Having already tackled the topic of special effects in an earlier Footnote, this latest episode instead focuses on visual effects (VFX) as a way to think through the practical/digital distinction that has come to culturally and industrially define the specificity and spectacle of VFX imagery. Topics include the rise of digital technologies and their ubiquity in contemporary moving image culture; crisis narratives of the virtual supplanting evidence of ‘in-camera’ labour from motion-capture to machine learning; categorisations of ‘special’ and ‘visual’ from within Hollywood and what this says about the broader recognition of the contribution of effects artists; and the marketing of contemporary blockbusters according to an emerging anti-VFX agenda.

 **Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**

**As featured on Feedspot’s 25 Best London Education Podcasts**