One book I highly recommend is The Invisible Image, that takes readers from the earliest days of glass paintings through that guy who essentially patented double exposure, hindering others from doing matte shots where you painted the painting long after the human elements were filmed and exposed the frame again (the "matte" in matte paintings coming from the matte black area they would paint on glass to keep that bit on the negative from being exposed), all the way up to modern day set extensions done digitally.
I feel like this is a special channel. It's more about film techniques juxtaposed with a heartfelt and comedic commentary as well as the application and experimentation of the said technique. It's not about views or subs, it's about the process and exploration of filmmaking. Easily becoming one of my favorite channels! Keep up the amazing work!
I think they eventually started just painting in a black matte on set. Later, someone would paint the scenery, then someone else would print the painted image over blacked out area.
Yay, bringing back in-camera matte paintings! I've loved reading about it older special effects manuals and always wanted to try it, but never had the courage to. Although this would be fun to try...maybe I should give it a chance!!
I have been binge-watching all of your videos! Some of the best tutorials I have seen in a long time! Channel is way underrated! You guys need a couple million more subscribers to justify the quality content you all are putting out! Great job! And thank you for the awesome history/tutorial/ storytime video!
I’ve done front miniatures for a short film. It was a miniature of a Baba Yaga hut in the forest. Super realistic as the lighting is exactly the same on the foreground and background. But very tricky to get the position right. At least, the background being a forest, there wasn’t a need to perfectly match perspective lines or a precise scale. Otherwise it would have been a nightmare!
Pro Tip: When creating thumbnails for RUclips videos -- AVOID red outlines, as a red bar across the bottom of a thumbnail is usually an indicator that a user has already watched a video. Just FYI. Hope you find that useful.
Spain, South of France, Tuscany... this is what your painting seems like. Bravo... great work, lots of things explained. This may help teaching a tad more about how hard these jobs are when it comes to really mastering your craft. This is why I always explain technicians actually are "artists with machines"... Matte painting still is commonly used in animation. Eastern Europe has made itself famous for being THE matte painting kingdom. A friend of mine is currently creating her new animated long film. All "environnement" elements are created half/half in Toulouse (France) and Prague (Czech republic), as these are the most important countries for animated films. Minions were born in France, just as Sonic the hedgehog and so many more. Down there, matte painting still is an everyday tool.
Not all matt painting were done in place, in other cases they put balck board in a frame to block the places in the scene that shold see in the scen, the black board will no be expose and then the artis in a studio will do the matte paint proyecting into a glass
@@EpicLightMedia Hey there ! This was nicely done and a pretty good explanation of the technique. I have been a matte painting artist for 43 years professionally. The first 20 years as a traditional matte painter and then as a digital matte artist since 1997. Thanks for this posting !
One of the last Hollywood films to use a glass matte painting was 'Titanic' in 1997. Sometimes the 'less is more' approach looks aesthetically better than some digital matte paintings that have pin sharp detail which can end up triggering the 'uncanny valley.' Have a look at the glass paintings used for the 'Return of The Jedi' Death Star hangar scenes with the stormtroopers on parade.
woww that is insanely great! this could be very useful to just about any youtuber out there... I may have to give this a try... sort of like Hollywood matte paintings 👍
Can you make a video on the 'Shufftan Process' where a mirror (at 45 degrees to lens axis) was used with some of the reflected surface removed so a camera could film live action through the glass against a reflection of a miniature that was placed to the side off camera.
Your approach is so beautiful. It's really important to try and understand the basics of something before you start relying in all the new tools that do the work for you. It helps you gain better understanding of the craft and can also lead to creative breakthroughs.
Great example. Although, by Gone With The Wind, they were already using the latent matte technique, so they would just darken the area that later they would superimpose over the live shot. (Those paintings were way too elaborate) That carried for decades!
I’m glad I became a digital matte painter or as I call it image wrangler and compositor. I could never do that with paint. Give me photoshop, Blender and Nuke and I can do a nice 2.5D but with paint.. no! And as a Dutch guy I can appreciate the Dutch subtitled 🤪
Not just 100 years ago, but until about the mid-late 90's. Upvote for Three Amigos reference. Product wasn't worse, and nowadays isn't necessarily better. True there were some better images than some others (I like spotting the matte scenes in old movies, but most of the time they did them well enough you couldn't tell.) Newer "matte paintings" have that "computerized" look for lack of a better term. They don't have the physical medium of paint, and they use effects and things that look like it was heavily processed. For instance in San Andreas you could tell there was a lot of cgi and digital matte because of the certain look it gives off.
I love the "old" special effects. Think Zena, Warrior Princess. I believe it was Star Trek (they obviously weren't the only ones) that would take a photo on slide film. The backlit color slide would then be placed in a model and and filmed. The slide would be still but for a quick shot you could have the crew looking out a window of your star ship. The effect would be the opposite of a matte painting. Your characters are still and the background is moving.
Yes... On the subject of the AD pilot cut-away (or any other cutaway or reference to copyrighted material)... Could you do a show on that? What is a RUclips creator allowed to do or not do? Thanks for the great video. You're quite the painter!
