Greetings fellow enthusiasts and fans of the wonderful world of traditional era matte painting and associated special effects trickery. It has indeed been a while (quite a while in fact) since I embarked on yet another one of these gargantuan 'tomes' celebrating traditional era movie magic, and of course acknowledging those often unknown practitioners and artisans that were responsible for such dazzling scenes.Why is this blog post so delayed, I hear you ask? Well, let's just say that the occasionally unjustly maligned, 'free to all' New Zealand public health system was put to the test recently, without delay by yours truly, and thankfully, outcomes all worked out well in the end, by all accounts far better than they could have done. Utmost professionalism of the highest standard all round and more care, expertise and dedication than one could ever wish for.So anyway, here we are, back in the beloved Matte Shot sphere, and fully loaded with a veritable warehouse load of amazing matte shots - many never (and I mean, never) seen before, from a wider than wide variety of motion pictures, across the decades. As is my mission, there are a few well known films, though even those will be illuminating with very rare shots and out-takes. I've got a huge sci-fi classic - one of a long running franchise, though for me this part was by far the best. There's a spectacular old Warner Bros historic western with a staggering number of mattes and some of the boldest and most complicated special photographic effects work for it's day that I've ever seen (and I've seen every-godammed-thing!)We have a beautifully shot MGM silent epic, filled with glass shots; a collection of rare-as-hens-teeth original Pinewood painted mattes from a personal collection; a big budget scope WWII-in-the-Pacific picture; and an assortment of British mattes from a handful of comedy quickies just to round things out. Also, a very rare 'Blast from the Past' piece, and of course another of my 'Hall of Fame' matte shots.Three good reasons why we quite like the artform of matte painting.So, without further a-do, let us climb aboard the bus and begin our journey into the mystical wonderland of pre-CGI and AI true golden era special photographic effects. I positively guarantee there is something here to please everyone, and indeed things heretofore never seen. Please give me your feedback, at least so as I can see someone (hell, anyone) out there is even interested in this Matte Shot endeavour.EnjoyA curiously gothic pastel MGM matte from the Newcombe department, circa 1931 - one of a large collection I hope to present in the near future. **If anyone recognises this, let me know.***This vast and utterly exhaustive post, and all 190 previous blog posts known as 'Matte Shot', were originally created by Peter Cook for nzpetesmatteshot, with all content, layout and text originally published at http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NZ PETE'S HALL OF FAME MATTE SHOT: Part SevenJim Danforth certainly ranks up among one of the greats of special visual effects, with skill and expertise right across the board in all facets of trick work. From stop-motion animation and model work, to matte painting, and all of the intricate photographic methodology required to combine all of these elements, largely as a one man band, Jim (now long retired) was a master. The selected 'Hall of Fame' matte below is from the film NEVER ENDING STORY (1984), while these two stills show Jim at work on TWILIGHT ZONE-THE MOVIE and the western, SHADOW RIDERS.I told Jim that I feels this was his best ever matte, and he was grateful for my sentiment. Jim told me that this NEVER ENDING STORY matte was actually one of the very few he was proud of in his long career. Last I heard, it was in storage at the wonderful film artifacts museum in Berlin, Germany. I visited in 2008 but was disappointed to find that this - and several vintage Whitlock mattes - weren't on display, and were relegated to deep storage in a basement! Talk about a bloody letdown!The final RP composite. The film had a large number of mattes, split between ILM and Danforth. I felt that the ILM ones didn't hold a candle to Jim's five or so shots, which were breathtaking. Jim said he almost always uses rear projected plates when combining his mattes. This was a VistaVision live action plate, shot in Spain by effects supervisor Brian Johnson, while the foreground stream was a different plate filmed by Jim himself in standard 4-perf 35mm and also projected in. Such a wonderful composition and palpable sense of backlight (an effect I particularly love in matte and even non-matte art).When I asked him about the quite remarkable feeling of translucency, Jim told me he took some time to study the way in which light refrcats and reflects around and inside glass forms, then trying to reproduce the phenomena in paint. Jim applied thick glazes to a couple of crystal-like forms, carefully allowing a degree of deliberate transparent distortion so that the rear projected plate of the boy on the horse would 'show through' as he rode by. Brilliant.More close up detail, just for you pathological nerd types who love this sort of stuff. **You know who you are.I conducted a very in depth career interview with Jim, back in 2012, concentrating on his, up until then, largely overlooked, yet quite substantial matte contributions. Up until then all articles centered on Danforth's stop motion films. Click here for that illuminating interview.... you'll kick yourself later if you don't!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A BLAST FROM THE PAST: A look inside the matte painting studio.Now, here folks I've stumbled across an incredibly rare, insightful glimpse into the Paramount matte art studio, 1955, during production of Cecil B. DeMille's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Pictured here is visual effects maestro John P. Fulton (standing) along with matte painter Jan Domela (extreme right) and, quite possibly, Albert Maxwell Simpson (middle). Utterly fascinating as, reported in my previous blog post last October, I've never found a single picture of Simpson - an artist with a very long and busy career - and this may well be him. IMDB list both him (and Domela) as matte artists on this big project, so it's more than likely him. Domela and Simpson worked together a few times on different films. I quizzed Domela's daughter about this photo and she told me she felt her father would have hated this 'set up' publicity shoot, as he very much preferred to paint alone, away from the 'buzz' and 'commotion'. The two final matte shots are shown below.Here is Jan's finished matte, as composited by Irmin Roberts with live action foreground. Additional physical cloud elements and flaming animation has been added atop by optical cinematographer Paul Lerpae and crew. What a wonderful shot.Here's the other matte, most likely by Albert Maxwell Simpson, in a multi-part composite involving cloud-smoke elements and blue screened Yul Brynner on chariot.