Cinema Cemetery
What is a Matte Painting
Disclaimer:
The following is my own opinion and not the opinion of any studios I have worked for in the past or will work for in the future. All specific information comes courtesy of publicly accessible articles, please see the bibliography for more information.
Since the very earliest narrative movies, filmmakers have wanted to transport the audience to places that even the filmmaker couldn’t go. What is Star Wars without the desolate desert wastes surrounding Jabba’s palace or the staccato glass and metal buildings composing the surface of Coruscant? Long before the digital advent of computer assisted visuals, practical artists came up with a technique that combined fine art and film-making in a perfect blend.
“When pioneering French filmmaker Georges Méliès made "Le Voyage dans la Lune" in 1902, special effects meant painting some curtains as backdrops and using an actual man in a moon costume for the man in the moon.
Even today, with blockbuster film budgets over $250 million, it's still not economically feasible to film on the moon. (4)”
Despite being most famous for its silver screen incarnation,
“Matte painting has its roots in still photography. In the mid-19th century, photographers began using double-exposure techniques to composite two distinct images into one photograph. In the Victorian era, so-called spirit photography captured the imagination of the masses. In these photos, ghostly apparitions seemed to mingle with the living. They were, in reality, simple darkroom tricks, or what we now call special effects. (4)”
Due to their far-reaching historical roots,
“Matte paintings are one of the original VFX techniques used in filmmaking. Originally used in photography, matte paintings have evolved from painted glass panels to entire 3D digital worlds.
A matte painting is often a painted glass pane that is used to show a landscape or large set piece. Matte paintings are either filmed on set, where they are framed to look like a physical set piece, or they are combined with live footage in post production. (2)”
It’s self-evident what a painting is, but what is a matte? Instead of using the word matte, think of it in terms of the word mask. To hide, cover up, or section off.
“Magician and legendary filmmaker Georges Méliès used the matte painting technique in many of his films. In his 1898 film Un Homme de Têtes – Four Heads Are Better Than One. Méliès would use a glass pane painted black to create a matte. When shooting on film, the black matte kept light from reaching the camera. Since a portion of the film was not exposed to light, it would leave part of the frame empty.
Méliès would then rewind the film and set up an opposite matte. By removing the original matte and blacking out everything else, the film would now fill in the blanks. The resulting sequence was absolutely astonishing. (2)”
This masking, or matte technique is still impressive today! But what about extending a set to create a location you otherwise wouldn’t be able to shoot?
“In 1907, Norman Dawn would use glass paintings in his 1907 film Missions of California. Many of the missions Dawn was filming had been partially destroyed. He would use matte paintings to make the buildings look whole again, often painting the missing arches or roofs. Dawn would also disguise telephone poles as trees…(2)”
“Matte painting in itself is as old as the history of VFX – originally using oil painting directly onto glass in front of the camera, helping create the wonderful worlds seen in the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. It is the area of VFX that has both changed the most and changed least over the years. (3)”
“Essentially, the typical glass shot comprised of a large sheet of clear glass bound within a sturdy wooden frame. (5)”
“Naturally, the glass shot was never a full, complete painting. The purpose of the glass matte painting was to 'fill in' whatever parts of the shot the director required, leaving often significant portions of unpainted clear glass through which the actors could do their thing whilst carefully staying within a prescribed set of marks in order that they don't vanish under the painting. (5)”
Sometimes the painted elements wouldn’t be on glass but on other materials, aluminum for example...something sturdy enough to hold its own painted weight but light enough hang in front of the camera.
“Matte paintings were still traditionally used on many major motion pictures throughout the 1930s as well; such as the barracks in All Quiet on the Western Front, the castle in Dracula, Skull Island in King Kong. (2)”
“Alfred Hitchcock was using glass pane matte paintings throughout the 40s and well into the 60s. They were prominently used in North by Northwest and The Birds. (2)”
In modern times,
“While most motion picture productions have moved to blue and green screens, the techniques used by matte painters are still applied to modern filmmaking.
...
Matte paintings are also no longer trapped into two dimensional images. Entire 3D sets and backgrounds are created digitally. Even digital cameras are used to add movement. (2)”
While a matte painter of olde would simply have to be a brilliant, quick, and communicative oil on glass painter, modern matte painters have to juggle an ever growing list of skillsets.
“A Matte Painter creates virtual backgrounds used to either replace or enhance live action photographed plates. The artist works with stills taken from live action photography, digital still photography, rendered CG elements and digital paint to create believable ‘environments’ that are seamlessly integrated into the film by compositing artists. Matte painting now tends to come under the umbrella of environment work , completed in the larger VFX companies by an environment team/department. (3)”
As the skills required of a modern day matte painter run the gamut of the entire vfx or animation pipeline, many go by the titles of Generalists or Environment Artists these days. Matte painting is very often, a tool in the artist’s arsenal.
When I approach a shot, my first inclination is to determine exactly what parts of the shot should be a matte painting. You can only move the camera so much on a matte shot before the synergy between the footage (we call it the plate) and the matte painting element is broken. I prefer to do as much as a projected matte as possible because it renders very quickly and is much easier to change than a cg element which will require much more time to render and much more can go wrong with a digital environment build than with a painting. After I’ve determined the painted component, I’ll then break down exactly what I’ll need to model in a cg software package like Maya. Often these models will be very basic as I’ll just be projecting my painting onto the geometry. You’ll always get more realism from a photo-collage painting than you will from a render, so it makes sense to me to work in that direction.
Personally, I’ve worked in and around the film industry since 2013. I have had the good fortune to work as a matte painter on these projects.
I prepared for this career by getting my BFA and MFA in Visual Effects from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m not saying that’s the path YOU should take, that’s just the one I chose. We actually have an entire video breaking down the pros and cons of art school that you can check out if you’re interested.
Do you have any questions about matte painting, environment art, or filmmaking in general? Use the contact form on this website to ask any and all questions you can think of!
This has been cinema cemetery, digging six feet deeper into filmmaking culture!
-Josh Evans