< Filmmaking Basics < Matte Painting
This school is:
Wikiversity Film School - Narrative film production
This course is:
The basics of narrative filmmaking
This lesson is:
Lesson: Creating a matte painting
Pages of this Lesson:
Introduction to Matte Painting

Assignment #1 - using Art Rage Free or Adobe Photoshop or the free GIMP or Corel Painter:

1A - Matte Painting for "Seduced by the Dark Side!"
1B - Building your own starter pages (optional)

Assignment #2 - using Tux Paint:

2A - Matte Painting for "Out For A Walk"
2B - Starter page sets for Tux Paint
2C - Building your own starter page set for Tux Paint (optional)
Matte Painting

for our movie
Seduced by the Dark Side!


Overview


"Seduced by the Dark Side!"

The opening or closing shot
In two years, we are going to film the motion picture Seduced by the Dark Side!. But we will have very little money to film the movie.
Without a lot of money, we cannot film the scene in front of a magnificent theater. The only alternative that we have is to film the movie in front of a blank wall and use a matte painting for the actual theater.
To plan for the shooting of our movie, I need you to create a matte painting.
Normally, the matte painting is made after the scene has been filmed. But for now, please use the storyboard frame and create a matte painting for the storyboard frame.



A frame from the movie
In this shot, the actors are standing in front of a very simple wall with a poster on it. To create an entire exterior of a motion picture theater, we will need a huge matte painting.

Note: when we film this shot, the camera will be locked down. The zoom out effect will be done later using Adobe AfterEffects.
and/or

A frame from the movie
In this shot, the actors are walking along the wall. We need to create a large matte painting so that it appears as if the actors are walking off into the sunset.

Note: when we film this shot, the camera will be locked down. The zoom out effect will be done later using Adobe AfterEffects.

You can use any of these!



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Click on the picture to see full size

Matte painting canvas

For Photoshop, GIMP or ArtRage 2 FREE
To create the matte painting, we will use Photoshop, GIMP or ArtRage 2 FREE.
To create the matte painting, we must take one frame from the movie and place it on a huge canvas. I have done this for you. You can simply download the starter for this website and put it inside your drawing program.
Download the picture from:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiversity/en/2/28/Matte_starter_1664_1328_SBTDS.png
Do it yourself
However, you will find it easier to create your own matte painting canvas. (See the next page.)
Completed homework assignments for the Lesson:Matte Painting:SBTDS:Intro for basic filmmaking


  • Tunderboy9 has submitted this assignment - 30 September 2007 - 6 points

Wrong

Instructor's notes
For this assignment, I want students to create a matte painting.
Instead, this is rotoscoping. The effect is very similar to a matte painting but rotoscoping requires a huge amount of effort and time. To do this special effect (rotoscoping), the filmmaker must hand paint each frame. That is a lot of work.

Created with FrameForge 3D Studio and ArtRage 2 FREE




  • The instructor has redrawn the picture to show one possible way to do this.

Right


Instructor's notes
I took the student's picture and created a matte painting. Notice that the entire area where the actors will be walking is kept without change. Only where the actors do not walk, do I add a painting.
Notice that I had problems with the color of the ground of the storyboard vs. the color of the sidewalk in the matte painting. To do this well, you need to blend the two together to make it seem natural.
Note 2
It looks like I reduced the size of the original storyboard frame. Actually, to do this correctly, the matte painting itself would be HUGE so the original storyboard frame would be actual size.

Created with FrameForge 3D Studio and photoshop



  • Look at how the matte painting will be used.
+


Background info
To use the matte painting, you will put the matte painting into Adobe AfterEffects along with the movie of the man and boy walking (in this case the animation created by FrameForge 3D Studio or the still images created by FrameForge 3D studio). A mask is created (as shown in blue here) which is the key to combining the image from the matte painting with the movie of the actors moving.


Created with FrameForge 3D Studio and photoshop



The next page

Create a matte painting for your version of "Seduced by the Dark Side!" and send it to me.
If you need help, on the next page, you can see how to create starter pages for matte paintings.
or

Contact your instructor

Your instructor for this filmmaking class is Robert Elliott. You can email me by clicking here.

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