Mattes and Miniatures Visual EffectsThe company is based at Pinewood and Bray Studios and has a crew experienced in all aspects of designing, constructing and filming visual effects. Digital facilities at the Pinewood base combine the best of traditional matte techniques with the new and the Bray Studios base includes a traditional and glass shot matte painting studio, motion control, model and special effects workshops and art department. Recent work includes visual effects on Inkheart, The Descent, and models (miniatures) on The Da Vinci Code, Mutant Chronicles, Stardust, Highlander V, Ella Enchanted and Coldplay ‘Talk’video. Mattes and Miniatures delivers outstanding visual effects -on time and within budget Leigh Took 07836278028e-mail
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Bray Studios: 01628 506626 Pinewood Studios: 01753 656554 RECENT WORK INCLUDES FILM Prayer for Rain Ra One Narnia Angels and Demons The Wolfman The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus Inkheart Mutant Chronicles Stardust Highlander V Da Vinci Code The Descent Naina Thespian X George and the Dragon |
Mattes composited as backgrounds or insets in postproduction
Norman Dawn made several improvements on the matte shot to apply it to motion picture, and was the first director to use rear projection in cinema.
Dawn combined his experience with the glass shot with the techniques of the matte shot. Up until this time, the matte shot was essentially a double-exposure: a section of the camera's field would be blocked with a piece of cardboard to block the exposure, the film would be rewound, and the blocked part would also be shot in live action. Dawn instead used pieces of glass with sections painted black (which was more effective at absorbing light than cardboard), and transferred the film to a second, stationary camera rather than merely rewinding the film. The matte painting was then drawn to exactly match the proportion and perspective to the live action shot. The low cost and high quality of Dawn's matte shot made it the mainstay in special effects cinema throughout the century. [2]
Traditionally, matte paintings were made by artists using paints or pastels on large sheets of glass for integrating with the live-action footage.[1] The first known matte painting shot was made in 1907 by Norman Dawn (ASC), who improvised the crumbling California Missions by painting them on glass for the movie Missions of California.[2] Notable traditional matte-painting shots include Dorothy’s approach to the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz, Charles Foster Kane’s Xanadu in Citizen Kane, and the seemingly bottomless tractor-beam set ofStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Source: Special Effects Blog