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SHENANDOAH (1965) - Albert Whitlock's matte department tackles the Civil WarThe great Jimmie Stewart - one of cinema's all time legends - headlined in Universal's Civil War drama SHENANDOAH (1965). A crowd pleaser in its day, and with a good roster of character actors such as George Kennedy, Warren Oates, Doug McClure, Patrick Wayne, Tim McIntyre and a very young Katherine Ross. I do like old time character actors, and, hell, anything with Warren Oates in it will always draw my attention.Albert Whitlock's frequent screen credit as 'Matte Supervisor', which at least was a step up from his odd Hitchcock credits as 'Pictorial Designs' earlier at Universal.Director Andrew McLaglen, between takes with star James Stewart. As mentioned in my THE WAY WEST blog piece, Andrew often worked with Al Whitlock on a number of different films and said that he placed great value in what Whitlock could bring to the screen, and with considerable economic sense.SHENANDOAH has a number of fine matte shots - a factor I well recall when first seeing it on New Zealand tv in the early 70's. Illustrated above is the first Whitlock shot, as seen in these before and after frames. Actually, I think this painting is from the closing scene. The vista appears two or three times in the film, with differently painted skies.A closer view of the location set up, as seen through Ross Hoffman's Mitchell matte camera, prior to the black matte being placed. Note the barren landscape. Whitlock will alter this mundane view considerably with painted extensions, as shown below.From the original Whitlock 35mm show reels, here is the 'uncorrected' composite in full frame 'Academy ratio', prior to the not always friendly theatrical crop-down to 1.85:1 ratio for cinema, and later DVD viewing. Television presentations back in the day usually preserved the 1.33:1 full frame, and 16mm prints at the time were often struck retaining the full image (and often accidentally left in portions never intended to be shown).The final, as exhibited in its cropped 1.85:1 format. Whitlock's painted homestead and ranch as photographed and composited by Roswell Hoffman on original negative. Note the rising smoke element - one of a large library of Universal bare 'smoke' 35mm elements that dated back to the John Fulton, David Horsley and Russell Lawson years and would be repeatedly used over and over on countless films. Bill Taylor told me how he could recognise and identify individual 'smoke' elements from experience, with them being integrated in countless shows.A subtle matte that many didn't spot. The left frame has a stand-in for Jimmie Stewart while Whitlock's crew make final preparations. The right frame is the finished scene.Location plate with stand-in, prior to black matte being placed. **I am most grateful to my friend, Thomas Higginson - foremost Whitlock archivist - for sharing these before and after frames, as well as a surviving Whitlock painting from the film. Tom was mortified that I wished to illustrate these raw frames due to the fading of the old 35mm footage. I did my best to gently adjust the colours for informative purposes. At least they aren't completely 'pink' as is so often the case.The matte line runs just above Jimmie's head, with a flawless 'new landscape' replacing a dull and uncinematic location.Before and after of the army camp and distant landscape.A handful of real tents and extras will be expanded by the artist's brush (see below).A great cost saver in expanding a director's vision.Universal had this old paddle steamer prop boat on the backlot for decades, and it appeared in many old films, even for different studios.A closer view allowing us to appreciate just how intricate Whitlock's extensions will ultimately be for a spectacular establishing shot (below).Final Whitlock shot largely altering the original plate photography on the Universal lake. Note Ross Hoffman's 'rising smoke' elements doubled in. I suspect the fellow standing up on the platform is likely 'painted' as well.The live action photography for what will be a fabulous statement of The Civil War and its consequences once Albert completes his matte.What a sensational painting this is! I've always loved this matte shot, and in particular Al's use of matte demarkation which doesn't at all pass where one might expect. The wagon wheel is partly Albert and even the 'dead horse' is half painted!! Genius!! I think this was the only SHENANDOAH original matte still at Universal when Bill Taylor went through the storerooms and photographed them all for posterity. **Thanks to Tom Higginson for sending me this and others. You're a bloody legend, mate!How to create a slice of American history. Whitlock shows us how...You want detail??? .... NZ Pete's got detail.Yep... the details keep coming. Note the half horse and half wagon wheel. Takes some skill to match-blend this sort of thing convincingly. *Note: Albert did a similarly invisible wagon wheel split-match matte in Disney's incredible DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE in the late 50's... (One of the finest vfx films ever made, and one that should have enjoyed a special effects Oscar, but didn't.....though don't get me started on friggen Oscar injustices).Classic Whitlock cloud hues. Albert only ever put seven or eight pigments on his pallet apparently, and worked up his renderings purely by instinct. He once said he mixed his hues and manipulated his brushes much like a seasoned carpenter whose tools-in-hand were almost a part of his 'being', with everything instinctive from many years of experience.Much destruction in detail. Screw so-called 'digital matte painting' ... who really could appreciate 'digital CG' detailed close ups when compared with beautiful, hand rendered oil painting brush work such as this. A lost artform we should all bow our heads for and mourn the passing of. :(Lots of 'dabs' and 'flicks' of paint sell a matte more than tight academic detail, as Albert found out once he started working alongside Peter Ellenshaw in England around 1952. Another 'master' of the artform.The final scene after all the shooting and mayhem. Jim Danforth told me that when he worked with Whitlock at the time, Al was bothered by one of his SHENANDOAH mattes - even though the film had long been exhibited in cinemas - and pulled out whichever matte it was, and "corrected" whatever he felt he hadn't accomplished to his satisfaction in the first place. Nice story, though Jim can't recall which painting it was so long ago.I attempted a blow-up from one of Whitlock's original 35mm takes as an illustration of his mastery with painting skies. I've forever been enchanted by Albert's cloud renderings in countless pictures, as far back as his 1940's work in Britain.The full frame 'open matte' matte shot as it looks today on the old Universal showreels, albeit considerably faded (though Pete has seen farrrrrrr worse than this, believe me!) Here, we can better appreciate the full extent of Whitlock's marvellous panorama, especially the superbly moody sky, much of which is not visible in the release prints. As a most intriguing illustration, I've loaded up both this final reel scene, with that - below - of the opening reel scene as comparisons. Toggle between the two mattes (both separate paintings) and note the changes and differences in a number of features. The trees on right change shape, as do those behind the house. Subtle bits of window architecture change as well. Worth noting too, that the amazing sky remains completely stationary, without any form of 'cloud drift'. I assume Al had not yet employed his soon to be admired cloud animation technique utilising multiple soft-split screens and bands of horizontal hand cranked movement. It's quite possible Whitlock introduced this around the same time on SHIP OF FOOLS, and to excellent effect.This frame is from the beginning of the film. Note the large tree at left foreground which isn't present in the upper matte, and a number of other changes. I'd put it down to the long narrative time period between these two scenes, while the war was on etc, one could expect trees and so forth to have changed size - or be chopped down? I'd never noticed until Thomas Higginson brought it to my attention.