03/10/19 Today our group had our inductions in the green studio. There we learnt how to use and book out the facilities along with some techniques, terminology and origins of chromakey. Later we had a lecture on the history of VFX which added some much more in depth context to our greenscreen work.
A pioneer in visual effects was the French illusionist and film maker George Mellies. George Mellies was known throughout his life as a professional stage magician, and being a magician myself, George Mellies is someone who greatly interests me. He created the double exposure, which is a technique that paved the way in visual effects.
One thing we spoke about in the green screen studio while talking about the origin of chromakey was matte painting. Matte painting is something that has always fascinated me because of the technical skill involved with achieving the illusion.
On the topic of Matte painting, something that has always stuck in my mind is the work of Michael Pangrazio. He worked on the original Star Wars films, Indiana Jones films, and many other blockbusters. His amazingly convincing backgrounds demonstrate how effective the simple technique of matte painting was.
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