VFX shots often start at frame 1001 instead of, say, frame 1. If you’ve ever wondered why, you’re not alone. It has quite a history, and it actually makes life a lot easier for Vfx artists working in the fast-paced world of visual effects.
The Story Behind Frame 1001
First things first, why not just start at frame 1? Some software defaults at frame 0, some default at frame 1 Wouldn’t that make more sense? Well, it turns out that starting at frame 1001 is a smart move that avoids a bunch of potential headaches down the line.
Pre-Roll and Frame Buffering
In VFX, it’s common to need extra frames before the main action in a shot begins. This is called pre-roll, and it’s there to give artists some breathing room for things like motion blur or for adding extra effects that might bleed into the shot. During early 2000’s people were still starting at frame 1.
If you started at frame 1, adding pre-roll could quickly get messy, especially if you ended up needing negative frame numbers, like -10 or -20. Negative numbers? Not fun. On Unix/linux systems which are common in the VFX industry, the minus-sign character is special and has to be treated differently.
Also Some software at the time simply couldn’t handle negative frame numbers!!!
By starting at frame 1001, you’ve got a whole 1000-frame buffer before you’d ever have to deal with negative numbers. It’s like giving yourself a nice, wide safety net. And if you do need to add frames before the shot begins, you’ve got plenty of room to do it.
Counting Frames: Keeping It Simple
Here’s another reason frame 1001 is handy: counting frames. Imagine you have a shot that runs from frame 1001 to 1100. That’s exactly 100 frames – nice and clean. If you started at frame 1000 and went to 1100, you’d have 101 frames. It’s a small difference, but when you’re managing thousands of frames across multiple shots, little things like this can add up to big confusion.
In some shows, you might start at 1001 but have handles (extra frames) that begin earlier, like at 986. If your main action starts at frame 1008, for instance, you still avoid the hassle of negative numbers, but you’ve got those extra frames in case the edit changes.
A Bit of VFX History
The tradition of starting at 1001 goes back to the late 1980s when ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) was pioneering digital VFX with one of the first film scanners. Back then, starting at frame 1 wasn’t uncommon, but it caused problems when edits changed, and extra frames were needed.
0 The choice of 1001 wasn’t random – it gave artists enough room to add extra frames if needed and kept the numbers easy to manage. Over time, this become Defacto across the industry.
When digital film scanners like Cineon came along in the early 1990s, padded frame numbers became standard, with most sequences starting at 1001. Today, while some projects may start even higher, like 10001, the logic remains the same: keep things simple, avoid confusion, and give yourself room to maneuver.
The Bottom Line
Starting VFX plates at frame 1001 might seem like a small thing, but it’s one of those little details that makes a big difference in the day-to-day life of a VFX artist. It’s all about keeping things organized, avoiding unnecessary headaches, and making sure that when things inevitably change – as they always do in VFX – you’ve got the flexibility to adapt without causing chaos. So next time you see that frame 1001, you’ll know it’s more than just a number – it’s a slice of VFX history!
Read bit more here : https://www.reddit.com/r/vfx/comments/u3qmo2/why_do_vfx_plates_start_at_frame_1001/
