The Filmmaker's Guide to Visual Effects

The Filmmaker's Guide to Visual Effects offers a practical, detailed guide to visual effects for non-VFX specialists working in film and television. In contemporary filmmaking and television production, visual effects are used extensively in a wide variety of genres and formats to contribute to visual storytelling, help deal with production limitations, and reduce budget costs. Yet, for many directors, producers, editors, and cinematographers, visual effects remain an often misunderstood aspect of media production. In this book, award-winning VFX supervisor and instructor Eran Dinur introduces readers to visual effects from the filmmaker's perspective, providing a comprehensive guide to conceiving, designing, budgeting, planning, shooting, and reviewing VFX, from pre-production through post-production.
The book will help readers:
Learn what it takes for editors, cinematographers, directors, producers, gaffers, and other filmmakers to work more effectively with the visual effects team during pre-production, on the set, and in post; use visual effects as a narrative aid; reduce production costs; and solve problems on location
Achieve a deeper understanding of 3D, 2D, and 2.5D workflows; the various VFX crafts from matchmove to compositing; and essential concepts like photorealism, parallax, roto, and extraction; become familiar with traditional VFX workflows as well as virtual production; and learn how to plan effectively for the cost and complexity of VFX shots
See visual effects concepts brought to life in practical, highly illustrated examples drawn from the real-world experiences of industry professionals and discover how to better integrate visual effects into your own projects

Eran Dinur is an Emmy and VES award-winning VFX supervisor, artist, and author of The Complete Guide to Photorealism (2022, Routledge/Focal). His film and TV work includes The Trial of the Chicago 7, Hereditary, The Greatest Showman, Uncut Gems, The Wolf of Wall Street, Boardwalk Empire, Star Trek, and Iron Man. He is Director of Training and Artist Development at FuseFX, adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts, and the author of several popular VFX courses at fxphd.com.

Introduction Part 1: VFX Fundamentals 1. Core Concepts 2. VFX as a Filmmaking Tool 3. From 2D to 3D 4. Separation Part 2: The Inside Look 5. The VFX Workflow 6. Workflow Case Studies Part 3: VFX in Production 7. Pre-production 8. On Set 9. Post-production 10. Realtime Rendering and Virtual Production 11. The Future Index