Puerta de Alcalá in Madrid covered in snow, a shot with AI-generated visual effects

Visual effects · VFX with artificial intelligence

AI VFX

A visual effects studio working with artificial intelligence. We solve in post the shots the shoot could not deliver: environments that do not exist, creatures, another period, different weather. For film, advertising and brands, delivered up to 4K, with the first test shot in 72 hours.

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72h from brief to first test shot
40-70% less than a conventional VFX pipeline
Up to 4K delivery resolution

What are AI visual effects?

AI visual effects are shots where whatever could not be filmed (an environment, a creature, another period, different weather) is generated with AI models and then integrated into the real footage through tracking, keying and colour matching. The result looks the same as traditional VFX. What changes is that it takes days instead of weeks, at a fraction of the cost.

Examples

Before and after, shot by shot

Forty-eight seconds of our own work, with no filler shots. It is a montage of comparisons: each scene comes in as the take left the camera and transforms in front of you, layer by layer, up to the final result.

You will see snow over Madrid in August, an attack helicopter where there was a fire engine, a dinosaur where there was a dog, and a branded product that entered the shot once the shoot was already over.

Different jobs, different source material, all solved the same way. What does not change from one shot to the next is the judgement: the light has to match, the camera grain has to be there and the movement has to follow. That is where an effect either holds up or gives itself away.

Produced in house by EficiencIAl Studio, with shots from real commissions.
Before and after

One shot, two realities

Drag the divider. On the left, what came out of the camera. On the right, what came out of the VFX pipeline. Same movement, same light, same duration.

Camera VFX
Aircraft and vehicles. An emergency drill filmed by drone turns into a military scene: an attack helicopter and an armoured vehicle replace the originals without touching the camera move or the shadows on the ground.
Camera VFX
Digital creature. The dog becomes a dinosaur, keeping the gait, the contact with the water and the reflection. It is the same work a feature-film creature would demand, solved on the shot already filmed.
Camera VFX
Period change. A walk through the woods in today's clothes moves to another century: cape, hat, boots and gloves follow the body and the fold of the fabric at every step. No wardrobe, no fitting, no second trip to the location.
Camera VFX
Brand props. The product enters the shot in post-production, with its shadow and the way it behaves as she spins. Useful when a reference did not reach the shoot in time, or to version the same campaign across several products.

One shot, six atmospheres

The same take of Puerta de Alcalá, resolved under six different conditions. The wipe reveals each treatment over the camera plate. None of these versions was filmed.

Camera plate · snow · storm · frozen dawn · spring · apocalypse · ruins

One shoot day yields six deliverables. That is the difference between waiting for the weather and deciding the weather in post-production.

The full shot. Snow-covered Puerta de Alcalá with a digital character, in 4K and with nothing on top of it. It is the shot every version above comes from.
Capabilities

What we can do

Nine kinds of work that cover most of the visual effects briefs a studio receives. If your shot does not fit any of them, tell us anyway.

01

Set extension and matte painting

The set ran out two metres past the frame. We extend the environment, replace the background or build the city that does not exist behind the actors.

02

Creatures and digital characters

Animals, fantasy beings or digital doubles that inherit the movement of what was filmed, with their weight, their shadow and their contact with the ground.

03

Period changes

A street from today turned into the 1940s: façades, signage, vehicles and costume. Historical reconstruction without closing the street or renting props.

04

Weather and atmosphere

Snow, rain, fog, smoke, dust or a golden hour that never happened on the shoot day. Season and sky changed on the existing shot.

05

Costume, props and product

Replacing the clothing, the uniform, the vehicle or the product in a shot already filmed. Useful for versioning a campaign per market without calling the crew back.

06

Plate cleanup

Removing rigs, tracks, floor marks, signage, third-party logos, passers-by and vehicles that wandered in. The good take stops being unusable.

07

Crowds and scale

Filling a stadium, a square or a beach from a small group of extras. Blockbuster scale with a small shoot's call sheet.

08

Action and destruction

Explosions, collapses, fire and impacts where filming is off the table for cost, permits or safety. No special effects crew on set.

09

Archive and restoration

Historical photographs brought to life, damaged footage upscaled and stabilised, and reconstruction of events only documents remain of.

Who it is for

Four ways to commission VFX from us

Film and fiction

Independent features, series and short films with shots written into the script that the budget will not carry. We work shot by shot on your edit, with the naming convention and the formats your post-production uses.

Set extension · creatures · cleanup · crowds

Advertising and agencies

Spots and campaigns where the product, the market or the season has to change on a shoot that is already paid for. We come in as your agency's VFX studio, under NDA, and we stay out of sight of the end client if you prefer it that way.

Versioning · product · period change · retouching

Brands and branded content

Brand pieces that need an image no single shoot day can deliver: a factory that does not exist yet, a product that is still a render, a location nobody can travel to.

Branded content · launches · social

Institutions and heritage

Museums, local governments, foundations and broadcasters that want to show a place that is gone or an event only one photograph survives of. With documentary rigour and the sources credited in the piece.

Historical reconstruction · archive · outreach

Comparison

Traditional VFX and AI VFX: what actually differs

The difference is not what ends up on screen, it is how long and how much it takes to get there. These are the numbers we work with on our own jobs.

