Thursday, 14 November 2013

History Of Compositing

Compositing: A technique that is used to combine various shots in any format whether it be 2D or 3D into one scene.

(Un Homme de Tetes) Melies: Both are examples of the first compositing technique used in films. It used the technique of double exposure on mattes which allowed for different shots to be combined into one shot. Melies would black out parts of the frame he shot using a sheet of glass with some black paint because in those days it didn't matter as black and white films were the only format films were produced then. The matte helped to make sure certain areas of the film would not get exposed, he would then rewind the film and expose the part of the frame that was under the matte earlier, thus resulting in double exposure. This technique at the time was surprising and it was a help towards methods that are used today in compositing.




Matte Painting (Glass): This was a good way to create a false visual image. Sets or backgrounds would be painted on a sheet of glass and then placed between the subject and the camera which then eliminated the cost of large sets needing to be built.

Travelling Matte a.k.a Black Screen: This process which is also called the Williams Process was used in the film 'The Invisible Man'. The black matting process photographed subjects against a pure black background, the film was them duplicated to high contrast negatives until a black and white silhouette was created. The black and white silhouette was used as a travelling matte because it could be re-positioned throughout the frame. The negative effect of the black screen was that no shadows could be seen which meant it still didn't create the perfect compositing effect needed.

http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/hollywoods-history-of-faking-it-the-evolution-of-greenscreen-compositing/


Blue Screen (Dunning Process): This process invented by C. Dodge Dunning used coloured lights to indentify the subject and background. The background was lit blue and the foreground yellow, and then using dyes and filters the blue and yellow light could be split apart to create travelling mattes with shadows.
http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/hollywoods-history-of-faking-it-the-evolution-of-greenscreen-compositing/

Yellow Screen (Sodium Vapour Process): Vlahos created this process as there was a big demand to create a compositing technique for colour films as black and white films became less produced. This process used the chemical sodium, because it emits light at 589.9 nanometres per second (nm/s) and the camera used allowed 4 strips of film so the actors were shot against a blue background, because it was the farthest colour away from human skin tones. Separating the blue gave three colour negatives, a silhouette matte was created as seen in the Williams Process, then a printer combined the mulitple shots back into one. Disney was the only company to have this camera which meant that they were at the foreground of colour film, they did allow rentals of this camera but it was charged at a very high cost.
http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/hollywoods-history-of-faking-it-the-evolution-of-greenscreen-compositing/

Colour Difference Matte: Vlahos later then created a new improved process which took him a very long time, but didn't require any bespoke hardware and could be used in any format which made it possible for more filmmakers to use compositing in their work.
http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/hollywoods-history-of-faking-it-the-evolution-of-greenscreen-compositing/


How Green Screen became more used than Blue Screen?
Green became a more used colour because as seen in the diagram the colour registers more on electronic displays than blue and red. Sometimes, a blue screen is used if it will allow more information in the shot to be used, in reverse a shot with a blue sky would be filmed on a green or red screen because the shot will be clearer.


No comments:

Post a Comment