MATTE PAINTINGS....Creating fictional environments

Taking the analysis further and using as a starting point the study of the flatness in Japanese animation and my first attempt to create a moviescape through the use of flat paper silhouettes(see post "My first moviescape experiment") , I have decided to look at matte painting techniques and the use of this media in the history of cinema.

I have gathered together some information about the history of this media and how nowadays the industry is creating and using these techniques.

I have then focused on the analysis of the work of some of the most talented artists and designers in the field of matte paintings. 

Going through this research made me understand deeper how the role of spatial designers fits into the movie industry and how the discipline of spatial design is fundamental to create successful and striking fictional environments. 

DYLAN COLE

 

BLADE RUNNER, THE INSIDE STORY

 
During the Easter Break I had the change to read this book about the making of Blade Runner. 
The publication takes the reader behind the scene of Blade Runner and reveals all the techniques, drawings, sketches, 3D models and matte paintings used to create Blade Runner Environments.

METROPORISU ....Studying the use of flat images in movie sets

I was interested in studying how Japanese animation movies use flatness in the construction of the cinematic environment. 

Metroporisu is the Japanese Anime adaptation from the original movie Metropolis by Fritz Lang.

Metropolis is a futuristic city where humans and robots coexist uneasily. Robots are heavily discriminated  and segregated into the city's lowest level. 

Much of the city's human population is unemployed and very poor; many blame the robots for taking their jobs.

What it is really interesting and fascinating in the movie is the design of the structure of the city (spread through different levels) and the use of flat images to create the effect of a real 3D space.

What really interested me, and I would like to take into my project, is how the cinematic experience can transform a flat 2D image into a tangible and complex space. 

Here below there are some of the most significant images related to the movie environment and set.

NEXT STEP...

During these last weeks through books, movies and thinking I have almost set the direction I want to take for this unit, and I definitely want my final outcome to be a scaled model(as I have showed in the previous posts) to be used in the realization of my final movie.

In defining this I now know which technical and practical skills I have to pursue and gain by the end of the project and I have listed a series of things which are paramount for the realization of the project.

1) Study the techniques of matte painting and possible apply one on the background

2)Study and define the right proportions for the model and its components

3)Study of prospective rules to be applied to the entire set

4)Right choice of material for the different components of the model

5)Grammar of the shot to be used while filming (experimenting with light and shooting)

SKETCH MOVIE

I made this little and really rough "sketch movie" to start suggesting the story and the possible scenario of my final movie.

The movie has been done in a really short time and it doesn't need to be considered as a final outcome but more as an experimentation and progress of my developing project.

The movie starts with the scene of the elevator opening on the foggy sky of London, immediately suggesting the idea of a city enclosed into a machine.
The scene is then shift into what symbolically represents the clinical environment where the Architectural Nanobots are under experimentation, showing the architectural mechanical reproduction made possible by the nanobots.
The second part of the movie wants to represent the spreading of the nanobots through the smoke and the new landscape of the city, where gigantic dystopic buildings have taken over the city of London and they are now highly imposing their presence.     

LONDON AT THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION

MY FIRST MOVIESCAPE EXPERIMENT

Following as much as possible the references and techniques mentioned in the previous post  my aim is now to design and create the model for my moviescape.

The photographs show my first attempt although it is not very successful yet.

During the Easter break I will have time to refine and better study the technical depiction in order to construct a realistic and properly made final outcome.

BUILDING MOVIESCAPES

 

 This book gives a very interesting inside view into the techniques and skills applied in the making of some of the most iconic movies in Hollywood history.

The part I have enjoyed and analyzed the most is the chapter related to Blade Runner.

Another interesting reference is the website of DOUGLAS TRUMBULL a famous American film director and special effects supervisor, who was in charge of the whole model shop during the making of Blade Runner.

The link (http://douglastrumbull.com/key-fx-sequences-blade-runner-hades-landscape)  is connected to the video where Douglas Trumbull himself explains the techniques used to create certain moviescapes into the movie.

The three video below are a short-documentary on special effects used in small artificial spaces and model to create a natural and real effect while shooting.

OPTICAL PRINTING

MATTE PAINTING

ROTOSCOPING

DEFYINING THE STORY

Try to imagine London in a hypothetical-imaginary future where Nanotechnology and Machines  are so advanced that a bunch of scientists are studying and testing Architectural Nanobots able to build architectural components in one thousand seconds.

But according to Murphy's law "Anything that can go wrong, will." and an Earthquake strikes London during this experiment releasing the architectural Nanobots from the artificial lab.

The Nanobots continues to do what they are programmed to do but this time they use London as their ground and a massive mechanical architectural reproduction of the city takes place...

SOME RESEARCH ON NANOTECHNOLOGY AND THE THEORY OF "GREY GOO" 

Nanotechnology is defined as the science which deals with matter on atomic or molecular scale and with the developments of robots and devices of that size.

Within this field in 1986 the nanotechnology pioneer Eric Dexler in his book "Engines of Creation" introduced for the first time the theory of a possible "Grey Goo".

The word refers to a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario in which self-replicating out-of-control nanobots consume all matter on earth while building just replications of themselves.

The passage below is extracted from the book and explains a simple concept behind nanotechnology functions.

"imagine such a replicator floating in a bottle of chemicals, making copies of itself…the first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds, the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four, and the eight build another eight. At the end of ten hours, there are not thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion. In less than a day, they would weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets combined — if the bottle of chemicals hadn't run dry long before." 

Pixels from OldGen on Vimeo.