I'm sure you're familiar with the techniques of the past master, Albert Whitlock. Now, he said his paintings were impressionistic, not much detail, but enough to get the illusion across. But, what gets me is he would do it on the actual negative! No mistakes allowed. He nailed it every time!
Mexico, South America? Hahahahaha. I'm writing from 🇨🇱 Santiago Chile SouthAmerica. I was reaching for this effect, I didn't know how they call it, in fact I noticed this effect on North by Northwest in seversl scenes, such us the house in the hills top, the sculptures, the UNO buildind entrance, the building square from aereal view. Matte Painting effect.
Epic Light Media Yes, glass was still used by elinshaw and Whitlock through the 60s, but only sporadically. But on another note, I have a lot of respect for you attempting this, pretty fascinating video. I really enjoy your site’s perspective on video/film production
"Illusions dad, you don't have time for my illusions!"
😂
Now I expect to start seeing a lot more old school matte paintings in youtube short films because of this video.
I made a digital matte video effect thingy a few weeks ago but this is much cooler
One book I highly recommend is The Invisible Image, that takes readers from the earliest days of glass paintings through that guy who essentially patented double exposure, hindering others from doing matte shots where you painted the painting long after the human elements were filmed and exposed the frame again (the "matte" in matte paintings coming from the matte black area they would paint on glass to keep that bit on the negative from being exposed), all the way up to modern day set extensions done digitally.
I feel like this is a special channel. It's more about film techniques juxtaposed with a heartfelt and comedic commentary as well as the application and experimentation of the said technique. It's not about views or subs, it's about the process and exploration of filmmaking. Easily becoming one of my favorite channels! Keep up the amazing work!
This was really cool. I've always known about matte paintings, but the fact that you went as far to recreate one is really awesome.
I think they eventually started just painting in a black matte on set. Later, someone would paint the scenery, then someone else would print the painted image over blacked out area.
So much work goes into one shot. What a pane!
hahaha
this guy is a genius
Yay, bringing back in-camera matte paintings! I've loved reading about it older special effects manuals and always wanted to try it, but never had the courage to. Although this would be fun to try...maybe I should give it a chance!!
I have been binge-watching all of your videos! Some of the best tutorials I have seen in a long time! Channel is way underrated! You guys need a couple million more subscribers to justify the quality content you all are putting out! Great job! And thank you for the awesome history/tutorial/ storytime video!
Thanks so much!! It’s fun making videos. We are so happy you are enjoying them. We are learning a lot about RUclips and how to teach.
@@EpicLightMedia You guys rock!!
Thomas, I take my hat off. Amazing stuff. Bravo.
I’ve done front miniatures for a short film. It was a miniature of a Baba Yaga hut in the forest. Super realistic as the lighting is exactly the same on the foreground and background. But very tricky to get the position right. At least, the background being a forest, there wasn’t a need to perfectly match perspective lines or a precise scale. Otherwise it would have been a nightmare!
Doing is the best way to learn. Good doing!
I think you paint very well too,, awesome buddy.
This is so cool!! I prefer physical matte painting over digital anyday.
amazing thank you for showing this technique
This seems like fun - I will try this.
Pro Tip: When creating thumbnails for RUclips videos -- AVOID red outlines, as a red bar across the bottom of a thumbnail is usually an indicator that a user has already watched a video. Just FYI. Hope you find that useful.
Spain, South of France, Tuscany... this is what your painting seems like.
Bravo... great work, lots of things explained. This may help teaching a tad more about how hard these jobs are when it comes to really mastering your craft.
This is why I always explain technicians actually are "artists with machines"...
Matte painting still is commonly used in animation. Eastern Europe has made itself famous for being THE matte painting kingdom.
A friend of mine is currently creating her new animated long film. All "environnement" elements are created half/half in Toulouse (France) and Prague (Czech republic), as these are the most important countries for animated films. Minions were born in France, just as Sonic the hedgehog and so many more.
Down there, matte painting still is an everyday tool.
Not all matt painting were done in place, in other cases they put balck board in a frame to block the places in the scene that shold see in the scen, the black board will no be expose and then the artis in a studio will do the matte paint proyecting into a glass
Yes the Latent Imaging Technique! More advanced than this old method. In fact, that is the way the matte art in Gone With The Wind was accomplished
@@EpicLightMedia Hey there ! This was nicely done and a pretty good explanation of the technique. I have been a matte painting artist for 43 years professionally. The first 20 years as a traditional matte painter and then as a digital matte artist since 1997. Thanks for this posting !
What a great job.
One of the last Hollywood films to use a glass matte painting was 'Titanic' in 1997.
Sometimes the 'less is more' approach looks aesthetically better than some digital matte paintings that have pin sharp detail which can end up triggering the 'uncanny valley.'
Have a look at the glass paintings used for the 'Return of The Jedi' Death Star hangar scenes with the stormtroopers on parade.
This was awesome, thanks for sharing!
