VFX Compositing
You can't talk about VFX without mentioning compositing. The first time I heard the word compositing, before I got into the industry, it just seemed like a vague term that didn't have a whole lot to do with adding fire and explosions to my test clips. Though I didn't know it at the time, compositing was exactly what I was doing, albeit not to a high degree of quality. Compositing isn't new, and it certainly isn't limited to the digital age. Before computers, compositing happened optically. In other words, different parts of the image were exposed to different elements to build the scene. Generally speaking, today, compositing is a bit of a catch-all term that refers to the seamless blending of disparate elements in a shot. Elements like background plates or matte paintings, characters on green screen, fire and explosions, miniatures, CGI, and so on. All of these elements, likely having been created at different times in different locations, must be seamlessly blended into one complete image that looks like it was captured in a single shot on set.
This is where attention to detail really comes into play. Every shot has different characteristics in noise, lens distortion, sharpness, color, and luminance values. Each element must be manipulated to match each other in order to make the shot look real and to avoid breaking the illusion. It's difficult work, but that's why they call it "Movie magic".
We do compositing at Victory Studios - and a lot more: rental equipment, studio rentals, digital transfers for both video and audio and live streaming production.
