Creating Special Effects for TV and Video, 3rd Edition

Matte and Glass Shots

 

There are many ways of increasing the area of a scene without building scenery or adding to the amount of floor space. The techniques used not only give additional dimensions, but also permit effects to be obtained that might be impossible in real terms.

Matte shots

These are usually associated with film, the TV equivalent being the electronic inlay and overlay devices for obtaining similar results.

Briefly, a film matte is the process by which part of a frame is left unexposed so that it can later be used to record another picture. In this way two components may be used to produce a single picture on one negative. The simplest example is where a black card is positioned in front of the camera so that only half a picture ...