Hollywood's History of Faking It | The Evolution of Greenscreen Compositing

Go inside the history of the travelling mattes (now called chromakey) and learn the history of visual trickery used by filmmakers from the earliest filmmakers through to the modern day.

If you have any further questions be sure to check out our questions page on Filmmaker IQ:

[bertplus]

I don't often comment on YouTube videos, but this series is some of the most well done educational videos I've ever seen. Serious without being dry, smart without being unapproachable. Bravo.

[FilmmakerIQ]

Future generations will look back on our films with selective memories and say, "Those were some good years for film"

[MSMediaRotterdam]

Although I'm writing this about 14 years after the release of this video: in this one you are so relaxed in your presentation. I like it that way! Thanks for making/sharing.

[discipleprojectoutreach]

I am 17 minutes and 30 seconds smarter in the art and history of greens screen. Thanks. 

[BenJuan]

There are an unbelievable amount of comments going on about how wrong the final statement is. They are all missing the point that it really is all about what's on the screen. You don't like cheesy CGI? That's because what made it _onto the screen_ was cheesy. Had the CGI itself been better, you wouldn't have noticed, nor been complaining about it.

Great informative video.

[lonrot]

Amazing video, and the way you end it is great! Very informative and fun to watch.

[photorectoby]

Well done!  Easy to watch with great info!  Thanks.

[brandeddard]

This video really sparked my love for those old movies, of how creative and inventive those amazing people are, and boy I hope their work will live on!

[Gozyization]

Can I just say that I discovered your channel just over 24 hours ago and in that short space of time, I've learned so much. By far the best Youtube channel imho.

[Quisquellano]

I learned more in this video than I have in the 1000's of "CGI-Breakdowns" that I've seen...

[johnwatson]

It’s interesting how much fringing was accepted in the old days – presumably because the attempted shots were so new and astounding. Even Star Wars 1977 was shot with major fringing that they got rid of by hand-drawing it out on the animation stand. One of the artists complained that in some places they were actually creating the matte frame-by-frame (anyway that’s why the movie looks so good).

[filanfyretracker]

Digital cameras and digital trickery are likely two of the best things to happen to film making. They give what was once limited to big studios with big sound stages to pretty much everybody.

[Liza-lmxb]

I always loved making videos! When I was around 9 my parents got me a green screen cause they saw how much I loved doing videos... And right now to be honest I absolutley LOVE stuff like that. This just brightens up my day much! Especially editing. Probably my favorite part of making a video. Thanks for making awesome stuff like this :) Keep it up folks!

[fiveoneecho]

Most people that complain there is too much CGI in cinema don't realize that 90% of their favorite "raw" shots involve some kind of VFX comp. A sky replacement, lighting change, maybe the guys on set just completely forgot a simple element like a sign.

[BIackMoonCGI]

I hear too many people saying "There's too many special effects used in movies wah wah waaaah".  Well, to that I ask the question- What else can you use special effects for?  They can't give you a ride to work.  They can't buy you a drink.  They can't clean your windows for you.

[tixxican]

This is now the second time a late night journey has led me to this video. Having embarked on a degree in film making I totally understand the immense processes involved in even producing this video for our entertainment. There are many things I've learnt and still learning, but I'd have to say your knowledge is spell binding. Thank you so much for sharing !

[michaelchapman]

During the 1940's 50's into early 60's my grandparents lived 3 blocks south of Paramount on N Bronson Ave & it was a fun & historically rich neighborhood to live, walk around & socialize- my grandfather managed the Hollywood Post Office on Cherokee Ave & came to know some of the people who worked in the industry like actress, Helen Hayes who was a periodic dinner guest at their Bronson Ave home-Their son, my dad went to Joseph Le Conte Middle School on Bronson Ave where Carol Burnett attended some yrs after my dad- Desilu Studios was a stone's throw from Paramount which use to be RKO & KHJ Radio & Television were right in the mix at 5115 Melrose Ave of which Capital Records shared that bldg. as well & was called 'Capital Melrose' where Sinatra & Nelson Riddle & Billy May & Nat Cole etc.. were turning out Some fine records.... 'until Capital Records relocated to their newly completed 13 Story Capital Records Tower on N Vine St. in April of 56 which I recall going up layer by layer 'Nickodell's Melrose was a fascinating restaurant just a few yards south of Paramount's Bronson Ave Gate riddled with history.

[gripps]

This was excellent, learned so much. Special effects has been there since the beginning.

[TessTango]

Oh Thank You for making this video! I went to films school back in the 80's, and right after I graduated, most everything we learned was about to become obsolete with the advent of digital. I just found this video to explain about green screen - and watching it refreshed my memory, as well as filled in some valuable info. Thanks again!

[SurgicFrag]

Some people don't really understand, let me clarify this for people once and for all since I do VFX myself and studied it. Sure, there were good old days of using the props, but then again when there was CGI introduced, people begun to use CGI more due to the flexibility of the alternative itself. There is a budget for every movie people, understand that, and having roots in the VFX industry myself, you have to understand that as much as VFX artists want to use props (so we dont have to spend extra time to render every single thing), we have to simulate and bake explosions.

Why not use TNT ? What if something goes wrong? What if we want to change the radius of the explosion? What if something didn't blow up when it was supposed to? Are we going to spend extra cash and time just to build everything back together again? It's just not within the budget. We want to have control over the outcome, to be able to change variables at will, to be able to adjust properties with simple nodes so it goes our way, and if it doesn't, we will change it again.

I support props, like I've mentioned, but since VFX is available and we have such fast rendering softwares such as vray or iray now, why not turn to those instead? Transformers would have been way over budget (sure it made over 2 bil but no one knew that before the film was released), had been everything were props, although I can agree new techniques should be found to capture the interests of the general public