• Norwich University of the Arts
  • HitFilm
  • MPC logo

Visual Effects for Guerrilla Filmmakers

Learn how to create no-budget visual effects (VFX) and take your filmmaking to a new level, with this free online course.

23,865 enrolled on this course

Visual effects (VFX): a film crew using a green screen
  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours

Visual effects (VFX) has long been a fascinating and mysterious process, but today the technology is available to us all. As an amateur, no-budget or guerrilla filmmaker, you can use VFX to create believable new backgrounds for actors, or new landscapes, scenery or objects to enhance your story. This free online course will show you how.

With VFX, you can afford to set your film anywhere

Can’t afford to travel to New York to make your film? Want to shoot a period drama without hiring a stately home? With VFX, you can fool your audience into believing that you have.

VFX isn’t all about explosions and superheroes – we’ll show you how you can use it to tell all sorts of stories better, by adding objects and places to your film that you couldn’t afford before.

Get to grips with free VFX software and techniques

Over four weeks, we’ll supply free software, and show you tips and techniques in a non-technical way. While you might know how to shoot a film on your iPhone, you probably don’t know how to create realistic visual effects to tell better stories.

Each week, we’ll uncover techniques like effective green screen, motion tracking and colour grading. It’s a practical course, designed for the non-professional, which will enable you to try out your own effects with our sample footage or your own.

So, whether you want to create your own visual effects for a film or just get a bit of background into how this fascinating and fast-moving technology works, join us.

The course has been designed in partnership with HitFilm, creators of editing and visual effects software, and MPC, one of the global leaders in VFX for over 25 years.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Who is the course for?

This course is for everyone who wants to understand the role of VFX in film and how they can bring a story to life. It will be particularly relevant to amateur and no-budget filmmakers who are looking to expand their storytelling skills with VFX.

Who will you learn with?

Saint has spent 20 years helping the UK VFX industry get the right talent. Currently working in VFX, he has also co-authored the popular Core Skills of VFX handbook for ScreenSkills

I work for FXHOME and am a Tutor on the VFX for Guerrilla Filmmakers course.

I’m a writer and filmmaker based in Norwich, England.

I write a lot and work at FXHOME. Check out my projects on my blog: http://simonkjones.com or find me on Twitter http://twitter.com/tarnimus

Promoted by

Ember Films

Who developed the course?

Norwich University of the Arts (NUA)

NUA’s mission is to be the best specialist university for arts, design and media study in Europe, producing graduates of the highest quality and inspiring students and staff to achieve excellence in t

HitFilm

Endorsers and supporters

supported by

Creative Skillset logo

Learning on FutureLearn

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  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

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