Comparison between a conventional VFX pipeline and one assisted by generative AI, for a shot of medium complexity.
Aspect Traditional VFX AI VFX
First test shot One to three weeks 72 hours
Cost per shot Industry benchmark Between 40% and 70% less
Cost of an iteration High: redoing it means redoing artist hours Low: several directions can be explored before locking
Team required Compositing, 3D, tracking and matte departments VFX direction plus a generative pipeline
Frame-by-frame control Total High, with supervision and manual correction on critical shots
Where traditional still wins Long shots with complex physical contact and strict character continuity We take those on as hybrids: generative base with manual compositing on top
Delivery resolution Up to 4K and beyond Up to 4K

We do not sell AI as a replacement for a VFX department. We use it where it shortens the road and we keep the manual work where it is still needed. A quote from us says which part goes each way.

72h
From brief to first test shot
9
Kinds of VFX work covered
Guide
To an AI-ready shoot if you have not filmed yet
Up to 4K
Delivery resolution
Process

How we work a shot

01

Shot breakdown

We watch your edit or read your script and mark, shot by shot, which ones carry an effect, of what kind and at what difficulty. The result is a breakdown with the cost and the schedule of each one, so you can decide which ones make the cut.

02

Test shot in 72 hours

Before we invoice the whole job, we solve the hardest shot and show it to you. If it does not convince you, we stop there. If you have not filmed yet, we hand you the shooting guide so the material arrives clean.

03

Generation and integration

The elements are generated and integrated into the footage with camera tracking, keying, lighting adjustment and grain. Supervision is manual: whatever the model gets wrong is corrected by hand.

04

Colour, delivery and rights

A unified grade so the real and the generated read as one shot. Delivery in your post-production's formats, plus the licensing and labelling document required by the European AI Act.

Deliverables

What you get

🎞️

Final integrated shots

Each finished shot, graded to match the rest of the piece and named the way your edit needs. MP4 (H.264 or H.265), MOV ProRes and image sequence if your post-production asks for it.

✨

Layers and loose elements

The generated elements delivered separately with alpha, mattes and compositing passes. If tomorrow you want to version the shot or hand it to another studio, you have the material.

📒

Shooting guide and rights sheet

If you have not filmed yet, the document with framing, light and camera movement that makes integration easy. And in every case, the licensing and AI-content labelling sheet European regulation asks for.

Sample projects

VFX on real projects

Contact

Have a project?

Tell us your vision and we'll get back to you in less than 24 hours.

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+34 674 786 386  ·  studio@eficiencial.com  ·  Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Frequently asked questions

What people ask us

What are visual effects made with artificial intelligence?

They are VFX where the part that could not be filmed is generated with AI models instead of being built in 3D or painted by hand, and then integrated into the real footage with the same techniques as always: camera tracking, keying, light and grain matching. On screen it is indistinguishable from a traditional effect. The difference shows up in the schedule and in the invoice.

How much does an AI VFX shot cost?

A job of up to 60 seconds with effects of medium complexity starts at €1,500, with the first test shot in 72 hours. Projects with many shots, or with creatures and character continuity, are quoted from a shot-by-shot breakdown. Against an equivalent conventional VFX pipeline, the saving usually lands between 40% and 70%. Write to studio@eficiencial.com with the footage or the script.

Can you tell the shot was made with AI?

If it is done well, no. What gives a generative effect away is almost always the same: the light does not match, the camera grain is missing, the edge of the element is too clean or the movement does not follow the shot. That is why the work does not end when the model delivers the image. Compositing comes next, and that is where credibility is won or lost.

Do you work as an external VFX studio for production companies and agencies?

Yes, and it is a good part of what we do. We come in as the effects department of your production company or your agency, under NDA, using your shot naming and delivering in your edit's formats. If you would rather we did not appear in front of the end client, we do not.

What kinds of shots can you solve?

Set extension and matte painting, creatures and digital characters, period changes, weather and season changes, replacement of costume, props or product, plate cleanup and element removal, crowds, action and destruction, and reconstruction of historical events from archive. Where it is still hard is very long shots with complex physical contact and strict continuity of one face: those we take on as hybrids, with manual compositing on top.

Do I need to film in a particular way?

If you already have the material, we work with what there is. If you have not filmed yet, we give you a guide with framing, camera moves, markers and lighting conditions that make integration much cleaner and cut days off post-production. It costs nothing to apply and it changes the result quite a lot.

What formats and resolution do you deliver in?

Up to 4K (3840 × 2160). ProRes for post-production, H.264 and H.265 for final delivery, image sequence with alpha if your edit needs it, and DCP for theatrical when the project goes to cinema. We work in the project's colour profile (Rec.709, DCI-P3 or HDR10) so the shot matches the rest of the material. Formats are included, not billed separately.

Who owns the rights to the generated shot?

You do. We produce under commercial licences for the tools we use and we hand you, in writing, what each element was generated with and under which licence. If real people, brands or protected locations appear in the shot, we flag it before we start so the chain of rights is closed.

Does a piece with AI-generated effects have to be labelled?

In the European Union, the AI Act requires certain generated or manipulated content to be labelled. We resolve it on every delivery, with the corresponding labelling sheet. We explain it in detail in our AI advertising labelling guide.

Do you do historical reconstruction and archive work?

Yes, it is one of our lines. With Fuencaliente Town Council we recreated the 1971 eruption of the Teneguía volcano, combining real archive with generated sequences, in Teneguía 1971: the eruption recovered. It works just as well for a museum, a local government, a foundation or a broadcaster that wants to show something only photographs remain of.

Do you work outside Spain?

Yes. VFX work is remote by nature: you upload the footage, we send back the shots. We work in Spanish, English and German, and we already have clients in Spain and in German-speaking countries. The shoot itself does need a crew on location, but that is your production's side.

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