Jarrid Gable

I wasn't sure how to find this so I figured i'd just ask. I'm a beginner and I'm trying to get a general direction of things. I know Houdini is used for VFX in film, so what's the workflow look like for adding the VFX to real life film footage. For example, let's say I wanted to create a scene that looked like I was conjuring and charging up a magic projectile to throw; like something out of Mortal Kombat. Would this be done strictly in Houdini, if so can I get the cliff notes on how this would be done? Or is this something that would need additional software to pull off? And if so, what might that look like?

I appreciate the help!