I'm sure there are 'Scapers who are curious as to HOW the people behind the special effects got into the work.
A while back I found a leaflet for a 3D animation and visual effects school, and one of the examples of their work? A design by Ivon Smith for Farscape, a space shot of Moya orbiting a planet (unsure if that's Talyn or just a Prowler there as well).
So there's at least one answer to "where do I go to learn tricks to use on awesome tv shows/films?".
I've included a zoomed shot of the example, and the whole leaflet to download, feel free to copy and keep all of this.
[EDIT:] Bear with me, Photobucket is being a damn photo scale scrooge. No matter if I obey the 1MB rule or not, it halves my picture sizes. They'll be back ASAP!
[SON OF EDIT:] Livejournal stores pictures. Well tie me down and call me frelled synapse man! All of them are available, the zoom in of the Farscape work, and the two sides of the A4-sized promotion page!