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Press report: February 2007
Surrey Border Film & Video Makers were entertained at a recent meeting by Harry Page from Chichester Video Makers. He revealed all sorts of secrets and tricks which were used in the past to deceive cinema audiences. All relied on ‘paintings on glass’, his topic for the meeting.
Members were shown examples. The first came from the 1930 version of King Kong in which the gorilla climbs to the top of the Empire State building. The city of New York was painted on glass, but a clear hole was left through which the studio action was filmed. The camera then ‘saw’ the glass painting of New York with the studio action magically appearing through the hole as if at the top of the Empire State Building. Another example showed how a ballroom scene, shot in a studio with ugly overhead lights, cables and gantries was transformed to the magnificent splendour of a period ballroom. Once again the camera ‘saw’ the scene through a sheet of glass with luxurious chandeliers and ornate columns strategically painted to cover up all the filming paraphernalia. In another example two ugly telegraph poles were blotted out by painting in two trees.
Modern computers have completely transformed the filming of such illusions. The principle of painting over areas of a scene to hide unwanted distractions is still applied, but it now it all takes place in the computer, so is a technique within reach of amateurs as well as professionals. A few years back, for example, a club member recorded an old fashioned scene in Lion Yard, Farnham. The coloured lights zigzagging down the street spoilt the Victorian atmosphere but were successfully ‘painted out’ within the computer. The technique has been discussed at club meetings.
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