A Visual Effects Xanadu
Matte Shot – a tribute to Golden Era & Traditional Special Effects
Well, I hope my initial editorial opinion piece didn’t scare off too many regular (or irregular for that matter) readers, but it’s important, it’s urgent and it is my blog so I can take a jab, off tangent should I so desire. As Howard Beale once stated in the staggeringly brilliant Paddy Chayefsky-Sidney Lumet picture NETWORK: “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”.
I was hoping to get this CITIZEN KANE article out a bit earlier but as usual got delayed by various summer things – yes, it is summer here… probably not where you are as most readers are from ‘up north’ and hardly anyone from this part of hemisphere reads this blog, which is quite sad.
CITIZEN KANE was one of the boldest mainstream films ever to come out of Hollywood, released in 1941, and the brainchild of director-star, the much maligned enfant terrible Orson Welles. The mere fact that the film got the green light to begin with is amazing, what with the none too subtle ‘fictional’ character of Kane being a dangerously close facsimilie to mega media magnate William Randolph Hurst – the Rupert Murdoch of his day, and then some, who was none too impressed with RKO for giving Welles the proverbial ‘thumbs up’…
…Read the Full Article @ Matte Shot
This blog is intended as a tribute to the ingenuity of the traditional matte painter where movie magic was created entirely by hand. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their ‘invisibility’ to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today
I have gone further back into the archives of Matte Shot – A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX to feature even more articles from this great site, so I hope you enjoy this wonderful journey we’re on together.
PJ Max
