This thesis focuses on the importance of technology to create believably composited effects. It was found that many factors culminate in generating believability in a film, including: suspension of disbelief, the story, and the quality of the special effects. Many technical aspects lend to the creation of successful special effects and are involved during every stage of production. There is a discussion of several of the important criteria analyzed during preproduction, production, and post production. A brief history of the technical effect industry is discussed. Personal work for this project includes three case studies. In the form of short video projects, these studies are applications of the researched industry concepts. They deal with issues including incorporation of digital models into live action footage, using pre-existing footage, digital makeup, motion tracking, masking, color correction, and generation of artificial lights and shadows. The creation of these videos included video recording and editing and used Maya TM and After Effects TM. The final shorts showed examples of the strengths and weaknesses of the applied compositing techniques. Implications for the future directions of this field are also discussed.