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941) - Custer's last stand & photographic fx galore.The Warner Bros. classic, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941) was not only an epic western, loosely based on the famed Custer's last stand fiasco, but was also a mammoth special visual effects enterprise for the studio, as you shall see. *Interesting to note above middle poster art has supporting actor Anthony Quinn - who played Custer's antagonist - billed first (and mis-spelled to boot) above megastar Errol Flynn!!! Possibly a Mexican daybill poster, as Quinn was, after all, half Mexican... though I digress.Flynn made his name with Warner Bros, and starred in so many memorable pictures. I still reckon Flynn's best one was OBJECTIVE BURMA (1945) - also directed by Raoul Walsh, who happened to helm this General Custer film - and so many other great tough guy Warners movies.Raoul Walsh was a true original. One of the great 'macho' film makers of the golden era. So many gritty shows like THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, HIGH SIERRA, WHITE HEAT, OBJECTIVE BURMA, THE BIG TRAIL - all flicks I love - and even softer stuff like the silent THIEF OF BAGDAD. He also directed another 'punch-in-the-guts' war picture, THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, which features later in this very same blog post. I do try to cover all bases.This film is absolutely packed with matte shots, as well as an incredible array of special photographic effects scenes, the likes of which left me with my jaw on the floor, as was their complexity. This opener is a standard painted matte, enhanced with some actual tree elements bi-packed in to lend it some life.Another angle of Westpoint. Oddly, for a Warner's film, there wasn't any screen credit for 'special effects', whereas they always did through the 1940's. Strange, as this was such a gargantuan effects assignment for the tried and true Stage 5 trick department.A softer composite due to duping when cut into a dissolve, which always screws up resolution.Warners had one of the biggest 'camera effects' departments in Hollywood, and were the envy of many practitioners. Just look at the endless list of WB flicks with truly astounding trick work, all through the 1940's especially. Things like YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, RHAPSODY IN BLUE, THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT, PASSAGE TO MARSEILLES, THE FOUNTAINHEAD, THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN to name but a few absolute stand outs in movie magic.Although uncredited, a glowing review in American Cinematographer was particularly complimentary toward Warner's chief of effects Byron Haskin for the film's great many special photographic effects, and to senior matte artist Paul Detlefsen for the multitude of painted mattes and other complex scenic additions, as you will see.Classic golden era matte work - Washington DC. The 1940's (and 30's) were probably my favourite era for the matte artform. There was a palpable sense of romance to the technique then which gradually got lost as the decades progressed.Frame #1: Now, this is the first of many examples in which I invite the reader to 'toggle' through successive frames to appreciate the way in which the matte has been applied - and some examples are quite bloody mind blowing in sheer boldness! Frame #2: Incredibly, a wholly matte painted sky has been applied to a surprisingly NON-LOCKED OFF shot of live action, with the production camera seemingly completely 'free'. While this may not impress the pimply faced 'Tik-Tok' generation of flaccid CG & AI jockey's, please remember, this bold composite work was done in 1941. The 'registration' between the painting and the live action is quite 'loose', but it worked a treat. The film was full of such shots, each more daring than the last.More examples of painted sky replacements. Note the top two scenes, where flags are partially translucent for a couple of frames as double exposed clouds bleed through. The lower right frame has 'loose' camerawork, which one would expect to drive the matte artist crazy - but it worked.Frame #1: On a first viewing an audience probably never noticed these effects, but with as many times as I've seen THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, I've been utterly baffled with trying to figure out the methods Haskin used to achieve soooo many shots like these. Were they a pre-production design, an on-the-set shooting-in-progress notion, or an entirely post production idea? Mind boggling to say the least. Toggle through these........ please.Frame #2: Again, an entirely painted in sky, and an apparent live action shoot not from any locked off camera!Frame #3: Some studios, such as 20th Century Fox around this era, would do clouds and skies as in camera glass shots, as developed by Charles Clarke in the Fred Sersen dept. Clarke developed a method where a clear area in the lower cloud bank allowed some live action to be photographed at the same time. On certain films, Fox would install huge glass panels with painted skies etc - sometimes two or three at a time - through which traditional panning glass shots were made very successfully. I can't see that method being used on this film as, will be illustrated later, many of the shots were rapid action and extremely long ranged dolly, tilt or moving vehicle shots - impossible do do as a 'glass shot' per se.Frame #4: Some painted cloud is quickly visible through Flynn's upper body - but just a couple of frames.Frame #5: I assume the entire 'cloud' assignment was a deliberate choice to darken the mood of the piece. I'd say the production shoot likely took place against flat, featureless skies on location, and no doubt Raoul Walsh made the decision at some point to completely overhaul the settings, and add forboding atmosphere. And he certainly did, as it plays so damned well.The lovely Olivia DeHavilland in a 'locked off' studio matte shot with Paul Detlefsen's night sky.Two more examples of matted in skies.One of several 'freestyle' pan shots, following the action. The registration between the live and the additional elements isn't completely steady, but then, how could it be in 1941?I cannot get my head around how Haskin's people managed to deliniate, plot and match-move the painted skies so damned successfully. This film has forever been a 'head scratcher'.Classic case here - a 'wild pan' following the horseman, matched up with a similar move across a painted sky!!! None of the scores of shots were done on a printer as an optical pan & scan.... all the work was seemingly 'freestyle'.... somehow.Frame #1: Full frame of same sequence we can see quite loose brush marks in the upper right patch of cloud.Frame #2: Same sequence, with camera following action.Part of same sequence: a wild pan follows rider, with the sky added in.A superb shot with a sky painted in later. The spear and flag briefly have some sleight bleed through of Detlefsen's clouds, but again just for a frame or two. I am perplexed however as to just how much - if any - post production rotoscoping work might have been neccessary for the two Indians and horses to isolate, or alternatively extremely careful soft blending of the matte art into the actual location sky immediately around the actors.I'd say this shot comprised of a matte painted sky almost all the way down to just above the trees, with expert soft blending into the actual sky photographed on the day. It's all so impressive.A standard matte shot with everything beyond the wooden wall being painted in by one of Haskin's artists. The Stage 5 fx department employed some 6 or 7 top matte artists around that time, with Detlefsen as head artist. Others included Chesley Bonestell, Mario Larrinaga, Juan Larrinaga, Hans Batholowsky & Jack Shaw. Oddly, in his book, Byron Haskin never mentions this film among the great many he worked on as either an effects cameraman or as a fully fledged director (such as WAR OF THE WORLDS and the other huge effects show THE NAKED JUNGLE, etc).I cannot recall any film ever with so many painted in sky shots.All that vfx work added much to the feeling of doom, which I think was the purpose.It's a tough technical one to figure out.In his memoir Byron Haskin speaks of his Stage 5 FX stage: "As head of department I expanded it and hired five special effects directors, including Larry Butler, Jack Cosgrove and Roy Davidson. I had eight first cameramen including Edwin DuPar, John Stumeier, Kenneth Peach, Warren Lynch, Robert Burks and Hans Koenekamp - who was the greatest individual trick-man in