Matte World Digital

Last updated
Matte World Digital
Founded1988
Headquarters
Novato, California
,
United States
Services Visual effects

Matte World Digital was a visual effects company based in Novato, California that specialized in realistic matte painting effects and digital environments for feature films, television, electronic games and IMAX large-format productions. [1] The company closed in 2012 after 24 years of service in the entertainment industry.

Contents

History

The company, initially called Matte World, was co-founded in 1988 by visual effects supervisor Craig Barron, matte painter Michael Pangrazio, [2] and producer Krystyna Demkowicz. Barron and Pangrazio had worked together at Industrial Light & Magic, starting in 1979, when they helped create the matte-effects shots for George Lucas' The Empire Strikes Back . [3] Barron and Pangrazio continued to work with the crew at ILM on notable matte-painting scenes in several classic features including Raiders of the Lost Ark , [4] and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Barron left ILM in 1988 after serving four years as supervisor of photography in the company’s matte department. [5]

The Matte World team formed to provide realistic matte-painting effects for film and television. In 1992, the company was renamed Matte World Digital, reflecting the new technological tools available to matte painters. Since then, MWD has created digital-matte environments for films directed by (among others) Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, and David Fincher. [6]

After working on shots for more than 100 films, Matte World Digital closed its shop in August, 2012. [7] [8]

Digital innovations

MWD was the first visual-effects company to apply radiosity rendering to film in Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995). Recreating the 1970s-era Las Vegas strip was made possible by simulating the indirect bounce-light effect of millions of neon lights. Radiosity rendering allowed for the first true simulation of bounce-light in a computer-generated environment. [9]

For David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , one of MWD’s challenges was to create 29 digital matte paintings of a New Orleans train station and its various looks throughout time: new, run-down, and remodeled. To accomplish all these scenes from one 3D model, the company used Next Limit’s Maxwell rendering software—an architectural visualization tool—revamping the software to accurately mimic real-world lighting. [10]

When Fincher requested a low-altitude helicopter shot over Paris, Barron took digital reference photos from a helicopter flying over the city at a higher altitude (as required since 9/11). Then the team at MWD used a flight simulator to determine aerial views at a lower height. Once the height and angles were worked out on the simulator and approved by Fincher, a high-resolution CG model was built for a completely computer-generated flight shot. [11]

Awards

Craig Barron won the 2009 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and BAFTA Awards for achievement in visual effects for MWD's work in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. [12] [13] He was also nominated for achievement in visual effects by the Academy and BAFTA for shots created at MWD for Batman Returns (1992) and The Truman Show (1998). [14] Barron, along with MWD team members, Michael Pangrazio, Charlie Mullin and Bill Mather, won an Emmy for outstanding visual effects for By Dawn's Early Light in 1990. [15]

Matte World Digital is listed 76th in Animation Career Review's "Top 100 Most Influential Animation Studios of All-Time." [16]

Selected filmography

Related Research Articles

Special effect Illusions or tricks to change appearance

Special effects are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world.

Industrial Light & Magic American visual effects studio

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when Lucas began production of the film Star Wars.

Visual effects is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live action footage and other live action footage or CGI elements to create realistic imagery is called VFX.

Matte painting Painted representation of a location to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location

A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques to combine a matte-painted image with live-action footage (compositing). At its best, depending on the skill levels of the artists and technicians, the effect is "seamless" and creates environments that would otherwise be impossible or expensive to film. In the scenes the painting part is static and movements are integrated on it.

Cinefex launched in 1980, was a bimonthly journal covering visual effects in films. Each issue featured lengthy, detailed articles that described the creative and technical processes behind current films, the information drawn from interviews with the effects artists and technicians involved. Each issue also featured many behind-the-scenes photographs illustrating the progression of visual effects shots – from previsualization to final – as well as the execution of miniatures, pyrotechnics, makeup and other related effects.

A digital matte artist, or digital matte painter (DMP), is today's modern form of a traditional matte painter in the entertainment industry. They digitally paint photo-realistic interior and exterior environments that could not have been otherwise created or visited.

Mattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image with a background image. In this case, the matte is the background painting. In film and stage, mattes can be physically huge sections of painted canvas, portraying large scenic expanses of landscapes.

