Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

Paul Camilleri Research Classic Filming

Techniques
In modern day films we now have the ability to make anything we want a
reality using modern day special effects such as CGI. But it wasnt always
that easy; in the early days of film making not only was it much harder and
in some cases more costly, it was extremely time consuming. What now we
can do in 2-3 hours took even days to accomplish.
The first effect I chose is Matte Painting which is a technique that
involves an artist/s painting a full scaled background/scenery for a film to
shoot a particular scene. This technique goes back for hundreds of years to
something as simple as painting on a canvas. In 1905 a man by the name of
Norman Dawn was able to create a hybrid of Photography and Painting on
canvas thus creating the Matte Painting technique. He created the technique
to be able to enhance the environment being filmed by the camera. Norman
being well acquainted in the art world himself took his photographs and his
paintings and placed them behind a large sheet of glass. Using black tape he
blacked out the areas weve come to know a negative space so as to film the
two parts separately and then join the two together. This technique was
implemented mostly when the studio wouldnt have enough money to film in
exotic locations or the film was beyond anything Earth had to offer (Star
Wars IV, V, and VI).
The film I chose as an example to express this technique is Indiana Jones and
the Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981), and Indiana Jones Temple of Doom (1984).
The first scene in Matte Painting is in Raiders of the Lost Ark during the final
shot in the massive warehouse as shown below in figure 1:

Figur
e1

Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

In figure one we see the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark of Hangar 51
which can also be scene in Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull though
by then CGI was being used. The real hangar is approximately everything
under the red line whilst everything else above the red line is a matte
paintingCouldnt tell could you? In figure 2 we see a scene on a cliff
from Temple of Doom:

In figure 2
we see
the artist
preparing
the matte
painting
for filming
the scene
of the
broken
bridge.

In Figure 3 we have the actual scene. The piece between the red lines is a
Matte Painting, still couldnt see it right? Anyway yes the bottom half of the
cliff is a painting. In fact there are two pairs of legs dangling at the bottom of

Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

the bridge with had to be drawn over multiple times to make them move
around as though the actors were falling. In the red circle we see the
crocodiles which are actually silhouettes placed onto the painting.
The second technique I will be discussing is the art of Miniature Modelling.
This would involve making miniaturized models of real life things. The first
film I will use as a reference is Indiana Jones and afterwards I will show an
example from Star Wars V. The first example is the mine cart chase from
Temple of Doom:

For this scene they built a full miniaturized copy of the set to film the more
dangerous scenes. They custom made a mini camera to fit into the smaller
crevice in the set to be able to follow the miniature cart on the tracks in
order to capture the shots we see now in the film. Without CGI this was,
needless to say an extremely delicate procedure, one wrong move and the
shot would have to be filmed all over again. Next up well see the Star Wars
Miniatures.

Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

In Star Wars they used a miniature model of the Millennium Falcon to film the
sequences is which the iconic ship would be shown flying through space.
They accomplished this by hooking up the Mini-Falcon to a robotic crane
system to control the movements. They filmed at a certain speed so that
when they came to edit, it would look as though the ship is flying very fast.
Here is the mounted Mini-Falcon:

One final example of miniatures also in the Star Wars franchise is the famous
Death Star. The seemingly impenetrable planet/fortress/empire HQ/planet
destroyer was filmed on a miniature fraction of the magnificently terrifying
beast. Observe:

Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

Now youre probably thinking: Thats the Death Star? Disappointed? Yeah I
was tooTo think the most terrifying thing in the film was a model no bigger
than a moderately sized billboard. But that just goes to show how even with
something so simple the team created something so amazing. They again
filmed at a particular speed so it would appear like a ship was racing through
the structure? Remember the reactor core explosion? Yeah thats It over
there, the little new year fire work.

Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

The modern day film and effect I chose to discuss it my current favorite film,
Dracula Untold 2014. Now naturally being filmed in the digital age its
fill of CGI however it is the process that makes this truly amazing. The
effect I chose is Vlad turning into a swarm of bats. Here is step by step
what they did:
First they took a shot of Luke Evans (Vlad) jumping in front of a blue screen.

Next they added the background, light scheme and the beginning of Vlads
initial transformation.

Finally they added the full bat swarm render to create the full effect.

Task 1 Research of 1000 Words Unit 64 Thomas Pace Class 2C

In the end, all these visual effects and fancy expensive equipment and CGI
create the amazing cinematic experiences we see and love on the big
screen. But we mustnt forget that all these amazing innovations
started from nothing more than a few models and big paintings and
without the labors of the past we wouldnt have all these amazing films
to watch and enjoy so much with friends and family.