the business - and the old original, in my book. I had eight of the top matte artists in the business, headed by Paul Detlefsen, the two Larrinaga brothers, Chesley Bonestell - the greatest space artist who ever lived - and a guy named Hans Bartholowsky, who could grab a brush and in ten minutes paint you a hillside full of weeds, which is an art, believe me." Haskin also mentioned his team of matte artists in amusing recollections: "That was one of the weirdest outfits in the department. They all sat around and painted, discussing world affairs. Eight matte artists giving their opinion of the way the world should be run.... it should have been preserved for posterity... Of all the naive, childish intellects I ever ran into!" In that interview, Haskin laughs a lot. All just above the roofline painted in.Even at midnight, the full moon clouds were dramatic.One of my fave shots in the film. They don't make mattes like this anymore. A sincere, almost poetic quality to the composition and rendering.Some foreground set ups completed with much matted set extension beyond.If they remade this today, they's surely upload all the CG mattes to 'The Cloud'. Joke!'Into the valley rode the six-hundred...'Detlefsen and team must sure as hell become sick of painting clouds by the time this job was over!According to Haskin, his effects department employed around 100 staff, rising up to 130 at it's peak, and they were never short of projects and inventive 'go the extra mile' attitude. Haskin said that: "Jack Warner never really knew how many staff were on the FX payroll. If he had, he'd have fired the lot of them".Almost all of these BOOTS ON shots seem near first generation, suggesting a degree of technical expertise of the highest order - and moreso worth appreciating being executed at a time as far back as 1941, no less.On the many viewings of this film I've had several opinions. One was the possible use of red filtration with panchromatic film stock, increasing the contrast of actual skies, as I think was done later on classics like RED RIVER. This scene almost suggests just that, with the very dark 'non cloud' portions. ???Matte shot, I'm sure.Frame #1: Now this sequence is rather interesting. Toggle through these frames and observe.Frame #2: I'd say that this was accomplished by shooting the actors within the 'safe zone' of actual blank and featureless sky, and by introducing the painted sky just at the appropriate 'height' in the same frame, just atop the trumpeter's hat, and with a soft, careful blend. Frame #3: Same scene. Note the registration between the live and the painted.Frame #4: Even the trumpet is 'safely' within the live action plate.Frame #5: Same scene though I've skipped a few frames. Here the soldier's hat and face partially are superimposed with the painted clouds, and all while the POV camera is moving with the guy. Astoundingly brave tech work for it's day, and decades before FX guys were spoiled with motion control, or repeatable systems.Frame #6: As it pans with him, the cloud elements are visible through his face momentarily - but it's barely noticeable. Watch too how the 'sky' shifts in 'registration' a little, which is none surprising as it must have been a son-of-a-bitch to somehow line up these moving elements.Frame #7: I wonder whether Haskin's fx cameraman, Hans Koenekamp might have made high contrast dupes of the live action (filmed in daylight against a flat and blank sky) in order to facilitate later bi-pack combining of live and painted elements at the studio? Frame #8: Just how they managed to match - as best as possible - the elements as one is baffling!The Little Big Horn skies are progressively becoming darker and gloomier - an omen of things to come. Incidentally, DeMille had John Fulton do a similar thing with the 1956 TEN COMMANDMENTS, with a gradually forboding sky in the latter reels of the film, though mostly done with practical smoke gags, matted in later.... though I digress.The finale wouldn't be half as effective without this superb artistic choice. Once again, admire how the doubled in sky shifts to match Errol Flynn as he charges off. All quite remarkable, though I'm sure the CGI crowd will have become bored to death by now and found another blog, or some fucken Tik-Tok crap with a tap dancing poodle or a cat driving a jet fighter!!!!!!!!!Frame #1: Toggle this sequence to see what I'm attempting to explain/illustrate...Frame #2: This sequence was a show stopper for Pete, as far as 'balls-to-the-wall' sheer audacity. The hundreds of cavalry charge, in a lengthy scene photographed from a speeding truck. What struck me is that what almost any visual effects exponent would reject outright and consider an 'unusable shot', is in fact used to the full - and more than once and in different configurations - with an amazingly adept painted sky and cloud bank somehow (how???) match moved and matted in, with corresponding 'pan' applied to the painted sky!!!!!!!Frame #3: The cavalry are mostly within the 'safe zone' of the effects composite, with the painted sky sufficient in placement well above their bobbing heads. The matted sky occasionally slips in it's registration (that is, line up with the live action), though that is likely more the fault of the live action photography as it's all taken from a speeding truck, on uneven ground, and with no such thing as a gyroscopic device to smooth camera judder, as that was decades away. So godammed well done.Frame #4: keep toggling......Frame #5:Frame #6:Frame #7: I hope you are toggling these frames. If not, why not? :(Frame #8: I wonder if all of this complex photographic effects work was planned beforehand or deemed an essential artistic choice during the shoot?Frame #9:Frame #10: Note the sky's progression as the camera dolly and pan continues.Frame #11: Note the jiggle between the two separately photographed elements, but even with this artifact, I'm still blown away.Frame #1: The opposition also take the charge and pile on in. I can't help but feel these Indian sequences should have been flopped to be racing from the other direction toward the Custer mob.Frame #2:Frame #3:Frame #4:Frame #5:Frame #6:Warner's absolutely headed the pack when it came to highly complex and multi-faceted trick work. Most studios kept to a fairly standardised visual effects regime, and aside from the occasional pan and tilt matte gimmicks, and combination shots few were as brave as the Stage 5 team at Warners. Many of those classic 40's Warners shows still to this day leave me in awe of the ingenious design and application of their visuals, with so many I'm unable to 'reverse engineer' and figure out!Multi-part matte shot, with extensive scenic vista and an entire Indian village, combined with what looks like two separate live action placements - the cavalry and the Indian warriors. Matte painting with 'two tribes going to war', as the song went.All poised and ready to fight...Skies actually aren't the easist thing to paint, with realistic clouds quite difficult to produce without looking like cotton balls. Albert Whitlock of course was a master when in came to skies, and his HINDENBURG paintings being sublime.Custer's sabre momentarily goes behind the painted clouds.Three part matte comp, with foreground cavalry matted into scenic vista, and the Indian warriors also an additional element in the distance.The camera pans across the stampede - and matted in cloudscape. Live action all in the safe zone.Apologies to those with very short attention spans.... I do extremely deep dives on these things and try to leave NO stone unturned. Ya' don't like it.....? Then find a different FX blog... one that says it all in 180 characters, or less!John Crouse was Byron Haskin's favourite matte cinematographer, and Hans Koenekamp was, according to Haskin, "the greatest special effects cameraman of them all".Frame #1: I purposely put these multiple frames as, aside from seeing the actual film or disc, it's the only way to convey the