Traveling Matte Techniques - Essay Example

Traveling Matte Techniques Visual effects are created with the help of photographic or digital technology, typically in post-production. Particularly Photographic effects symbolize the effects come as result of photographic processes. The example is Traveling Matte. Matte is an image applied to define or control the clearness of a different image and the matte which changes opposite to a still matte is called the process or technique of traveling matte. Matte refers to the process of masking either part of the camera lens for the duration of filming or part of the aperture in the printer. Traveling mattes modify figure from frame to frame in order to correspond to the movement of the picture or a subject within the picture. Matte effects are typically designed digitally. For using special effects in filmmaking and photography, mattes are applied to make an image by combining two and more images. In film industry, mattes are typically applied for mixing a foreground image. For example characters of the film on a set with a background image are seen as a single image. If an actor is seen jumping from a plane, matte is the background painting, showings clouds, mountains, etc. In filmmaking the use of SPFX or SFX is common. These techniques are used for giving special effects to images. The principle of a matte needs covering some areas of the film mixing to control by selection the areas which needed to be exposed. In the process, a lot of separate images are used to make a complex special-effect scene. (Benedetti 1-7) In a simple definition, traveling matte techniques refer to mixing of moving images in filmmaking. The background pictures are characteristically hand-painted or a digitally designed images characterizing make-believe sites. Different images are classically mixed based upon a lot of traveling matte images. The traditional filmmaking procedures begins by filming an actor or a model as a foreground subjects in front of an squarely lit pure blue or green screen, which will be removed afterward in post-production. Filmmakers use blue or green since they are slightest likely to be color components of the foreground subjects and consequently will not leave holes in them when that color is detached. (Harrison 3-5) Most popular traveling matte techniques comprise the use of blue screens or green screens. These techniques are used to describe and outline areas in matte images that define foreground or background images. Matte removal procedure classically comprises attempting to decide which sites on each image stand for the foreground and which site stand for the background. The difficult task in the procedure is to determine the boundary between the images of foreground and background. On the basis of a matte image, foreground and background pictures are mixed to make a composite image. In different filmmaking procedures, the foreground picture and the background picture are made by mixing the matte with the developed film or mixing it with the background image. The procedure of blue or green screen matting is very time consuming. After shooting of a scene, the exposed film is developed. It cannot be seen before the process. Traditional matte extraction procedures are carried out by complicated software and hardware from pictures on the developed film. The procedure takes place off-line, and in post-production immediately after shooting of the scene. If any problem is found with blue or green screen backgrounds, it is difficult to shot it again. Fixing various problems with spill is also a problem of the procedure, for which hair or other types of fluffy material, fine structures and reflective surfaces of foreground objects are important. The procedure of blue or green screen matting restricts selection of colors in filming of a scene. This process also creates some problem as it depends upon a cleaning procedure that filters out a variety of colors in the blue area of the range or and a variety of colors in the green area of the range. Another difficulty with giving large parts of the spectrum for blue or green screens contains that the directors should be certain that the foreground actors, or sets do not contain any colors inside this blue and green areas of the spectrum. The differences of color types can be envisaged because different colors of fabrics and materials become visible different in color when blue or green frequencies of light are suppressed in the procedure. Applying sodium screen process is another part of traveling matte techniques. The process operated in substantially. The filtered light inside the sodium area of light is recorded on top of black and white film stock that is utilized to characterize the initial matte. (Goulekas 5-9) Traveling matte techniques permit users to merged foreground subject along with one or more independently recorded background pictures with any problem, with improved quality, and cheap costs. In many pictures, the matte is evidenced as an alpha channel in a High Definition Digital Camera by means of a filter that passes on wavelengths of light mainly made by low-pressure sodium vapor lighting source. In conclusion, traveling mattes techniques portray a group of characters outside a store, with an immense city and sky visible above the roof top of the store. The traveling mattes techniques will change the two images, characters on the set and the image of the city, into a one combine moving image by the process of mixing. Although the traveling matte process is a very difficult task to accomplish, it provides great freedom of composition and movement. Works Cited Benedetti, Robert, Michael Brown, Bernie Laramie, and Patrick Williams. Creative Post production: Editing, Sound, Visual Effects, and Music for Film and Video. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2004. Goulekas, Karen E. Visual Effects in a Digital World. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2000. Harrison, Harriet W., comp. & ed. The FIAF Cataloguing Rules for Film Archives. Munich, Germany: K. G. Saur Verlag, 1991 Read More