Visual Effects for Film and Television

7 Self-matting processes

Self-matting processes automatically derive travelling mattes of the foreground action without the necessity (and expense) of rotoscoping. They permit independent photography of both foreground and background; avoid the optical defects inherent in projection-style systems and the necessity of the background losing a generation relative to the foreground. Such systems give total flexibility and allow the creation of just about anything a director might think of. On the downside they are technically very complex and the background image will not be visible to the actors, nor indeed to anybody else, unless it is pre-shot and sophisticated monitoring equipment is used. The flexibility, convenience and superiority of digital ...