technique being discussed.Frame #2Frame #3: Interestingly, future celebrated thriller director, Don Siegel directed several of these action sequences. Don was a longtime 'Montage Director' at Warners, and that was when every film had to have a montage or two in the narrative. Don worked closely with the Stage 5 special effects unit on all of his montages, as all required optical transitions and various tricks.Frame #4: Same sequence. Notice how the camera followed the action, and the painted in sky was 'moved' in concert.....somehow?The flag at left flutters in the breeze and ever so sleightly shows through the painted cloud. I'll say it again... this work is a complete and total mindfuck when it comes to attempting to ratioalise the work and design that must have gone into it. But brother, did it pay off in pure dramatic and cinematic terms.If any real vfx people out there - and I know several do read my blog posts - can offer any, and I do mean ANY opinion or technical knowhow as to how all of these shots were pulled off, then please let Pete know. I can't sleep well at night as this film's trick work keeps nagging at me. Go on, do it for Pete.... please.There may well be 'some' genuine skyscapes in some scenes, I'm not sure, but the sheer bulk of it is manufactured in the studio, of that I'm certain.Comments most welcome from Matte Shot regular readers.THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (and believe me, they really are about to!), must rank as one of the biggest photographic effects pictures, certainly from that era, that was never fully acknowledged nor discussed in terms of its extraordinary visual effects. There is so much from the Golden Era of movie magic that we really may never know.Frame #1: The moment Custer bites the dust. Toggle through these frames and note how the foreground live action footage, which comprises a long 'dolly in' tracking shot and partial 'tilt' has been superimposed with the matte painted cloudy sky, with as much of a 'match-move' as was no doubt able to be achieved for a 1941 picture. Staggering is the word for it and anyone who doesn't agree I hereby challenge to 'pistols at dawn' - a duel to the death! No shit! Frame #2Frame #3: The cloud 'blurs' into the flag a little, but what the hey... it's godammned amazing!Frame #4: Again with the flag, but when seen as a complete sequence nobody noticed, as the drama was so intense, courtesy of Errol and his top-flight director Raoul Walsh, who knew a ton about bringing tension and edge of the seat moments to the silver screen. Trust me.Anthony Quinn has his big moment and shows Errol 'who's really the boss' at Little Big Horn.Breaking the news to Custer's lady-friend, as Paul Detlefsen's evocative sky looms overhead.One of Don Siegel's classic montages bookmark the epic story quite beautifully.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE NAKED AND THE DEAD (1958) - A rugged epic WWII mission in the Pacific.From the controversial novel by Norman Mailer, the big budget WarnerScope war epic THE NAKED AND THE DEAD (1958) was also directed by Raoul Walsh - the same man who made the Errol Flynn film on General Custer, above.A great cast, and very strong performances from the three leads. Also some great character actors in the mix (you know Pete likes character actors), such as James Best and the wonderful L.Q Jones (and if you don't know who the hell L.Q Jones is, then shame on you!) Outstanding production values, with Panama actually standing in for the un-named South Pacific island (maybe Saipan?) and superb wide screen photography by Joseph LaShelle, with the legendary Bernard Herrmann providing the score.Just a few matte shots, but by whom, I don't know. The film had a curious pedigree - an RKO picture, released by Warner Bros, filmed in both 'RKO-Scope' and 'WarnerScope', and release prints struck in 'Warner-Color', so it's anyone's guess? I think RKO had in fact gone out of business around this time (1958), so maybe Warners picked up the negative and finished the project?Some really nice mattes, such as this one as viewed by Japanese as they keep a close watch on Aldo Ray and his marines (very small in frame middle right) as they head toward the mountain. A very powerful film for its day, a typical Raoul Walsh 'take-no-prisoners' kind of deal as far as nasty bastards and a sadist or two. Apparently the novel was quite a page turner, and strong for its day.The climb is not without peril as one or two will discover...A very dramatic perspective matte shot of the crossing the narrow trail. All painted, with just a narrow band of live action on the ledge. Though only readers looking at this on a proper PC screen will see it. Those on some stupid cell-phoney gadget will be, sadly, shit out of luck.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------STAR TREK - THE MOTION PICTURE (1979): To boldly go where no visual effects man has gone before.I was always a fan of the original 60's television series, and in fact now I'm enjoying it all over some sixty years later on my remastered DVD box set. STAR TREK-THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) to me, is by far the best of the movie series by a long shot. The sheer intelligence of the script and masterfully measured direction are true to the lore of Gene Roddenberry's original imagination and intent.A very large visual effects crew, from a number of quite separate effects houses, all spread across the city, contributed to the massive photographic and miniature visuals for STAR TREK. Although only brought in at the end of first unit production, Douglas Trumbull would be signed on as overall supervisor of special photographic effects, replacing the original visual effects supplier (which I will explain later). Pictured here - in a photo taken a few years after TREK on the fx stage for BLADERUNNER - is Doug's long time associate, Richard Yuricich - the younger brother of matte maestro Matthew. Richard would serve as photographic effects producer on TREK, and overall director of effects photography. Richard's FX career went back to shows like THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965) at MGM as rotoscope artist for animated birds doubled into his brother's matte art, and with Trumbull later on Kubrick's 2001, as a matte cinematographer for the moon pit sequence.Richard's older brother Matthew Yuricich also had a strong relationship with Trumbull's EEG organisation, painting mattes on several pictures, though not dating back anywhere near as far as his brothers' connections with Doug. Matthew need little introduction to my Matte Shot readers I'm sure, as I have long covered his illustrious career in many articles, as well as a complete oral history, candidly revealed to me by Matt back in 2012.A look inside the matte photography room at EEG (Entertainment Effects Group) where we can see assistant matte artist Rocco Gioffre (far left) putting some final touches on a sunset rendering of San Francisco, some 300 or so years from now. The shot never made the film unfortunately, and I've not seen it in any of the different 'cuts' of the show. A similar unused 'sunset' matte by Rocco is illustrated later in this article.Another look at the EEG matte stand, with perhaps matte cameraman Don Jarel at right(?)Miniature of the Enterprise, some seven feet in length, being photographed for the memorable 'dry dock' sequence.The film utilised the services of several companies to achieve the visuals. Initially, Paramount engaged Robert Abel & Associates - a somewhat prestige smaller effects house famous for producing glossy, dazzling, attention grabbing television commercials throughout the 70's. Although Abel did produce a few finished visuals for TREK, it became apparent they could not possibly meet the 'set-in-stone' deadline, nor did they have sufficient experience in actual feature film work, as opposed to 60 second tv spots. Reluctantly, Douglas Trumbull was enticed by the studio to take over