Updated: September 18, 2026
Invisible VFX in post: screen replacements, sign clean-up and the small fixes that save a Miami shoot
Most visual effects work on corporate and commercial video is not explosions. It is the phone screen that shows the wrong app, the competitor's billboard behind the talent on Biscayne Boulevard, the boom that dipped into frame for six frames, the tattoo the client wants gone, the logo on the coffee cup, the exit sign glowing green in the corner of the ballroom shot, the crew reflected in the car window. These are invisible effects: work the audience never notices because the shot simply looks like it was always that way. This guide explains what the common fixes are, how they are done, what makes each one easy or expensive, and what a camera team can do on the shoot day so that the post team is doing a two-hour job rather than a two-day one.
The common fixes
| Fix | What it involves | Easy when | Expensive when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen replacement | Phone, laptop or TV screen in the shot is replaced with the client's content; the new image is tracked to the screen's movement and matched for reflections and brightness | Screen is flat, in focus, filled with a green or tracking pattern, and nothing crosses in front of it | Fingers cross the screen, it is out of focus, glossy with moving reflections, or moving fast |
| Sign and logo removal | A brand, a street sign or a text element is painted out and the background rebuilt | Camera is locked off or moves simply; background behind is plain | Handheld camera, complex background, the element goes behind a person |
| Boom, cable and crew removal | An object that enters the frame briefly is painted out with clean plates from adjacent frames | Short duration, static background | Long duration over moving background or a person |
| Skin and blemish clean-up | A pimple, a shaving cut, a shine patch, tracked and softened over the shot | Interview with a still subject | Talent moving through varied light |
| Reflection clean-up | Crew, lights or camera reflected in glass, cars, sunglasses | Reflection is small and the surface is flat | Curved chrome, moving car, sunglasses on a talking face |
| Sky and window replacement | Blown-out window or dull sky replaced with a better one | Window edge is clean and nothing crosses it | Hair and foliage edges, moving curtains |
| Set extension | A bare wall or an empty space extended with matching background | Locked-off camera | Camera moves in 3D |
| Rig and wire removal | Safety wires, stands, rigs that hold something in shot | Thin element over simple background | Thick rig over a face or a complex background |
How the work is done
Three techniques do most of it. Tracking follows a point or a plane in the shot so that whatever is added moves with the camera; a good track is the foundation of every fix and a bad one is visible as a slide or a wobble. Rotoscoping draws a mask around a moving object frame by frame, or with assistance from software, so that the fix goes behind it; hair, motion blur and semi-transparent edges are where roto time goes. Clean plating and painting rebuild the background where something was removed, using frames from before or after the object was there, or painting by hand. Everything is then matched for grain, blur, colour and lighting so the new pixels sit in the same picture as the old ones. The grain and colour matching is the same discipline as the grade, described in our note on colour grading from correction to look, and the two are usually done by the same facility so that the fix survives the grade.
Time is the cost driver. A locked-off screen replacement on a five-second shot is under an hour. A handheld screen replacement with a hand crossing it, over fifteen seconds, is a day. Tell the post team the shot length and send a frame, and they can estimate before anyone commits.
What the shoot can do to make post cheap
- Screens: Put a bright green or a printed tracking card on the phone or laptop screen, with four tracking markers in the corners, and keep it in focus. Do not let fingers cross it unless the action requires it; if it does, shoot a clean pass without the hand.
- Signs and logos: Frame them out or dress them over on the day. A roll of gaffer tape over a logo costs nothing; painting it out over a handheld take costs a day. If the sign must be in frame, shoot a locked-off clean plate of the background without the talent.
- Boom and crew: A monitor operator watching the edges, and the words "boom's in" at the end of a take, save more VFX money than any other single habit. Where the mic must be close, shoot a few seconds of empty frame at the same settings; that is the clean plate.
- Reflections: Angle the camera off the glass, use a polarizer, dress the crew in black, and check sunglasses on the monitor before rolling.
- Skin: Hair and makeup on set is cheaper than retouching in post. When a mark appears mid-day, a touch-up is minutes; a tracked clean-up is hours.
- Windows and sky: Expose for the window if it will be replaced, so the edge is clean; a blown white window with a soft edge is hard to key.
The handover for a job with VFX shots needs the original camera files, not proxies, and any clean plates labelled with the shot they belong to; the process is in our guide to footage handover, proxies and deliverables.
What cannot be fixed, or not cheaply
Some requests arrive after the shoot and should be declined or repriced honestly. Changing what a person says with their mouth on camera is a re-shoot or a cutaway, not an effect. Replacing a product held in a hand and turned over is a day per shot at best. Removing a person from a crowd that walks behind the talent is roto over every frame. Making a rainy day sunny across a whole scene is a grade problem before it is a VFX problem and often neither. And a screen replacement where the original screen was out of focus and reflecting the room will look like a sticker no matter who does it. The post team should say so at the estimate, and the producer should hear it before promising the client.
Review and approval of effects shots
Invisible effects are reviewed at full resolution, at 100 percent and 200 percent, with the client looking specifically at the fixed area, because a shot approved at web resolution on a laptop can show a seam on a conference LED wall. Our note on running client review rounds covers the general process; for VFX shots, add a before-and-after comparison so the client can see what changed and confirm nothing else did.
Invisible effects in our post pipeline
Screen replacements, sign and logo removal, boom and rig clean-up, reflection and skin fixes, window and sky replacements and small set extensions are part of our standard post offering in Miami, done in-house alongside the edit and the grade so that tracked fixes survive the colour pass and the delivery specs. We estimate each shot from a frame and a duration before work starts, tell you when a shot is not worth fixing, and provide before-and-after comparisons at full resolution for approval. For productions we are involved with before the shoot, we send the camera team a one-page VFX prep sheet so that screens, signs and clean plates are handled on the day. Send a frame and a description through the contact page for an estimate; the rest of our post-production services are described on the about page.