THE BLUE SCREEN

     Nearly every feature today will use blue screen to create some effect. Whether driving in a car, or looking outside a window on set directors are using blue screen effects to create a particular look and feel they want in a film.
     The most notable in a drama film is during "A Beautiful Mind". We see Russell Crowe sitting at a desk working on a thesis paper. As the camera pulls back we see the seasons changing with Crowe still in the window. The only real thing in the scene is Russell Crowe and the window. The walls, tree and seasons changing were all done with special effects and blue screen. 

     Blue Screen/Mattes have been using blue screen forever. The original Star Trek series used the blue matte for all the Enterprise external scenes. 

     In most cases, the several layers needed for the shot might be filmed separately and then laid over each other. For example a sky shot might be filmed for one layer. The second layer would be the background of grass and rocks. A third lay placing a mountain in front of the sky. We already have the actors filmed using the blue screen. 
     The four layers are put together using a technique called optical compositing. These four layers are laid onto a fifth piece of film in a compositing machine precisely laying down one frame of film at a time. 
     In a computer digital shop, the frames are digitized and combined one frame at a time within the computers memory and then digitally placed on a piece of film. 

     The Blue Screen effects allows you to place two or more elements together on one piece of film creating impressive shots.

TRAVELING MATTE
     A Traveling Matte is still a blue screen but a stationary background. The actor is moving through the scene and a separate matte is created for each frame which shows the actor moving through it. 
     Computers have helped with this feature immensely, as it can create mattes and combine the shots automatically and then put the completed shot back out onto film. 

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