and subsequently farm out a fair percentage of visual effects work to others. One such company being John Dykstra's Apogee, who, fresh from STAR WARS, proved the perfect collaborator. This opening sequence with the Klingon cruisers was entirely Apogee, though I think the models were built by Magicam - a firm entrusted with practically all of the TREK spacecraft miniatures. Additional model construction was given to Brick Price Movie Miniatures.One of the few 'action' sequences in the film as it really didn't call for 'action' purely for the sake of 'action', and was all the better for it. Apogee was responsible for this sequence.Matthew Yuricich completing a spectacular planetary panorama representing Spock's home planet of Vulcan. For whatever reasons I've never fathomed, director Robert Wise never went with this idea and instead re-designed it (quite badly in my humble opinion) as some weird dark mausoleum! Matthew's brush held at arm's length, adds just the right amount of 'impressionistic' texture, but hell... they felt they knew better and never used it.From the family of Matthew I have this Vulcan landscape, probably photo enlargement with extensive matte painted extensions, which was a common method Matthew had to use at 20th Century Fox back in the day. Interestingly, the 2001 'directors edition' of TREK more-or-less went back to the overall design here, and presented all of the Vulcan scenes in a sunset-hued landscape, although entirely computer generated. As much as I'm not at all a CG fan, the 'directors edition' version of the Spock sequence was far better, and looked really as it should have done all along.The Vulcan planet-scapes as seen in the original theatrical version. I never liked these shots and felt they were completely out of place.Again, this Vulcan stuff really didn't work at all. As much as I strongly dislike 'special editions' where film makers screw around with original footage (George Lucas.... you damned idiot!!), the Robert Wise 2001 re-cut of TREK dumped these shots completely and created infinitely better material. This 1979 shot is all matte art, with steaming lava(?) elements added. Nimoy and co are so small in the frame they are barely visible. Bad overall design.As much as I wish to keep this blog as a purely traditional methodology platform, I'll include this Vulcan establishing shot from the Robert Wise supervised 2001 'directors cut' for comparison. As far as design and narrative necessity goes, it was a vast improvement over the very misguided 'dark' Vulcan scenes shown above. It always should have been in 'daylight', as all of Nimoy's close ups were clearly shot in brilliant sunlight!The original bare bones Vulcan steps and not a lot else, built in the parking lot at Paramount in 1978. I think this area was also used to build a big-assed tank for DeMille's Red Sea vfx on THE TEN COMMANDMENTS back in 1955.From Matthew's archive, here's a matte shot nobody ever spotted, with expanded Vulcan temple and such shown at left and upper right. Interestingly, the scenes were shot in full sunlight and in the Paramount parking lot. The obviously daylight flooded Nimoy in close ups never matched the 'sunless' dank, darkness of those 1979 Vulcan establishing shots.Also from Matthew's family collection is this preliminary establishing concept (rendered by whom?) of the futuristic San Francisco (see below...)The final matte painting by Matthew Yuricich, with blaced out areas for actual water, and, oddly, the foreground superstructure of the Golden Gate Bridge also 'unpainted' for some reason. Love that sky. In studying this matte art I assume this shot at least, must have been painted 'normally', with true-to-the-eye colour pallette, as opposed to the way Trumbull's organisation usually mandated matte art, to be rendered in ghastly, muddy greenish tones, on purpose, to be photographed and composited using intermediate duplicating film stock. Matthew's original paintings done for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, BRAINSTORM and BLADERUNNER all had to be rendered in that fashion to suit Trumbull's choice of composite photography. As much as Matt hated the process, he was quite adept at it, having had experience along similar lines in the latter days at MGM under Clarence Slifer. Matt, from experience, knew how to 'compensate' with that deliberate and limited pallette, with how he instinctively knew the hues would 'turn out' when later cut into the final film. There was no way on God's little green Earth that seasoned practitioners like Albert Whitlock would have stood for that for a minute.The final composite, with shuttle craft in flight matted in.Same scene, though from different regionally coded discs, with noticeable colour/contrast differences. There is supposed to be slot animation of traffic in those bridge 'tube' things, but I never saw any?Close up detail.More to please those of us who dig detailed matte brush work...More showing Yuricich's 'free hand' brush handling. Note, this scene was dropped from the later 'directors edition' and replaced with a longer CG digital sequence, though I liked this one better.A rare snapshot of Matthew, earlier on, sketching in the Golden Gate matte, basing it upon the conceptual painting. The matte recently was passed in at auction as it seems nobody wanted it(!)I've also included this original 35mm clip blow up from Matthew's collection, which really demonstrates his wonderful application of colour and light, in the sky especially, which, regrettably, got sort of 'washed out' in the final dupe composite. Now this one has me baffled. This is Rocco Gioffre at work on what I'd presumed to be another TREK bridge shot, though ultimately unused. I've only just noticed after having the pic all these years that there are motorcars on the bridge(!), so maybe it's not a TREK matte shot at all?? It certainly appears to be an Entertainment Effects Group set up, under Yuricich's supervision, due to the size, shape and markings on the masonite panel. Hmmmmm?Here's another wonderful matte-concept painting from Yuricich's family collection. It's clearly a base photo enlargement of seashore and some cliff, but the rest is all painted, and certainly looks like Matthew's hand. The proposed scene - as part of a quick flyover - was never included in the final cut, but a similar 'digital' thing showed up in the re-issue version. Before this feature was 'green-lit', the studio had fully commissioned a tv movie a couple of years before, that thankfully never materialised or we'd never have this film. Anyway, Matthew was called in to meet and discuss proposed matte work: "At the first conference I was faced with a director and a cameraman who didn't know a thing about mattes, which is not unusual. They asked me to paint a shot of San Francisco overgrown with pine trees, with maybe just the Golden Gate and Transamerica Tower remaining... that was to be their opening shot... like a helicopter shot. Then the director wanted to know, if after I painted it, we could 'fly' around the painted Transamerica building to the other side! I thought they were pulling my leg, but they were entirely serious."Also supplied to me by Matt's son is this wonderful conceptual painted sketch of the SF tram station. I can't make out the signature, but it's not Matthew's.Here's a partially painted-cut and paste mock up of the desired look for the big arrival scene. I note the sunset sky in the distance which looks like the one Rocco had on the camera stand right at the start of this article? Perhaps an evening shot was planned and started?Original plate photography on soundstage. Trumbull called this "...the most complicated composite optical shot in the movie. They built a big floor set on one of the Paramount stages, with phoney columns and supports, and shot all the actors down there from a pre-set angle. Then, since even that wasn't big enough, the cameras were moved over and the action was all staged again, so we could fit that