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Stranger Things’ Vecna is the perfect merger of practical makeup and VFX

The fourth season of Stranger Things is over, and I finally got to watch the finale two days ago. Even if you haven’t watched it yet, I’m sure you’ve seen Vecna, the monster appearing in the series’ latest season. I mean, memes are all over the Internet!

Either way, you may find it interesting to see how this creepy creature was made. It was almost entirely practical effects, with a dash of VFX just to make it extra-terrifying. In this video from Vanity Fair, you’ll see how Vecna was made, what challenges the team faced, and you’ll hear plenty of interesting details from the set. Whether you’re a Stranger Things fan or not, I’m sure you’ll find the video really fun.

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That insane car chase in Fast Five was shot using a real 9,000lb vault

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The Fast & Furious franchise is notorious for using CG in their movies. Even though they have very highly trained stunt drivers, and even gave the actors some rather intensive driving lessons, some things are just easier and safer when done with CG. But they also do a surprising amount of effects practically, when possible.

One sequence that seemed fairly obvious as CG in the imaginatively titled fifth instalment of the series, Fast Five, sees our heroes dragging a 9,000lb vault containing $100 million through the streets of Rio De Janeiro (although it was actually filmed in Puerto Rico). Except, it wasn’t CG, it was shot for real, with a real 9,000lb vault.

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This surreal video turns Iceland into another dimension

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When I look at photos and videos of Iceland, they often remind me of another planet. In his short film Anomaly, German filmmaker Jacco Kliesch made Iceland look like another dimension. While this beautiful country sure looks incredible in photos and videos, this video brought it to a whole new level.

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This guy created an epic VFX-laden commercial to sell his ’96 Suzuki Vitara

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This one of the most hilarious and amazing things I’ve seen in a while. Selling a 21 year old car is no easy task. But when you’re the VFX Supervisor at a design and animation company, like Eugene Romanovsky is, that’s not a problem. I mean, if you can build solid marketing for your clients, why not for your own ageing Suzuki Vitara?

The commercial shows Eugene’s Vitara in quite a number of familiar and far-fetched situations. You may recognise some of the scenes from various documentaries and Hollywood blockbusters. It almost makes me want to buy it. Almost.

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Can you guess what’s real and what’s added in post?

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Visual effects are all around us in movies and TV shows today. Compositing different elements together, to create a final sequence that didn’t actually exist. It’s also become a lot more common with still images, too. But it’s often given a hard time, both in stills and the movies. The usual argument against them is “I hate visual effects, they look fake”.

In this short film, compositor Roy Peker challenges that claim, and he challenges it extremely well. For me, good visual effects is like good Photoshop. If you can’t tell that anything’s been done to the original image or footage, then it’s been done well. I’m not going to spoil this one for you. You’ll just have to watch it.

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Lytro is making big waves in Hollywood with their groundbreaking new Cinema camera

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While Lytro might’ve exited stage left from the world of photography, they’ve set their sights on Hollywood and they’re looking real hard, as is their new camera.

Lytro Cinema is the world’s Light Field solution for film and television.  This technological breakthrough capture system allows filmmakers to do things that simply haven’t been possible before, and may completely eliminate the need for techniques like green screen chroma keying, as well as a host of other feats.

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