{"id":517,"date":"2010-04-02T16:51:52","date_gmt":"2010-04-02T23:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/?p=517"},"modified":"2010-04-08T10:34:32","modified_gmt":"2010-04-08T17:34:32","slug":"battle-of-galactica-rare-matte-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"Battle of Galactica rare matte shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Battlestar Galactica was so popular during the late 1970s that Universal Studios created a special Galactica themed \u201cride\u201d or event as part of their back-lot tram tours. It was named \u201cThe Battle of Galactica\u201d and opened in 1979 and ran to1992.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Dale Long. http:\/\/byyourcommand.net<\/p><\/div>\n

While the ride was being designed and constructed, Universal wanted to generate excitement and buzz about their new attraction. A promo \/ publicity film was to be shot and shown to generate excitement and attract people to the show. The major drawback was that nothing was finished enough to be photographed or to show off.<\/p>\n

Universal Studios contacted the effects producers at Universal Hartland where the Battlestar Galactica visual effects were created. It was decided that a matte painting would be created to show a Cylon styled ship or structure that opens and kidnaps a Universal Studio Tours tram. Hartland\u2019s resident matte artist, Jena Holman, was to do the painting and I would supervise the matte plate (live action background) photography and composite the matte shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jena and I went to the Universal back lot where a large wooden flat had been set up to stand in for the Cylon spaceship doors. This was not shot on the actual location of the ride as it was under construction. We set up the camera to frame the shot per the desire of the producers.<\/p>\n

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Live action back-ground "plate"<\/p><\/div>\n

To preserve the maximum quality of image, we elected to use an \u201coriginal negative\u201d or \u201clatent image\u201d matte painting compositing technique. This is a very old technique originally developed by Norman O. Dawn in about 1914.\u00a0 During the 1960s and 70s the technique had returned to favor largely due to the outstanding work of Albert Whitlock.<\/p>\n

This process required that we set up black cards in front of the camera to hold back or \u201cmatte out\u201d part of the scene that would be replaced with the painting.\u00a0 The matte ran along the road, around the \u201cspaceship\u201d door and through the trees next to it.<\/p>\n

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Live action with matte in place<\/p><\/div>\n

We would shoot a couple of good approved takes of the action then we would shoot 300 feet of test footage also including the black hold-out matte in front of the camera.\u00a0 For the last take, we removed the black masking and shot a \u201cclean\u201d reference plate of the scene. A back ground plate is the live action that effects will go into. The term \u201cplate\u201d is attributed to Norman O. Dawn and may have come from his early photography experience. A \u201cclean\u201d plate means there are no rigs or masking or anything in the scene except what is naturally present. This is used for reference, rotoscoping and perspective.\u00a0 This last take is the only one that was processed or developed. Later, back at the studio, the good approved takes and the 300 feet of test footage were separated, rewound and frozen. They were kept \u201clatent\u201d or undeveloped.<\/p>\n

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The day we shot was pleasant except that winds began blowing through the rolling hills of Universal\u2019s back lot. As I looked through the lens, I saw the live action portion and the black matte in the scene. What alarmed me were the live action bushes and trees leaves blowing like crazy through the soft matte that ran through the trees. We could not cancel the shot so I knew that I would somehow have to match the motion of the real trees into Jena\u2019s painted trees!<\/p>\n

The next day, Jena and I took the one developed clean scene and projected it onto to a white, primed piece of glass. Jena traced out (or \u201crotoscoped out\u201d) the details of the live action to know where the painting had to line up and match.\u00a0 Over the following days, Jena would paint the sky, Cylon ship and the trees and each evening I would photograph a painting test over some of the 300 ft of test footage.\u00a0 The hero live action takes remained safe in the freezer.<\/p>\n

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Painting with blacked out area for live action. Note left tree area is dark.<\/p><\/div>\n

To solve the blowing tree challenge, I set up a black matte board that matched Jena\u2019s painting glass and ran motion and exposure experiments. Over this black board, I placed large sheets of clear celluloid or \u201ccels\u201d that had dots of color and texture that matched the real tree leaves in the live action portion of the scene.<\/p>\n

Analyzing the motion of the trees, I realized that the artwork had to move or rotate from the bottom of the cel. This made sense as trees are rooted in the ground and sway in the breeze. To match the motion of the real trees, I found I needed at least three passes or exposures of the leaf textures and they had to be different from each other in speed and angle of rotation. These passes were each stop motion animated frame by frame by hand.<\/p>\n

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Diagram to show how cels were animate to simulate moving leaves.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jena laid in darker tree colors and I did multiple exposures of animated leaf high-lights over top of her painting.<\/p>\n

The final step was to thaw out a good take of the live action (the original negative) and expose the painting and animate leaves onto it.<\/p>\n

It requires a number of experiments, but Jena and I achieved a match of color, texture and motion between the matte painting and the live action that allowed Universal Studios to show off their new ride attraction months before it was physically completed.<\/p>\n

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Final composite of matte painting and live action.<\/p><\/div>\n

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I wish to thank Dale Long (http:\/\/byyourcommand.net<\/a>) ,\u00a0 Marcel Damen\u00a0 (www.galactica.tv<\/a><\/em>) and\u00a0 Diane Cook\u00a0 (http:\/\/kitchencostuming.com\/<\/a>)\u00a0 for their assistance with this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Links, Battle of Galactica:<\/p>\n

\u00a0http:\/\/byyourcommand.net\/cylongallery\/main.php?g2_itemId=1024<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0http:\/\/www.thestudiotour.com\/ush\/studiotour\/battleofgalactica.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0http:\/\/www.thestudiotour.com\/ush\/chronology.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

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Links, Battlestar Galactica:<\/p>\n

\u00a0http:\/\/www.galactica.tv<\/a><\/p>\n

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Links, matte painting:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/entertainment.howstuffworks.com\/digital-matte-painter1.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Retrieved from “http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Matte_painting<\/a>“:<\/p>\n