The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

March-April, 1952 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN 47 At Pinewood, the Travelling Matte Unit provides all the equipment required. Away from Pinewood, both backings and lamps must be provided by the studio concerned. The backing is illuminated by one hundred and fifty amp. arcs, whilst the foreground may be lit by either arc or incandescent light. In all cases the Travelling Matte Unit provides the necessary lamp filters which are charged to the Production Unit. Rushes of the foreground are seen the day after shooting, and the composite scene a few days later. For technical reasons all Travelling Matte scenes must be processed by Denham Laboratories. All the rules applicable to the shooting of Back Projection Plates apply to Travelling Matte Backgrounds. But as all the tones reproduce correctly in the latter, heavy filtration is permissible when shooting backgrounds for the Travelling Matte Process. It is essential that the framing of the background is correct, since adjustment of the image within the frame is not easily effected. When photographing backgrounds, it is advisable to line up through an Academy mask and to shoot through a Standard " Foreground and background sharp . . . " Aperture, as by doing so backgrounds may be reversed from left to right. In Back Projection there is always some spill light on the screen, and this must produce an exposure. An inky black can thus be changed to dark grey, thereby reducing the range of tones in the final scene. There is no such defect in the Travelling Matte Process. The ability to add trees and other foreground objects to improve composition, or to hide an ugly white sky or other imperfection, is one of the advantages of the Travelling Matte Process. "How long does it take?" was the question we were most frequently asked. To find out, we organised a day's shooting, covering a great diversity of subjects, but we always played against the same blue backing. We found on this occasion, with everything preplanned, that half-an-hour per scene was ample time. When using sound under normal production conditions, an average of one hour per scene should be allowed. There is a school of thought which believes that when " tracking " a few feet towards an infinity background, the size of that background should not change. This is only true when using a real infinity, as opposed to a camera infinity. For those who prefer to see the relative size of the background change during a tracking shot the static plate can be animated on the optical printer. Countless pictures have been made of twin brothers and sisters — usually by the laborious and doubtful Split Screen Process. However, by the Travelling Matte Process, one may now have twins or triplets at short notice, and with a minimum amount of labour. These shots of twins and triplets are unique in screen history. We cannot imagine any other way of achieving these results except by the Travelling Matte Process. The novel and comic possibilities opened up by this process are endless and will ofter a line of thought to script writers in search of new ideas and new methods of story presentation. It is a stimulating thought that the magical qualities of the cinema are now within reach of the producer with a modest budget. No longer is he restricted to the confines of the studio, however small, but can enter into the fields of fantasy and adventure. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination. In a shot of a ship leaving Marseilles Harbour a small backing of 3 metres by 5 metres was employed behind the foreground ship, the rest of the picture area being matted out by foreground pieces. This means that it is only necessary to have a backing the same size as the set. The ship was built solidly on the studio floor; there was no machinery used to rock it; its motion was simulated by camera movement. We have deliberately exaggerated the roll, although there are many cases when a small boat rolls far more than this. The rain was applied in the usual way by a rain machine. When Artificial Rain is used in the studio it is very often not seen when its tone matches that of the background. There may be a possible call for the Travelling Matte Process on scenes in which Artificial Rain is used. Another point worth mentioning, is that the framing of the background is maintained in the final composite scene. In certain other processes semi-transparent matter, such as smoke, has a hard line round it. But, it has been proved that smoke put on by T.M.P. is perfectly natural and wispy, which means that " Twins or Triplets at short notice