Visual effects and their importance in the field of visual media creation

The paper presents visual effects and their importance in the creation of visual media and film industry. After defining the field and the term visual effects, the reader is introduced to the techniques and approaches used to create visual effects, i.e., computer-generated Imagery, 3D computer graphics, motion capture, matchmoving, chroma key, rotoscoping, matte painting, and digital compositing. This is followed by a presentation of the history of visual effects from its beginnings to the digital age, taking in the most successful examples of film production such as Terminator, Toy Story, The Matrix, and Star Wars. As an example of the most representative production, the paper includes a more detailed description of the techniques, methods, and approaches used in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, focusing on the creation of the visual appearance of the Gollum character, his movement, and facial expressions, the creation of crowds with autonomous agents and the introduction of digital duplicates. The review concludes with an overview of trends for the future of the field.