The course emphasizes research topics that underlie the advanced visual effects that are becoming increasingly common in commercials, music videos and movies. Topics include classical computer vision algorithms used on a regular basis in Hollywood (such as blue-screen matting, structure from motion, optical flow, and feature tracking) and exciting recent developments that form the basis for future effects (such as natural image matting, multi-image compositing, image retargeting, and view synthesis). We also discuss the technologies behind motion capture and three-dimensional data acquisition. Analysis of behind-the-scenes videos and in-depth interviews with Hollywood visual effects artists tie the mathematical concepts to real-world filmmaking.