Greetings to all who are particularly partial to the long lost era of traditional, hand painted mattes and other ingenious motion picture ‘tricks of the trade’. It is indeed that time again – perhaps a little overdue according to some of my faithful correspondents – for a veritable cavalcade of amazing (and in a few isolated instances, perhaps not so flash) special photographic and miniature trick shots from across the long and wide cinema spectrum.
As is my self anointed vfx historian warrant, I’ve assembled a broad cross section of incredible films, with, in most cases, some terrific visual effects sequences. There are a few films known to some; a bona fide Oscar winning classic; a cheesy 60’s genre mish-mash; a couple of smaller gems that nobody will have heard of; a tiresome Technicolor musical; an expensive sci-fi mini-series from the late 70’s; some more amazing Yuricich mattes that were thought lost; a selection of great Butler/Glouner shots from old Columbia pictures, and if that weren’t enough, not one, but a pair of silent pictures – one a well known classic and the other a long, long, long forgotten disaster epic from the twenties that simply blew my socks off with the outstanding effects work! Just because they don’t have ‘sound’ or ‘colour’ doesn’t mean they should be flagged as ‘unworthy’ my friends!…
…Read the Full Article @ Matte Shot
A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX
This blog is intended primarily as a tribute to the inventiveness and ingenuity of the craft of the matte painter during Hollywoods’ Golden Era. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their ‘invisibility’ to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today.