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MAKING MATTE SHOTS
Fred W. Sersen*
WRITING this article is rather an unusual way of expressing my thoughts, as I have been used to doing so by means of paint and brushes for the last twenty years, and juggling the pen is somewhat clumsy. The editor asked me to write something about "matte shots" as we call them in this studio, and I will try to describe the process of making them and how they can be used to best advantage.
Some will say "we have 'glass shots' and 'miniatures,' why use matte shots at all?" There are times when either one would do and again there are cases when some process will do better than others. I will enumerate some instances when the matte shots can be used to better advantage than anything else.
Sometimes the sets are not exactly as they should be, due to many reasons — incidents that come up daily — such as changing the script at the last minute, or the director may have some idea of his which came to him on the spur of the moment. Or the cameraman may see better composition if he shoots the set from a different angle, due to change of light or some other unforeseen reason, or to create a beautiful scene where one did not exist.
The use of a matte enables a cameraman to make the picture he visualizes. He is no longer limited by the size of the set, poor light, etc. It makes it possible for him to create and carry out the ideas he has for the enrichment of the production. I have seen cameramen by the use of ingenuity and mattes double the value of a production.
For instance: A company went to Nevada to photograph some battle scenes in a snow storm. To build the sets there would have been very costly, while without them the desired Russian atmosphere could hardly be obtained. (It happened to be a Russian picture) . While they were walking around looking for the most suitable locations, they happened to run across an old concrete dam. The cameraman, being of a highly creative mind, began to visualize an old fortress connected with that wall of concrete, and before long he had a matte cut out of a piece of card-board and placed in the matte box so as to block out that piece of scenery where the fortress was supposed to be. The scene was photographed and was finished in the studio very successfully showing a fortress of great production value.
In cases of this kind it is necessary for the cameraman to be able to visualize the complete scene so as to be able to make a matte in the right place and provide enough space for the object to be painted in. He has to use good judgment as to how sharp a matte to make. If there are definite lines in the picture it is easier for an artist to match to the sharp lines and it is best for the matte to be placed about thirty inches from the camera, even further if the glass or the material to be used for the matte is easy to obtain. Again when matting to the
* Chief of Art Department, Fox Studios.
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