A few years ago the editors of Shadowlocked asked me to compile a list of what was initially to be, the ten greatest movie matte paintings of all time. A mere ten selections was too slim by a long shot, so my list stretched considerably to twenty, then thirty and finally a nice round fifty entries. Even with that number I found it wasn’t easy to narrow down a suitably wide ranging showcase of motion picture matte art that best represented the artform. So with that in mind, and due to the surprising popularity of that 2012 Shadowlocked list (which is well worth a visit, here Ed), I’ve assembled a further fifty wonderful examples of this vast, vital and more extensively utilised than you’d imagine – though now sadly ‘dead and buried’ – movie magic.
It would of course be so easy to simply concentrate on the well known, iconic,...
It would of course be so easy to simply concentrate on the well known, iconic,...
- 12/28/2015
- Shadowlocked
Cannes, which has announced its 2012 line-up, has some serious competition. As Tribeca begins and ahead of Sundance London, our critics examine the big hitters on the film festival circuit
It has been a quiet few months on the film festival front. The last two biggies, Sundance and Berlin, were back in the depths of winter; but now things are suddenly getting interesting. Tribeca, the New York trendoid-magnet, has just started, and Cannes, the swanky Cote d'Azur schmoozathon, has reared its finely contoured head on the horizon. The UK is even getting in on the action, with the much-anticipated arrival next week of Sundance London, an offshoot of Robert Redford's indie-maven event in Park City, Utah.
Sundance London is an example of that industry buzzword "diffusion", whereby name events set up franchises overseas. Tribeca has been doing it since 2009 in Qatar, co-organising the Doha film festival. It's a byproduct of...
It has been a quiet few months on the film festival front. The last two biggies, Sundance and Berlin, were back in the depths of winter; but now things are suddenly getting interesting. Tribeca, the New York trendoid-magnet, has just started, and Cannes, the swanky Cote d'Azur schmoozathon, has reared its finely contoured head on the horizon. The UK is even getting in on the action, with the much-anticipated arrival next week of Sundance London, an offshoot of Robert Redford's indie-maven event in Park City, Utah.
Sundance London is an example of that industry buzzword "diffusion", whereby name events set up franchises overseas. Tribeca has been doing it since 2009 in Qatar, co-organising the Doha film festival. It's a byproduct of...
- 4/19/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw, Henry Barnes, Catherine Shoard, Andrew Pulver, Wim Wenders
- The Guardian - Film News
Another great documentary has gone online from visual effects supervisor Dennis Lowe (Alien, Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer). Lowe has become a prolific and valuable documentarian of visual effects history, starting out with his Alien documentaries a couple of years back, and recently looking into the life and work of matte painter Leigh Took (Clash of the Titans, Batman, Neverending Story II, The Da Vinci Code).
Now Lowe has turned his attention to one of the founding fathers of visual effects photography, the fine-artist-turned-matte-painter Percy Day O.B.E.
Day stumbled across the technique of 'original negative matte painting' when working as a matte artist in France for the production of Au Bonheur Des Dames (1931). Up until this point, matte painting was a very public spectacle, with the artist working live on location to add dimensions to a set by depicting scenes on glass, which would...
Now Lowe has turned his attention to one of the founding fathers of visual effects photography, the fine-artist-turned-matte-painter Percy Day O.B.E.
Day stumbled across the technique of 'original negative matte painting' when working as a matte artist in France for the production of Au Bonheur Des Dames (1931). Up until this point, matte painting was a very public spectacle, with the artist working live on location to add dimensions to a set by depicting scenes on glass, which would...
- 12/13/2010
- Shadowlocked
Dennis Lowe, visual effects worker on Alien and visual effects supervisor on a string of huge Hollywood films, has made yet another fascinating documentary in the wake of his amazing Alien documentaries. This time Lowe focuses on the painstaking art of matte painting, in the form of a look back at the work of esteemed Pinewood Studios matte artist Leigh Took (Clash of the Titans, Batman, Neverending Story II, Da Vinci Code), who also incorporates miniatures and...anything else that gets the job done into his extraordinary work. It's a great look at visual effects before and beyond the 'push-button' age, and you can watch the entire 72-minute doc right here or head over to Dennis's site at the link below...
Dennis Lowe...
Dennis Lowe...
- 11/1/2010
- Shadowlocked
Peter Bradshaw rounds up the pick of the crop at Cannes
This year's Cannes will begin and end in ways to make us meditate on the themes of property and theft. Ridley Scott's new Robin Hood film will launch the festival with what we all hope will be a beefy and resounding twang; the closing film will be Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2.
Both are out of competition, emphasising the Cannes habit of showcasing Hollywood movies in this relaxingly non-judgmental way. Glitzy American pictures will bring in the star-names and red-carpet glamour, but my first recognition has to go Stephen Frears's Tamara Drewe based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds.
Mike Leigh is a great British auteur and former Palme D'Or winner, back with a new ensemble drama, Another Year, starring Lesley Manville and Jim Broadbent. Leigh's relationship with Cannes has been chequered. The festival famously...
This year's Cannes will begin and end in ways to make us meditate on the themes of property and theft. Ridley Scott's new Robin Hood film will launch the festival with what we all hope will be a beefy and resounding twang; the closing film will be Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2.
Both are out of competition, emphasising the Cannes habit of showcasing Hollywood movies in this relaxingly non-judgmental way. Glitzy American pictures will bring in the star-names and red-carpet glamour, but my first recognition has to go Stephen Frears's Tamara Drewe based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds.
Mike Leigh is a great British auteur and former Palme D'Or winner, back with a new ensemble drama, Another Year, starring Lesley Manville and Jim Broadbent. Leigh's relationship with Cannes has been chequered. The festival famously...
- 4/15/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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