Have trouble separating fantasy from reality? Well there's medication for that. But if what you're after is a crib sheet on how some of the year's most interesting visual effects were pulled off then look no further. Here we uncover what's real, what's not - from in-camera effects to 3D - and what's just plain cool in the animated world of commercials and videos.

MUSIC VIDEOS

Innovation is bred of necessity, and music videos - with their pint-sized budgets - often become the showcase for innovations in animation and effects. These projects show off the considerable creative acumen of the music video set.

The Streets "Fit But You Know It"

VFX: Rushes, London; Director: Dougal Wilson, Colonel Blimp, London; Record Label: Atlantic.

Synopsis: The Streets' main man Mike Skinner trots through a bleak London while looking at photos that come to life and re-enact the tomfoolery of his beach vacation.

Why it's cool: The images are a clever syncopated partner to Skinner's relentless, repetitive riffs. To capture the spontaneity of holiday snaps (and because of budget), Wilson cast his friends, brought them to Grand Canary and essentially had a party. "If you think people look drunk, they probably are."

How it was done: Various shoots were required to make the photos come to life: one to capture the holiday footage; one to capture Skinner on 16mm walking about town; one to film his own hands flipping through blank photos against green screen; and one to film a pair of feet walking in step to the music. For the in-photo sequences, different actions were caught on digibeta with a locked-off camera. This, says Wilson, allowed him to show Skinner rapping in the foreground while freezing the action in the background. The moving photos were then put into the dummy rectangles using a four-point track, then each layer was composited to create the complete scene.

Bad Religion "LA is Burning"

VFX/Direction: Lightborne, Cincinnati; Record Label: Epitaph Records.

Synopsis: A mixed-media pastiche depicting LA as on the brink of destruction and the mass media as a major party to it.

Why it's cool: The 5-Day Death Report including knife storms, plague and fiery hell. Lightborne creative director Ben Nicholson says they had "the freedom to come up with the most absurd disaster scenes".

How it was done: Nicholson says the decision to use a graphic treatment came from the desire to show disaster happening, but in a way that would make it to the airwaves. Time and budget restrictions prevented a more high-tech graphic style so single frames from video footage were printed, hand-cut and filmed on

a four-point platform. The images were then animated in After Effects. Some buildings were created in 3D. Even the fire footage was created in stop-motion fashion. Items were set on fire atop the platform and fast bursts of images were shot using a Nikon DX1. This, says Nicholson, allowed for consistency and stylized jump cutting.

N.E.R.D. "She Wants To Move"

VFX: CreoCollective, LA; Director: Dave Meyers, @radical.media; Record Label: Virgin.

Synopsis: Pharrell and the boys dally about with a foxy lady in cavernous and futuristic landscapes.

Why it's cool: Pure camp. Red floating heads, cheesy graphics, a howling dog-woman, and delivery of lines like "she's sexy!" add humor.

How it was done: Director Meyers originally envisioned the shoot with primarily physical sets and only CG extensions of those sets, but he eventually decided on more extensive CG environments. Practical elements for the shoot include a turntable for the performers and the interior cockpit of the spaceship (aka the Ass Ship). Meyers shot the heads on black as individual elements, and a propane-filled flaming metal box, shot at high speed, was comped in to create the fire chandelier. The dancers scattered throughout the video were shot three at a time on a raised platform and added to various locations after the fact. Finally, the end desert scene was shot on location. Afterwards, CreoCollective added a matte painting of the exterior, along with moons in the skies and a sunset.

Cut Copy "Future"

Director/Post: Jaron Albertin, Soft Citizen, Toronto; Record Label: Modularpeople.

Synopsis: Copping an "old school" and Italian horror film Suspira feel, a woman runs in circles in a white room from an encroaching cameraman. Mirrors provides visual tricks in which characters slip in and out of view.

Why it's cool: You can get dizzy trying to figure out how the spot was created - as the actress did from running circles in the room.

How it was done: With a spinning platform and a four-foot mirror. The 35mm camera and mounted dolly were placed on the turntable to follow the actors, who ran towards the mirror. The challenge, says Albertin, was timing the turntable with the pace of the actors. Also, the plan was to shoot everything in camera with intricate mirror setups, but time constraints meant some of the work had to be done in After Effects.

Felix da Housecat "Rocket Ride"

Directors/VFX: Logan; Record Label: Emperor Norton Records.

Synopsis: Inspired by the real-life story of Junko "Bashment" Kudo, a young Japanese girl who became a Dancehall Queen in Jamaica in 2001 journeys - Wizard of Oz-like - through a surreal and hyper-stylized world on her way to stardom.

Why it's cool: The glossy '80s-inspired treatment syncs with Felix's electro-synth-pop beats.

How it was done: Logan shot all the footage onstage using 24P HD. They created partial sets of the woman's room and a train compartment, while shooting other scenes against green screen with foreground props. For one scene that shows Dorothy floating in her room, the actress was suspended on wires, courtesy of "the guys who did the rigging on Spider-Man 2, so the results were amazing", says Logan's Alexei Tylevich. Light cues coming through the windows were used to add a sense of rotation to the room. Logan principals Tylevich and Ben Conrad completed the compositing and online assembly as well as 3D modeling and animation, which was done in Maya.