Bibliography

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1CEO_PK3oh72MjvCJpqf-Bs5QTP1PX0YMxIUkRzepjFox20BENSrk1bIB6REBVKnvuHv7EAkoKNbOpM47KlUCdA9Bg4o-aVZzKRlMgAYgbNj2Xe9mVhLowoKrrULlow3u4huvd_zlhU/s1600/journey+center-process.jpg
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/salute-to-20th-century-fox-special.html

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/502795/Journey-To-The-Center-Of-The-Earth-Movie-Clip-Dimetrodons.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ze1Wrf1mPE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXX1nGNT304

http://www.reelz.com/trailer-clips/35069/journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth-behind-the-scenes/

Week 4

 Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

• Dimetrodons would be digitally created - just like how the T-Rex is
• Live action plates will be shot and afterwards the dinosaurs would be added in
• This eliminates usages of front projection - front projection was, at this point, no longer used
• The backgrounds are accomplished by building a portion of the set (the part the actors interact with) and the remaining part of the set will be a green or blue screen (they used blue screen on the sets for the 2008 version)
• The blue screen will be replaced by digital environments created on computers via chroma keying

Since there have been a couple of movies titled, 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' I've decided to use the most recent variation, released in 2008, to show how the effects are created today.

To start with the Dimetrodons would definitely not have been made using live animals in costumes. Dinosaurs did make a return in the 2008 edition, and they were made digitally as a 3D model composited into the live action sequences.

Near enough the entire movie was made digitally as a lot of the scenes were shot against a blue screen. Blue screen and green screen are used the majority of the time in film now since it allows easy removal of the background through chroma key and it also means that film sets only need to be partially built. On some occasions, although fairly uncommon, red screen has been used.

Behind the Scenes

As seen in the above link, the set is predominately a blue screen except for some props that the actors are interacting with, like the raft and the rock.

Like in the 1959 version, the 2008 Journey to the Center of the Earth has a scene where the characters are floating on a raft at sea. As mentioned before, the original film used rear projection to create the scene, however, the 2008 film shot the scene against a blue screen and then the sea and the fish were all created digitally.

Like in both version the raft was part of the set.

 

This scene in the mine cart is also shot like that of the raft.

Week 3

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

• Slurpasaur - Optically enlarged reptiles that are presented as dinosaurs
• Had iguanas playing the Dimetrodons - Fins stuck to their backs
• Rear projection was used to combine the live action plate along with the optically enlarged iguanas
• As well as rear projection for the actors to react to the 'dimetrodons' in the background
• Quite often the scenes had been made using matte paintings
• Miniature sets

The pre-digital era film I intend to research is Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and for the most part I'm going to use the scene where the Dimetrodons first appear.

Dimetrodons Scene

Just from observing the scene it is quite clear what visual effect techniques have been used. Matte paintings, miniature sets, rear projection and optically enlarged lizards are all techniques used in this one scene.

Using real world animals, especially lizards, and passing them off as extinct dinosaurs is technique known as Slurpasaur, first used in Brute Force (1914).

The Dimetrodons were created by first sticking a fin to the backs of iguanas and then optically enlarging them. The optical enlarging of the iguanas was created by joining two films clips together via a travelling matte. However, this wasn't the only technique used to combine both films. Rear projection was frequently used in this film, which was a projection of a live-action plate onto a screen and then the actors would act in front of the screen. Had this been made a decade later, instead of using rear projection, front projection would have most likely been used.

You can see this is rear projection as, firstly, the colour is a lot better in the foreground compared to the background, and seconldy, you can see a bit of noise around the edges of the woman.

There was a few scenes throughout the movie that used rear projection, another being the scene when they are on a raft in the middle of an ocean.

A set-up of the rear projection used in the Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Alternitively, rear projection may not have been used when the Dimetrodons were in the foreground (as seen in the image below). Rear projection would have been an option but it is possible that it was shot with the Dimetrodon in front of the camera and the actors are quite far away to give off the size comparison. If it was done via rear projection then they would have had to project the live action plate onto a small screen and place the Dimetrodon in front. A third technique, but also the least likely would have been the usage of miniatures

Miniature sets were also an occurrence during the movie. Combined with negative matte paintings, a lot of the scenery was created using miniature sets. The example below shows a combination of two live action scenes, a miniature set and matte paintings. The rocks in the foreground are placed in front of the camera. Using a travelling matte both of the live action scenes are brought together and the rocks in the background are matte paintings. It's quite a complex set-up which in todays cinema would be incredibly easier to recreate.

A couple of other examples of the usage of matte paintings.