James Danforth, is an American stop-motion animator, known for model-animation, matte painting, and for his work on When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), a theme-sequel to Ray Harryhausen's One Million Years B.C. (1967). He later went on to work with Ray Harryhausen on the film Clash of the Titans (1981) to mainly do the animation of the winged-horse Pegasus.

MWD may refer to:

<i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i> (film) 2008 film by David Fincher

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy romantic drama film directed by David Fincher. The storyline by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse and Cate Blanchett as the love interest throughout his life. The film also stars Taraji P. Henson, Mahershala Ali, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, and Tilda Swinton.

Norman Dawn

Norman O. Dawn was an early American film director. He made several improvements on the matte shot to apply it to motion picture, and was the first director to use rear projection in film production.

Curious Pictures was an American animation studio and multi-media company set in New York City and Los Angeles that created and produced television programs, commercials, animation and video games. The company is known for its flagship work such as the preschool television series A Little Curious for HBO. Other well-known works include Sheep in the Big City and Codename: Kids Next Door for Cartoon Network.

William Samuel Cook "Peter" Ellenshaw was an English matte designer and special effects creator who worked on many Disney features. Born in London, he moved to America in 1953.

Craig Barron American visual effects artist

Craig Barron is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus, a Los Angeles media company that produces augmented and virtual-reality experiences.

Christopher Leith Evans is an American artist, digital matte painter and visual effects art director for major motion pictures. Evans' paintings are characterized by a highly realistic representation of landscape, architecture, and the human figure.

Mathieu Raynault is a Canadian digital matte painter, concept artist, and VFX art director. He has been producing matte paintings and illustrations for over 15 years. He is well known for his contributions on film productions like The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix series, Terminator Salvation, The Golden Compass, King Kong, Gangs of New York, and Star Wars saga; as well as many video games and print advertising projects.

Michael Pangrazio is an American art director in the feature film industry best known for his matte painting work on Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back. As traditional and digital matte artist, he created some of the most famous matte paintings in movie history. His best known painting is the Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse interior set-extension at the end of the movie.

Eric Barba is a visual effects supervisor for television, film, and commercial advertising.

Steve Preeg is an American Academy Award-winning special effects artist.

Mark Cotta Vaz is an American author, editor and film historian. He has authored over thirty books, including four New York Times bestsellers. He has focused on documenting film special effects and other behind-the-scenes aspects of visual presentation. He has written about these aspects for both Star Wars and Star Trek. He has produced a number of movie companion books, such as those for The Spirit, Beautiful Creatures and four for the Twilight series. Publishers Weekly said about his biography of Merian C. Cooper: The charismatic Cooper, "a man living his own movie," is no longer an obscure, remote figure, thanks to Vaz's exhaustive research and skillful writing.

References

  1. ↑ Matte World Digital | Company Information Archived 2008-12-26 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Cotta Vaz, Mark and Barron, Craig, The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting Chronicle Books, 2002; p. 212 ISBN   0-8118-4515-X
  3. ↑ Cotta Vaz and Barron, p. 197
  4. ↑ Rickitt, Richard, Special Effects: The History and Technique Billboard Books; 2nd edition, 2007; pp. 202-203 ISBN   0-8230-8408-6
  5. ↑ Biography for Craig Barron at IMDb
  6. ↑ Robertson, Barbara (March 15, 2007) "Memories of Murder: VFX for Zodiac | Recreating 1970s San Francisco for Director David Fincher" Archived 2008-06-22 at the Wayback Machine , Studio Daily
  7. ↑ Failes, Ian (August 27th, 2012) "End of an era: Matte World Digital and Fuel" FX Guide
  8. ↑ Matte World Digital Farwell
  9. ↑ Rickitt, Richard, p. 209
  10. ↑ Duncan, Jody (January, 2009) "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Cinefex, No. 116, pgs. 94-96
  11. ↑ Duncan, Jody, pgs. 97-98
  12. ↑ The Official Academy Awards Database Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ British Academy of Film and Television Awards - Film Winners in 2009 Archived 2009-01-17 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Academy Awards Database
  15. ↑ Cotta Vaz and Barron, p. 213
  16. ↑ Fronczak, Tom, (February 16, 2012) Animation Career Review "Top 100 Most Influential Animation Studios of All-Time"

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.