(More) Matte Paintings

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm a big fan of matte paintings in films and have written about them a few times in the past (you can find the others on this link).  As ever, I've tried to highlight excellent paintings which really show off the craft - apart from a couple (Blade Runner and Batman specifically, which are sci-fi/fantasy anyway), these extend real-life situations and, to me, epitomise the idea that a matte painting at its best is an invisible effect.

Hope you enjoy them.

North By Northwest (1959)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
matte painting by Matthew Yuricich
(I wrote a retrospective about the film here)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
matte painting by Albert Whitlock


Das Boot (1981)
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
matte painting by Leigh Took

To compound my joy at discovering this one, the sub in the finished shot is the miniature! Mattes AND miniatures in one go!

Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
matte painting by Alan Maley
(I wrote a retrospective about the film here)


Blade Runner (1982)
Directed by Ridley Scott
matte painting by Rocco Gioffre

Murder Me, Murder You (1983)
Directed by Gary Nelson
matte painting by Mark Sullivan
(note, this TV movie starred Stacy Keach as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and was one of two pilots for the 80s TV show)

V (1983)
Directed by Kenneth Johnson
matte painting by Matthew Yuricich

The Twilight Zone movie (1983)
(from segment 3 "It's A Good Life") Directed by Joe Dante
matte painting by Rocco Gioffre

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
matte painting by Frank Ordaz and Caroleen "Jett" Green (in this case)

Ordaz and Green paint a matte extension to a large scale miniature of the cliff face, which then has Harrison Ford (or, more likely, Vic Armstrong) composited in at a later point.

The Terminator (1984)
Directed by James Cameron
matte painting by Ken Marschall

Fright Night (1985)
Directed by Tom Holland
matte painting by Matthew Yuricich

Top image is the original shot, bottom image is still from film - it was decided after filming to show more of the cityscape

Batman (1989)
Directed by Tim Burton
matte painting by Ray Caple

Backdraft (1991)
Directed by Ron Howard
matte painting by Mark Sullivan

matte painting combined with miniature (the rooftop where the explosions are laid) with an actor composited on top

Cliffhanger (1993)
Directed by Renny Harlin
matte painting by Michelle Moen

Since the shot "pulled back" on Stallone (whose image would be posted in the black rectangle), Moen's matte painting was combined with miniature cliffs to provide depth.  In this shot, Moen works on the painting whilst camera operator Alan Harding gets things set up

There will be more matte paintings posts...

thanks again to http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.co.uk