A new Hollywood record is being set by Disney’s matte department - 150 matte shots created by the Disney matte department, which is supervised by Harrison Ellenshaw, for The Black Hole.
Harrison Ellenshaw is best known to readers of STARLOG for his startling matte paintings in Star Wars. The story of Ellenshaw’s matte artistry was detailed in STARLOG #14. Star Wars borrowed Ellenshaw from Disney to paint seven mattes, but George Lucas “was so impressed by the results." relates Ellenshaw, “that we made 13. George knew how to use my skills. That is why I like working with Gary Nelson [director of The Black Hole]. He appreciates what mattes can and cannot do."
For the benefit of our new readers, Ellenshaw explains the principle behind a matte shot. “Mattes are paintings made on glass. Film of actors and parts of sets are rear projected onto clear portions of the glass. We rephotograph both the painting and the projected film to create a new image that no one could duplicate without spending millions of dollars or building sets in outer space." A matte artist contributes enormously to the production values of a motion picture at relatively little cost to the producer.
“As much as I would like people to notice my work," Ellenshaw explains. “ironically, I’m only successful if they can’t. A shot should never look like a matte.” […]
