Page 45 - Star Wars Insider #176

MATTE PAINTINGS

wall and chasm adjacent to the some 70 composites in total—
elevators that Luke, Han, and that required the formation of
ORIGINAL TRILOGY MATTE ARTISTS
Chewie take to the Death Star’s a dedicated matte department
detention level, McQuarrie had within ILM. Ellenshaw returned Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
Matte Artist P.S. [Harrison] Ellenshaw
to work out the right view for the to head the department, and was
Planet and Satellite Artist Ralph McQuarrie
painting. This was combined with again joined by McQuarrie, who
the live-action photography using painted roughly half of the fi lm’s Star Wars: Episode V The Empire
Strikes Back
the “bi-pack method.” mattes. The department also
Matte Painting Supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw
In the bi-pack process, added painter Michael Pangrazio, Matte Artists: Ralph McQuarrie, Michael Pangrazio
two strips of film were made photographer Neil Krepela, and Matte Photography Neil Krepela

Additional Matte Photography Michael Lawler
to run through the camera photography assistant Craig
Matte Photography Assistants Craig Barron,
simultaneously. The previously Barron to its team. Robert Elswit
exposed and processed fi lm with “There’s an area of overlap Matte Photography Consultant Stanley Sayer, BSC
the live-action plate was placed in between the matte department
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
front of an unexposed negative. and the model department that Matte Painting Supervisor Michael Pangrazio
When the two strips of fi lm ran I tended to gravitate towards,” Matte Painting Artists Chris Evans, Frank Ordaz

through the camera, which was reflects Huston, who again worked Matte Photography Neil Krepela, Craig Barron
Matte Photography Consultant Stanley Sayer, BSC
aimed at the matte painting, the as a model maker and an assistant
live-action footage and the matte on the stage camera for Empire.
PREQUEL TRILOGY MATTE ARTISTS
painting would be combined onto “Don Dow was the cameraman
the raw negative. The benefi t I was assisting, and he would turn Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
of this method was that the the matte painting work that Digital Matte Artists Ronn Brown, Brian Flora,
Caroleen Green, Jonathan Harb, Paul Huston, Bill
matte element on the resulting came to him over to me. I had an
Mather, Rick Rische, Mark Sullivan, Yusei Uesugi,
composite was fi rst-generation, understanding of 2D, so it was Wei Zheng
Additional Matte Paintings Bill George
“For other scenes live-action elements Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
Digital Matte Sequence Supervisors Yusei
were combined with matte paintings Uesugi, Paul Huston, Jonathan Harb
Digital Matte Artists Jett Green, Kent Matheson,
through front or rear projection...” Mathieu Raynault, Masahiko Tani, Susumu
Yukuhiro, Toshiyuki Maeda, Brett Northcutt, Mark
Sullivan, Simon Wicker, Wei Zheng
Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
rather than being a secondhand pretty easy for me to do matte Digital Matte Supervisor Jonathan Harb
duplicate, which would have camera tricks, like moving multi- Lead Digital Matte Artists Yanick Dusseault, Brett
increased contrast and grain. plane shots in the Cloud City Northcutt
Digital Matte Artists Richard Bluff, Vanessa Cheung,
For other scenes, live-action sequence. I also helped Craig and
Jeremy Cook, Max Dennison, Bryant Griffi n, Christian
elements were combined with Mike with building miniatures Haley, Giles Hancock, Benjamin Huber, Paul Huston,
matte paintings through front they could use for reference. Toshiyuki Maeda, Steve Matson, Yvonne Muinde,
Martin Murphy, Joshua Ong, Kevin Page, Benoit
or rear projection, and in I could get them something that
Pelchat, David Shirk, Chris Stoski, Masahiko Tani,
some instances, matte shots would work pretty quickly, and Johan Thorngren, Yusei Uesugi, Simon Wicker, Barry
required an optical printer to I think they appreciated that.” Williams, Susumu Yukuhiro, Wei Zheng
be completed. For the Massassi The Empire matte department
Temple exterior—seen after the frequently employed front
Millennium Falcon lands on projection, in which a matte
Yavin 4—the live-action plate was painting was made on glass, with latter, the live-action plate
shot at Cardington Studios in a blank space where the live- was projected onto a piece
England, the foreground foliage action element would be added. of rear-screen material from

was photographed separately Reflective Scotchlite material was behind the glass painting.
in front of bluescreen, and the placed behind this blank area to And once again, certain shots
matte painting was created by create a mirror. The live-action were completed in the optical
Ellenshaw at ILM. The elements plate would then be projected department, which is also
were then assembled in the through a beam splitter—a half- where most of the complex
optical department. silvered mirror at a 45-degree shots were fi nalized.
angle that would refl ect the In deciding which technique
Through A Glass, Brightly projected image toward the to use, Ellenshaw and his team
While making The Empire Strikes Scotchlite area of the painting. would weigh the needs of the
Back, the art team made more During the process the crew particular shot against the
extensive use of matte paintings also made use of bi-packing as strengths and weaknesses of
than they did in A New Hope— well as rear-projection. For the each method. While bi-packing

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