Matte Paintings research

Matte painting definition
A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is nonexistent in real life or would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit


Matte painting beign used in films started off really because of financial or physical limitations. It would beither be too expensive, impractical or sometimes impossible to shoot on actual location. 1905 Norman Dawn took his photos and painting and placed them on a large sheet of glass. Black tape would then be put over the part of the camera the painting would go. These were all painted by hand or mixed with photos.

Later on Digital Painting came along. this meant a much more realistic look could be achieved in the paintings. Painter Chris Evans was the first to create a digital matte painting used in a film. in 1985 it was used in a Sherlock Holmes film. Other examples of using matte paintings are in films like star wars, Indianna Jones and The Planet Of The Apes.

Example of a matte painter painting a scene for Star Wars

In this scene in Indianna Jones, filling a room with all of those crates would have been very difficult expensive and inpractical. This is why a matte painting was used. I think that on first glance it does look a very convincing but i is only when you pause it and have a closer look you can tell it has infact been painted. Although this doesnt really matter becuase to a film viewer it isnt explicit enough for them to notice or even if they did it doesnt really matter because the over all effect has been achieved very well i think