- A process shot in which two photographic images (usually background and foreground) are combined into a single image using an optical printer. Matte shots can be used to add elements to a realistic scene or to create fantasy spaces.
- Matte shooting is one of the most common techniques used in studio filmmaking, either for economical reasons (it’s cheaper to shoot a picture of the Eiffel tower than to travel to Paris) or because it would be impossible or too dangerous to try to shoot in the real space.
- A shot in which only a part of the shot, usually the area immediately surrounding any of the characters present on-screen, is a live action shot. The rest is a painting, most often used to portray a non-existent vista. Rather than build a vast set, they shoot the actors on a plain set with a few background elements, with parts of the camera frame matted off by opaque cards.
“combining two separately shot images into one is called matte work. To create a matte, one area of the image is filmed – either by shooting a real background directly or by painting one and shooting the painting – while the remaining area is left blank by blocking a corresponding area of the lens. The blank area is then filled by filming, with the opposite area being blocked, after which the two areas are combined in processing” (Sivok 163).
Matte paintings “not only (serve as) a background for the actors, the matte serves compositionally to tie two elements together” (Lipari 53). These paintings are used to extend or modify something that exists.
The concept of special effects includes a variety of means to create on-screen effects that are impossible when shooting in certain conditions.
VFX – Visual Effects – visual effects is a combination of video taken with a camera (Live Action Footage) with objects created in computer programs (CGI) using a computer and made during the editing of a movie or clip. The main distinctive feature of VFX is getting the result only at the post-production stage (post-production is the newfangled name of the installation). VFX includes CGI and SFX.
CGI – Computer Generated Imagery – literally translated as computer-generated image, or computer-generated images. This includes all objects or images created on the computer (characters, 3D-objects, decorations, locations).
SFX – Special Effects – real special effects made on the set of a video camera. These are explosions with the help of pyrotechnics, puppet animation, make-up of actors (turning into various monsters, changing appearance, imitation of wounds).
Images
Sources
- https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/mise-en-scene/ (Links to an external site.)
- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MatteShot (Links to an external site.)
- http://screenprism.com/insights/article/cinema-terms-how-are-matte-shots-created-in-cinema
- https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/vfx-for-filmmakers/0/steps/13286
- https://conceptartempire.com/matte-painting/
Hi Geofrey:
Thanks for your sharing of the definition of matte shots and matte paintings. I like the quote from Lipari that the matte serves compositionally to tie two elements together because this guides me to see the individual works done for the composition.