A Film without Visual Effects

Today, almost every single film has some visual effects. However, let’s consider a film that doesn’t have any visual effects. This will help you understand the basic process of film production, and then we’ll discuss some different production options.

During preproduction, the filmmakers create the film’s script and decide what will be the climax moments (and maybe even film them to test whether they really work). Every film goes through storyboarding, the process of making quick drawings to define where the cameras will be positioned and what will happen on each shot, so the production team can plan each shot, see what they’ll need on set, know what type of lenses to use in the camera, and identify where the actors will be positioned. Then, the filmmakers search for the locations where they’re going to film the scenes. They also have to create the costumes the actors will wear and all the props they’ll have to interact with. Then the filmmakers cast the actors and all of the extras who will appear in the film. Finally, the filmmakers must assemble the technicians who will film the movie and manage all the equipment, build the sets, and so forth. Usually, composers begin to develop the music at this stage so that a rough edit of the film can be made using the storyboard and the timing of each shot can be defined.

Everything is now ready to start filming, so production begins. At this point, the actors already know the script and the team knows what they need to do on each shot and what has to appear on camera. Production is usually not a very long process; because all aspects of the project were organized during preproduction, the production stage (the most expensive stage) is as short as possible. When production is completed, the movie has been filmed according to the decisions made during preproduction about where, when, how, and with whom.

Once filming is completed, postproduction can begin. The film must be edited at this point, perhaps by using some color correction to make a scene look more vivid, warm, or cold, depending on the feeling the director wants each scene to convey to the audience. Perhaps the director decides that a shot would work better if the main actor’s face were closer, so the video editor zooms in a little. Suppose the name of a business appears in the background and the director doesn’t want it to be recognizable; some simple visual effects can remove it or replace it with the name of another business that will pay the filmmakers for advertising! This is the point at which the last retouches are added to the film, the complete soundtrack and all the sound effects are included, and the final result is achieved.