Spectacular Use of VFX that Left Our Jaw Dropped

Nothing can be more visually enticing than brilliant visual effects. The entertainment industry has been banking heavily on the use of visual effects for a long time now. Starting right from the early 60s till date, the world has seen some stunning work display. Take a look at some movies and videos that have made spectacular use of VFX.

Skrillex – First of the Year (Equinox)

In 2002, this video of Skrillex- First of the Year won the award for best visual effects. All credit goes to the brilliant concept of Deka Brothers (Julien and Ben) and direction of Tony Truand. It features a brilliant work of forceful atmospherics and creature augmentation. For augmenting the creature effects, they shot the creature, applied black paint on the talent’s body and used a bondage latex mask and filled the eyes with white material. They enhanced the creature’s eyes by creating a gloomy luminescence.

Katy Perry- Wide Awake

Katy Perry- Wide Awake video saw a brilliant use of 140 visual effect shots. Executed by Ingenuity Engine under the direction of Tony T Dadis, they have showcased amazing work. The mirror scene in the video for one was beautifully shot using techniques to destroy and crack the floor. This scene was filmed in two passes; one scene was shot with Katy walking down the hall together with a mirror green screen and an identical image of her reflection together with the little girl. In the dress scene, the use of butterflies was brilliantly executed. The butterflies were molded and textured based on reference photography, rigged and then skinned in 3dsMax.

Rihanna- Where Have You Been

Rihanna’s video Where Have You Been showcases more than 120 visual effects shot in just ten days. Baked FX Founder George Loucas mentions, “It required immense planning and foresight for us even to have a chance.” The desert matte painting shots is one of the most prominent shots in the video. It was created in Nuke and rest heavily on a number of individual camera projections.

Into the Storm

Into the Storm is directed by Steven Quale. He has directed Final Destination 5 and he is also the second unit director of Avatar. The cyclone presented on the screen in courtesy of various visual effects put together like Cinesite, Digital Domain, Hydraulx, Method Studios, MPC and Scanline VFX. Another scene is the Hydraulx visual effects presenting an airport being devastated by the mile-wide tornado which lands down during one of the climax scenes of the movie. The farmhouse destruction scene is another aspect of the visual effects.

Alice in Wonderland

The movie transports us to the magical fantasy world. The man behind this magical treat is four time Oscar Winner Ken Ralston. He states, “The whole movie is based on the fact that we’ve got to make you believe this world of insanity.” For the tea-party sequence, Ken Ralston made use of a number of assortments such as puppet, green screen, stilts, CGI and animation to create more drama to the meeting of Alice played by Mia Wasikowska’s and Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter. One of its character effects are presented in the form of Helena Bonham Carter’s as the swellheaded Red Queen.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl Reel from artemplehollywood on Vimeo.

David Fincher has extensively made use of VFX in most of his movies and the same was extended in his latest hit movie Gone Girl. In this movie, the audience was treated with a newer version of integrated after effects used into their editing system. The whole visual effects used are quite subtle and a great attempt to pull the audience away from the old version of after effects.

These are some of the marvelous works which seamlessly incorporated the use of visual effects.

Anoop Chaphekar

Last updated: October 4, 2024

A Fine Arts Graduate, Anoop brings 20+ yrs experience in the VFX and Animation industry. He brings his expertise in Animation-VFX for Television Commercials to Visual Effects for feature films, TV and Web series.