subject: Tips On How To Make A Specific Effect With A Matte Box [print this page] Okay, we're not speaking state-of-the-art CGI, here, but from time to time you just wish to take your student film up a notch. Here's a down and dirty way to add that alien ship or fancy castle to the background of one's low budget masterpiece, without the spending budget busting use of an optical printer.
The fundamentals in the in-camera matte are as follows. 1st you will cover up half of the lens and shoot footage only with the open half of your frame--thereby exposing only half of the film. Then, altering the matte to cover the opposite half of your lens, you will re-run exactly the same footage via the camera, thereby exposing the remaining half of the film, although safeguarding the footage you've currently shot.
Preparation is absolutely crucial for this trick to work, but when it does, it may prove to be relatively impressive. For this short article, we'll shoot a crowd of bystanders looking up at a UFO hovering overhead. This can use a straight-line matte, which can be the least risky, although once you get the hang of it, you could understand to make trickier matte lines.
Directions
The first thing you are going to need to do is draw out precisely how you want your shot to look. Lay out a storyboard or sketch of where the crowd is going to be, and exactly where the UFO will likely be. Draw a line among them, which is your matte line. Anything below the line are going to be shot reside action, anything above the line will likely be shot as a miniature later.
Scout your location carefully. Remember that something above your imaginary matte line are going to be lost any time you shoot your UFO, so trees, telephone poles, or something else that will suddenly disappear halfway up the screen can be a no-no. Come across oneself a good uncomplicated place with a large amount of open sky. It helps when you can setup the miniature portion of your shoot incredibly close to the live action portion with the shoot, as you will want move the camera as minimally as possible--without removing the matte box, or perhaps bumping it also difficult.
After you have located your location, setup your camera and attach the matte box for the lens. Tape the acetate over the end of your matte box and meticulously trace the outside corners in the matte box onto the acetate together with the sharpie. Next, draw your matte line across the center with the acetate.
Frame your shot together with the acetate--and black line--still on the matte box. The black line will provide you with a reference for where your matte line will fall any time you shoot. Be certain to frame the crowd, including any pointing arms or tall objects, beneath your matte line or they'll be lost if you shoot your UFO footage. Lock off your camera and remove the acetate.
Use the matte box edge that you have traced onto the acetate as a guide, and cut the black card stock to fit the end of the matte box, as though you may cover it entirely. Then go back and cut your black card into two pieces, utilizing the matte line you have drawn on the acetate.
Take the top piece of black card and tape it to ensure that it covers the best half of your shot, leaving only the bottom in the frame exposed.
Starting at the beginning of your roll of film (for simplicity), shoot your crowd scene. It's important to make sure there are actually no lights pointed back at the camera, or vibrant spots that might flare or make a light blur along the edge with the matte. Also, use a medium to wide fixed lens (not a zoom) at a length that doesn't place the matte line out of focus. Take cautious notes on the beginning and ending footage numbers of every single great take.
In a dark room if possible--otherwise, using the lens totally covered--rewind your film inside the camera to the starting position, re-threading it in case you ought to. Should you don't have a reversible motor on your camera, you will must manually rewind the film by hand within a pitch black room or altering bag. Applying a 100 foot daylight spool can make this aspect a great deal a lot easier in case you do not have a motor. Even though nevertheless within the dark room, advance the camera towards the beginning footage of your take you would like the UFO to appear on.
Prior to you get rid of the top half of your black card out of your matte box, attach the bottom half with the black card to the matte box, taking further care to align it specifically using the top half with the card. After you have taped the bottom matte towards the matte box, it need to absolutely black out the matte box with no overlapping. As soon as you have secured the bottom matte, Carefully take away the best matte, taking care not to move the bottom matte.
Set up your miniature (UFO) sequence for the leading half of your frame, and shoot it, re-running the identical footage by means of the camera, but now exposing only the top rated half in the film. Recall that the same guidelines apply--anything hanging beneath the matte line will disappear under the matte and will not seem on the final film.