section into another part of the frame."Matthew busy on the air tram station matte painting. I well remember seeing the film on first release in 1979 - and possibly shown in 70mm - at our showcase Cinerama theatre (R.I.P), which had the biggest screen and great 6-track stereo sound, and this shot - among numerous others - blew me away.The air tram station original matte painting, still in the custody of Matt's son, Dana was the first painting finished for TREK. I've always loved this matte, and in particular the sky over the bay. Matthew said that Trumbull hassled him to put in more detail over in the distance - all sorts of stuff - but Matt, being Matt, fought back "you'll never even see any of that!" And he was right. According to Matt: "Doug got a bit carried away adding little lights and things that he doesn't realise don't add to the matte shot. He would get down to within 2-inches of the painting and want little pin pricks of light added across the bay - as if there was a wharf over there or something. Here's this tremendous shot...I had this beautiful ceiling painted in, which Doug washed out by adding more lights and light flares, so all that was gone...everything that made the painting work. And he still worried about these tiny pin pricks of light, which nobody was going to see!" Matthew never took any crap, and frequently battled with 'know-it-all' fresh faced directors and the like, and at one point was even fired by Spielberg on CLOSE ENCOUNTERS for this.... but was later re-hired when Steven knew Matt was right all along.Detail is my 'middle name'...Where else on the cyber-web thing would you find such marvellous matte detail? Seriously?Final composite as seen in the original release version. Doug Trumbull: "There was a big, hanging foreground piece (left) with people in it for scale. The rest is painted, except for the introduction of the air tram which was a model shot. The miniature had to come in and settle down on a track, casting a moving shadow on the wall to make it tie in with the set. That shot turned out to be a nightmare for the optical department, and it took us weeks to perfect it." Matthew shared his version of the story: "The SF tram station incorporated three live action elements and a model, shot with a travelling matte. When they shot the model - it was one of the first things they did - they couldn't get a good matte from it. Perhaps the tracks weren't tied down yet. With so many parts being added to the shot, the elements were always 'shifting'.... the shot just started to fall apart."As much as I try to avoid, this is the re-jigged digital version, done under Robert Wise's instruction for the later re-release cut. I like Matthew's one better, but then, you just knew Pete would say that, didn't you?Before and after of the docking bay scene.The large docking bay matte art by Matthew.Docking bay final comp.Detailed artYes, more of that same matte art. Dig that crazy 'life boats' locker!!!Yuricich detail Top: an early 'blocked in' view of the shuttle bay, and below, the finished shot.Live action plate masked off, and combined with Yuricich's painting, sans the model shuttle element.A large, yet never completed set, augmented by Matthew's painted ceiling, lights and walls.Doug Trumbull lining up the 65mm camera for the so-called 'space office complex' sequence. Trumbull - who passed away quite recently - was one of the great 'thinkers' when it came to conceptualising and designing literally 'out-of-this-world' photographic effects. His catalogue of credits was surprisingly brief, with barely a dozen features to his name, if that, but his unique technical vision was really in a class of its own. The final composite of the above 'space office' sequence. A very large miniature matted against a Yuricich painted Earth.Subsequent sequences have Kirk and Scotty transported from the 'space office' toward the still dry-docked Enterprise, in her latter stages of a big re-fit. Here's a great EEG set up using old school knowhow, which Trumbull would have picked up from Wally Veevers when they worked together on Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968). The small shuttle has an open reverse side, in which pre-shot footage of Shatner and Doohan was rear projected through the open and unseen rear, onto a small process screen just behind the miniature craft's windscreen. An old trick used as far back as KING KONG, and known as 'postage stamp back projection'. Operating the 35mm portable process projector is another up and coming visual effects man, Hoyt Yeatman, who would later on lead a team of highly talented technicians as the boutique fx house, Dream Quest. The fx cameraman here is Alan Harding.Multi-part effects shot. Miniature space station, star field, matte painted Earth, miniature shuttle shot in motion control with projected Kirk & Scotty - filmed in separate passes in 65mm. Many of the same type of scenes in 2001 were executed the exact same way.So many were critical of this lengthy sequence (I was not one of them) - and in fact quite a lot were critical of the film as a whole. The tremendous 'dry dock' reveal simply couldn't have been handled better. A wonderful, gradual reveal of the mighty 'beast' as Kirk & Scotty slowly approach.VFX miniature director of photography Dave Stewart, programs the motion control rig for the incredible 'fly-under' point of view from the shuttle. Dave was another of Trumbull's 'brigade' of trusted experts, having carried out superb UFO model photography previously on CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. At left a tech arranges dozens of tiny dental mirrors to strategically reflect and redirect 'spotlights' at various parts of the Enterprise chassis and engines. Such detail is admirable.I remember this in the cinema, with Jerry Goldsmith's rousing theme and score absolutely complimenting every frame of the deliberately paced, roll out of the big reveal. What a magnificent score, and from a true master of so many great film scores. Think PAPILLON, PLANET OF THE APES, RIO CONCHOS, THE OMEN, TORA!, TORA!, TORA!, LOGAN'S RUN, THE SAND PEBBLES, CAPRICORN ONE and many more. Yep, I love great movie scores.EEG's Enterprise in dry dock set up. The miniatures were mostly constructed by a company called Magicam, long before Trumbull or Dykstra were engaged to do the film. The deal was that while that firm built the models, the EEG crowd were allowed to add finishing detail and such. Doug said, that although the miniature ship was fine, it was, by his account, too small at barely seven feet, whereas he'd have much preferred double that length. On previous space films, Trumbull was used to enormous model spacecraft, such as a 52 foot one in 2001 and an almost 22 foot model in SILENT RUNNING (1972).The computer controlled motion control snorkel camera on its track. EEG handled all of the Enterprise effects shots among others, while Apogee concentrated largely on the important V'ger material, which was immense both in workload and in pure cinematic scale - and numerous sequences such as the Klingon ships, photon torpedoes and the energy probe sequence later on.Matte painted Earth that was used in certain scenes early on.A glorious vision. Multi-part composite, Enterprise photographed by way of Trumbull's preferred 'frontlight-backlight' self matting system which was a safer bet than traditional blue screen whereby shiny white surfaces, such as this craft, would have had a tendency to 'catch' blue spill or relections, rendering 'holes' in the mattes. Trumbull's method avoided such artifacts altogether and was very successful both in TREK and later BLADERUNNER. The photography of each miniature element was a long and tedious process, with each individual frame requiring an up to 30 second exposure, due to a maximum depth of field requirement and saddled with quite 'slow' 70mm optics. (*Thirty seconds per frame.... remember there's 24 frames per second!)'Give her all she's got, Scotty'. I'm not