come and go all the time, so it’s good to do your own research for the best program to use for the type of shot you want to create.

So there you go, now you should know the difference between SFX and VFX along with a few tips on how to decide which to use in your own film projects.

And if you want to learn more about low budget filmmaking in general you can of course check out my full courses at www.diymoviemaking.com

Happy moviemaking and I’ll see you next time!