I actually like your work. It's like you've been transported into a Van Gogh painting or something like that.
20 minutes into this channel and it's already becoming my favorite!
You deserve using techniques like that for films.
Okay, now you make me feel obliged to watch the Mandalorian.
i really enjoy listening to your calming voice!
woww that is insanely great! this could be very useful to just about any youtuber out there... I may have to give this a try... sort of like Hollywood matte paintings 👍
Can you make a video on the 'Shufftan Process' where a mirror (at 45 degrees to lens axis) was used with some of the reflected surface removed so a camera could film live action through the glass against a reflection of a miniature that was placed to the side off camera.
One of my favourite use of matte paintings was in the film 'Hindenburg'. Albert Whitlock was a master of the art
The night shot was my favorite.
Your approach is so beautiful. It's really important to try and understand the basics of something before you start relying in all the new tools that do the work for you. It helps you gain better understanding of the craft and can also lead to creative breakthroughs.
Yes! Any excuse to paint happy trees is a good excuse. Haha
Great example. Although, by Gone With The Wind, they were already using the latent matte technique, so they would just darken the area that later they would superimpose over the live shot. (Those paintings were way too elaborate) That carried for decades!
Imagine the position of the sun changes... It makes me anxious.
I’m glad I became a digital matte painter or as I call it image wrangler and compositor. I could never do that with paint. Give me photoshop, Blender and Nuke and I can do a nice 2.5D but with paint.. no!
And as a Dutch guy I can appreciate the Dutch subtitled 🤪
This was so cool!
Not just 100 years ago, but until about the mid-late 90's. Upvote for Three Amigos reference. Product wasn't worse, and nowadays isn't necessarily better. True there were some better images than some others (I like spotting the matte scenes in old movies, but most of the time they did them well enough you couldn't tell.) Newer "matte paintings" have that "computerized" look for lack of a better term. They don't have the physical medium of paint, and they use effects and things that look like it was heavily processed. For instance in San Andreas you could tell there was a lot of cgi and digital matte because of the certain look it gives off.
just did a essay on 1920s cinima i think its amazing and want to try this myself so glad youve done this
LOL, When I seen your thumbnail i thought to myself, damn that house looks real!!!!!
I love the "old" special effects. Think Zena, Warrior Princess. I believe it was Star Trek (they obviously weren't the only ones) that would take a photo on slide film. The backlit color slide would then be placed in a model and and filmed. The slide would be still but for a quick shot you could have the crew looking out a window of your star ship. The effect would be the opposite of a matte painting. Your characters are still and the background is moving.
I like this guy.
Yes... On the subject of the AD pilot cut-away (or any other cutaway or reference to copyrighted material)... Could you do a show on that? What is a RUclips creator allowed to do or not do? Thanks for the great video. You're quite the painter!
Thats a dope effect!!
Do you have a link to the stands or type of glsss used. a beautiful technique
Suddenly I realized that Bob Ross might have had a second career as a matte painter.
That's pretty damn cool :)
Now I don't wanna use After Effects anymore hahahah
Right!?!? Working in the computer is kinda lame compared to this
@@EpicLightMedia Yes! Feels much more artistic and real in a way, even if it's not as realistic-looking as CGI and etc.
I was wanting to do this. You beat me to it you cheeky devil.
Awesome
I'm sure you're familiar with the techniques of the past master, Albert Whitlock. Now, he said his paintings were impressionistic, not much detail, but enough to get the illusion across. But, what gets me is he would do it on the actual negative! No mistakes allowed. He nailed it every time!
Aren't the mountains in the distance supposed to be at least a little blurry?
Good point
@@EpicLightMedia that's probably why it looked old
great
Bob Ross would have been the best person for this job
Have you seen Potato Jet's matte paintings? Dude.
Nothing says Arizona like a big, massive AC unit on the roof.
great...¡¡¡¡ , could you explain how the lightning effects do in the movie big trouble in little china?.
happy little trees
great content
Mexico, South America? Hahahahaha. I'm writing from 🇨🇱 Santiago Chile SouthAmerica. I was reaching for this effect, I didn't know how they call it, in fact I noticed this effect on North by Northwest in seversl scenes, such us the house in the hills top, the sculptures, the UNO buildind entrance, the building square from aereal view.
Matte Painting effect.
What type of paint did you use? I’m allergic to walnuts so I can’t use oil paint. Thanks
Acrylic
@@EpicLightMedia awesome thanks!
WOAH OKAY! How does being a master painter fit into your alleged backstory of being a pool guy??
Subscribed!
What kind of paint is used on the glass?
I just used acrylic
@@EpicLightMedia 🖼🎨📽✌🏾
100 years?
Not 100years
Matte painting were still done thru the 80s
Well I guess I didn’t explain that the latent image process was used through the 80s but the glass in front of the lens on location is an older method
Epic Light Media
Yes, glass was still used by elinshaw and Whitlock through the 60s, but only sporadically. But on another note, I have a lot of respect for you attempting this, pretty fascinating video. I really enjoy your site’s perspective on video/film production
Shot out to your mom