Matte Painting Research

A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is nonexistent in real life or would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. 
  Matte painters and film technicians have used different techniques to combine matte painted images with live action shots. At its best, depending on the skill level of the artist, the effect is convincing, and creates an environment that would otherwise be impossible to film. 
  In 1905 a man called Norman Dawn developed a technique that joined together a photograph, and a painting to enhance the environment being shot by the camera. Dawn, a photographer himself, took his photos and paintings and placed them on a large glass sheet. Black tape was then placed over the the parts of the camera where the painting would go. After the camera was positioned properly, the live action scene would take place. What resulted was a combination between a simple painting and an actual live scenery. 
  
The earliest matte paintings were all either created by hand, or mixed with photos; about 80 years after Dawns creations, there was another milestone in the styles history. With the enhancement of the computer and its programmes came digital painting. This type of painting gave images a much more realistic look, and painter Chris Evans was the first person to ever create a digital matte painting that was used in film. In 1985, Evans blended a scanned image with digital painting to create an ultra realistic scene that was placed in the film 'Young Sherlock Holmes'. This paved the way for the type of digital matte painting that is used in many many films today.
  Some of the most notable matte paintings came from movies like Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, the Wizard of Oz, King Kong, and Indiana Jones.

This is a matte painting from the film 'the Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring' (2001). This matte painting creates the image of the city of Rivendell. This is an obvious fictional place created for the film which meant that it would have been pretty much impossible to recreate in real life. This painting, with additional digital creations, successfully pictures the city of Rivendell. It is convincing, as many different factors have been given detail, such as interactions with light and shadows, colours and interactions with the environment