Matte Painting

What is Matte Painting?
A matte painting is used within films for a scene, background/ set to create an illusional environment that is non-existent or expensive and incredibly hard to create. Usually matte painting is combined with live action footage to create a realistic atmosphere.

The history of Matte Painting

Traditionally, Matte Paintings were made by artists using paints or pastels on large sheets of glass combined with live action footage. The very first Matte Painting shot was made in 1907 by a man named Norman (Norman Dawn) in the movie Missions of California.

 Another early shot that included matte painting was in the wizard of oz when Dorothy approaches Emerald City. The wizard of Oz: produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the most well know and commercial adaptation based on the 1900 novel 'The wonderful wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum. In this particular shot, matte painting was used to draw attention to a completely abnormal yet realistic 'city' to add imagination to the idea of a large green city which is meant to be the heart of the movie. Obviously the software's and digital ability were not 100%; the way in which they have introduced the matte painting in the scene adds to the idea of almost a cartoon affect within the movie.

 By the mid 1980's advancements in computer graphics were made to then allow matte painters to include digital software's.  Throughout the 1990's Matte paintings were still used but more often in conjunction with digital composting. Another film which shows a wide range of different Matte Paintings is 'Mary Poppins' (1964) when 'Mary' is 'flying' with her umbrella over the city in which she is about to be introduced to a family as a nanny. The way which the painter has drawn this background demonstrates how precise the painting itself has to be to allow live action footage. In this particular shot it shows the view of the city under thick clouds to then see Mary Poppins in the sky with an umbrella.