certain, but this has the look of a Robert Abel & Associates visual fx shot? It certainly has all the hallmarks of their unique 'streak photographic effects' techniques as applied in commercials and things.Now, I've always found this wormhole sequence very interesting. It sure looked really good on the huge screen back in '79. This was one of the sequences done at Abel's effects company - and an incredibly drawn out and complex sequence at that - by another former Trumbull alumni, animator Robert Swarthe.What could be done in minutes today was a tremendously time consuming and complicated affair for Robert Swarthe back in 1979, who had previously provided stunning cel animated light effects on CLOSE ENCOUNTERS mothership - material that still dazzles to this day. For TREK, Wise wanted to only have selective parts of the scene 'streaked', and not the whole thing, which could have been done somewhat easier on an optical printer. From previously shot live action, Swarthe made a large series of individual hand drawn and inked rotoscope mattes to isolate only the areas to be 'streaked', such as faces and certain control console lights. Those mattes were then projected, in bi-pack, with the original live action onto a rear projection screen linked to a motion control system, called COMPSY. Swarthe then carefully plotted and programmed moves which allowed the chosen area of the frame to be 'streaked' in any desired manner. These streaks were re-photographed and superimposed back in over the 35mm live action. This dramatic sequence is one of the few Robert Abel visuals that made it into the final cut.Swarthe's roto artists had to make rotoscope masks of actor's faces for every individual frame, as well as a separate series of roto mask/mattes for each individual 'streak'. A simple three second cut could easily run into several hundred hand drawn and inked in roto-matte cels. The sequence took an incredible amount of time to finalise and was only complete very close to the end of post production.Trumbull had begun his career at a company called Graphic Films in the 1960's, where quite groundbreaking work was done for space oriented documentaries like TO THE MOON AND BEYOND - a film that caught Stanley Kubrick's attention when he was pondering just how the hell he was going to make his opus, 2001. A great many future visual effects people found their footing at Graphic Films, such as John Dykstra, Con Pederson, Robert Abel, Colin Cantwell and much later in the 1970's, Ken Marschall and Bruce Block who would go on to form the small but extremely efficient specialty fx house Matte Effects. In a curious turn of events, Matte Effects were called on late in the game to supply one or two matte painted views of the Earth (below).Ken Marschall of Matte Effects, was given the assignment of rendering this matte painting. Ken told me he was delighted, as both the original STAR TREK tv series and 2001 had been favourites, with the Kubrick film cementing his love of science fiction. So to get this small assignment kind of brought it all around full circle.A word about director Robert Wise. To my mind, Bob was the perfect choice to helm this epic motion picture. He was a highly respected director with a vast career spanning back to the 1930's as an apprentice sound effects editor at RKO, which eventually lead to Bob being elevated to fully fledged film editor on Orson Welles' immortal CITIZEN KANE (1941) for which he was Oscar nominated, in what was certainly not what studios felt was 'the accepted editing style' by any pinch. Wise found his way into direction with some eerie and still quite wonderful Val Lewton chillers like CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE also for RKO. In later years Wise directed a number of outstanding pictures in my book: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (still one of the best sci-fi films ever made); RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP; THE HAUNTING; THE SAND PEBBLES; THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (a particular fave of NZ Pete); THE HINDENBURG and of course STAR TREK TMP.Robert Wise trusted Doug Trumbull completely - and in fact wanted him on the payroll from the start, but Doug was sick of being the so-called 'wizard of special effects' and wanted to do more personal, real time projects such as the visionary ShowScan ultra format system. Trumbull had in fact worked previously for Wise back in 1971 on the sci-fi / sci-fact masterpiece THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN - a film I never tire of. Douglas was really a motion picture visionary, and also was fundemental in creating incredible theme park interactive OmniMax rides like the phenomenal BACK TO THE FUTURE ride that Universal Studios had on their tour for several years. Hell, I rode that three times!!!We're getting into the big V'ger section of the plot, and I don't want to do any spoilers as that screenplay was just so damned clever, that none of the subsequent TREK films could hold a candle to this one. I always liked the original tv show but never got into the myriad of quasi-sequels and spin-offs and what have you. NZ Pete's a purist at heart, you better believe it.One of the exterior V'ger scenes, which John Dykstra's company Apogee were tasked with. Apparently the live action had long been completed but nobody had figured out just what or how to present this ominous V'ger? They couldn't even settle on a design, and the film was seriously locked into a December grand opening, regardless... even with reel 8 potentially missing altogether. Not a good prospect.Spock begins his space walk. Interestingly, EEG like to shoot all of their material in 65mm high resolution, while Apogee use 35mm in the VistaVision format, with some compatibility issues between the two vastly different sized negatives. A special 65mm to VistaVision 35mm optical printer was designed and built by Dykstra's guys in order to convert negatives and plates one way or the other.Seriously, aside from the less than impressive Vulcan planet sequence, the vfx art direction is superb throughout TREK, and as I said, it was absolutely breathtaking on it's theatrical showing on the very big screen. I admired the gentle pacing and great attention to detail - both in the the visuals and the intelligent writing, both of which compliment each other.Such was the frantic rush to meet the release deadline, some of the optical composites were only delivered less than one week prior to the grand premier in Washington DC, with footage delivered straight from the MetroColor labs and literally spliced into multiple prints en mass.Another of Trumbull's CE3K alumni, the highly regarded miniaturist Greg Jein, was brought onto the project when schedules were pushing the large effects crew(s) to breaking point.Much of the V'ger extended 'wild journey' was carried out under the supervision of Oscar winning effects man John Dykstra at his Apogee vfx operation. See below...Technicians at Apogee apply finishing touches to the complex V'ger aperture mechanism, which presents as both a striking and quite bloody terrifying 'orifice', for want of a better word.Although his green Vulcan blood never allows 'emotion', Mr Spock suddenly experiences one of those "Oh...Shit!!!" moments, as he's drawn into the 'orifice' of doom.Apogee effects sculptors at work on the V'ger interior.Apogee's motion control stage.Motion control cameraman - possibly Bill Neil - sets up a 'fly over' sequence, which in the final film was pretty damned impressive.I presume this wonderful cel animation was executed by Robert Swarthe - a true master with delicate cel 'lighting' effects. In a class of his own. Robert originally worked alongside Doug way back in the 1960's when they - and other TREK guys - were at Graphic Films in Hollywood, doing short documentaries for NASA and such specialised assignments. Swarthe was a 2-dimensional animator, while Trumbull at that time was a highly skilled airbru
