Film - Baggage - Exterior Matte Paintings
I had a great opportunity recently to be Lead Matte Painter on a charming short film called Baggage. Directed by fellow Art Center alum Tim Hendrix. We set out to create a very stylized 1930s vibe that was built around a ton of photographed miniatures. My contributions spanned a wide range of content from cityscapes to interior extensions to integrating small design elements to enhance the aesthetic.
This is the master cityscape matte that we used for the backdrop in all of our exterior shots.
I built the structure of the city in 3D first so we could extract information from it, such as depth and luma mattes, to be used in compositing later.
All of our exterior shots were built off of a miniature base with the intended goal of expanding our world while retaining our miniature aesthetic.
Original miniature photography.
It was important with all of out exterior shots to produce these luma mattes so the director would later have complete control over the glowing environment.
Movie stills.
Another angle built out of miniatures. I kept the many elements of the scene organized and separated by layer to provide the director as much control as possible over depth of field in compositing.
Movie stills using previous matte.
Original photography.
Birds eye view built out of miniatures for an overhead chase sequence. The clouds, cars and lights are all separated to be animated later. Mattes / Miniature layout.
Movie stills.
Another view of our exit, built out of miniatures, to be used in multiple evolving shots as the action progresses.
Various movie stills using previous matte.
The final shot of our exit, built with photographed miniatures, again with all the elements organized by layer allowing director to animate and toggle on/off as story unfolds.
Movie stills using previous matte.
A detail matte in our chase sequence when our miniature forklift gets tied up in a spiderweb of clothing. Photography / Matte / Movie still.
Another detail matte composited over a miniature, organized to be animated with the live action.
Original photography / Movie stills.