Romain Bayle

Digital Matte Painter Romain Bayle:

Photographer and matte painter and concept artist:

It amazes me how many photo's are needed when creating digital matte paintings, and gee whiz are stock photo's expensive for referencing textures!

Romain Bayle has been working in the VFX industry for over 15 years.
Over these years, he has built a strong background as a 3D artist as well as a very good knowledge of compositing and concept art.
Passionate about photography, he’s been using this tool mixed with his 3d experience and illustration skills to create complex 3d matte paintings, his objective being to create images with maximum visual impact at the highest quality.
From 2d digital matte painting to full CG environment, his pipeline allows him to deliver prebuilt nuke script to give your comp team all the controls needed to finalize the work.
He now works as Romain Bayle Pictures from his home studio located in British Colombia, Canada.
Please contact him for further information.

The matte painting below is from Resident evil, i feel like I haven't really discussed signage in matte painting much but it is really important, it one of the most significant uses of matte painting. It's so hypnotising the way they glow. I found a hints thing on how to do it, and basically you get multiple images of the signage and change the blur on photoshop.
http://www.creativebloq.com/3d-modelling/3-photoshop-rules-perfect-composite-111517969

The other series of work that Bayle has done that's super amazing is the work for Sin City. The lighting is superb. So much drama!

http://www.romainbayle.com/matte/portfolio/portfolio_matte.htm

Timetable Update

As Christmas draws closer the dawning realisation of a lack of practical work I have reassessed and updated my timetable I have been using to keep track of the progression of this project.

Academic Poster

I found this really difficult to do because it is such a work in progress stage. I mean realistically I should have more work by now, but I feel like a lot of time has been spent just trying to get my head around all the different elements of this project and it's only just finally starting to come together.

So key points to take foreword when I remake this poster in January, the font choice isn't very legible against this background, also there's not enough on my own work (because I don't have enough at this stage) also there's no real conclusion, (again I haven't got that far). I mean I'm not even sure on the title at this stage, I really need to pull my socks up and understand what I'm doing so I can be more eloquent at explaining it to others. However I really like the idea of an academic poster, so I will remake it and make it the bees knees.

Sri Lanka Contact Sheets

Here are the photo's I took in RAW and edited. Mainly changing the temperature and highlights and shadows. With it being monsoon season we didn't actually leave our hotel much, and we were the only guests. I've also got some video footage which is on my disk submission. It's not very well shot without a tripod though. I think there's some nice photo's though, I think what would be nice, is if I focused on the ones that have religious temples and Buddha statues because this draws correlation to Norman Dawn and the first ever matte painting's created when he created matte paintings for churches around california that were dilapidated in 1907.

Sri Lankan Fable Research

Lizard and the Leopard.

So before I went to Sri Lanka, to try and give my work a narrative I looked up fables, to maybe provide a setting, a major thing this project has taught me about my personal practice is that I really struggle to not have a narrative in my work. It's something that I haven't really dealt with since the start of foundation and I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.

So basically I came across the Lizard and the Leopard, literally one of the only ones that's half decent. But I can't plan what I'm going to shoot, also my project isn't about making a film, because that involves a lot of people, which I don't have access to without a lot of advance planning, and this project is about focusing on research and theory so I'm going to keep it purely about exploration of techniques.


Lizard's Duel with Leopard

As Adapted by Dr. Mike Lockett, The Normal Storyteller

A long time ago, Leopard was hunting for food. The hunting had been bad. He had found nothing except for a small Lizard sitting on the branch of a small tree.

"You will be my dinner," Leopard said to Lizard.

"I am very small," answered Lizard. "I would not make a good meal."

"I am very hungry," growled Leopard. "You may only make a small bite. But, I still am going to eat you."

Lizard puffed out his cheeks to look bigger. "You may try," he hissed. "But, I will fight you. You have big sharp teeth while mine are small. I still will bite you. Your claws are long and sharp, and mine are short. But I will scratch you! You are strong, and I am weak. But, I will fight you."

Lizard shouted, "You are brave, and I am afraid. But, I will defend myself. Try to eat me if you must!"

Lizard's shouts were heard by the monkeys in the trees. "Leopard is a bully," they shouted. "Leopard picks on animals that are small and weak."

Leopard was embarrassed. "I only fight with equals," he said.

"Good," answered Lizard. "Give me a month to get ready for the fight. I will become your equal. Then we can fight."

Leopard was hungry. But, he agreed to give Lizard one month to prepare for the fight.

Lizard knew he would never be as big or as strong as Leopard. But, his brain could allow him to act smarter than Leopard.

Lizard walked to the edge of the river. He found wet mud and clay and rolled over and over in it. Then he laid out in the hot sun and let it bake hard on his body.

The next day Lizard walked to the rice field. He rolled over and over in the mud and straw left from the harvested rice. He again lay in the sun to let the crust of mud dry on his skin.

Each day Lizard rolled in dirt, mud, clay or other stinky and sticky things. Each day Lizard let them dry on his body. His body looked like it was getting bigger and bigger. At the end of the month, Lizard washed the mud off his face and paws, so Leopard could recognize him. He left the hard mud and clay where it was, sticking on his body like armor.

At the end of the month, Lizard met Leopard where he had promised. Leopard made certain there were no monkeys or other animals there to see him fighting with such a small animal. Leopard struck first. He hit Lizard with the claws from his giant paw. The claws scraped off some of the mud, but Lizard was not hurt. Lizard hit Leopard on the leg. He scratched Leopard's leg and made it bleed just a little.

Leopard tried to bite Lizard on the neck. Yuck! He only came up with a mouthful of dirt and dead grass. Lizard jumped on Leopard's back. He bit Leopard's ears and scratched Leopard on the nose. Leopard rolled over and knocked Lizard off. He hit and bit Lizard again and again. But, each hit only knocked off a little dried mud. Each bite only tasted like dirt, clay and stinky things that no one should taste. Yuck!

Lizard's bites were small. But, Leopard still felt them. Lizard's scratches were tiny. But, they made Leopard bleed. Leopard hurt all over. The pain finally got so bad that he ran away from the battle. As he sat and licked his wounds, Leopard said, "Lizard bit me here and here and here. He bit me all over."

Leopard did not know that a woodcutter had watched the entire fight. He had seen the large Leopard trying to fight with the small Lizard. He had seen the Leopard spitting out mouthful after mouthful of mud and had wanted to laugh. The man watched the Leopard licking himself and crying about the pain caused by the small Lizard. He could not keep his laughter to himself. He laughed aloud.

Leopard did not know who was laughing. He climbed up a tree to get a better look around. He saw the man and said, "You had better quit laughing. I will eat you." Leopard would have eaten the man, but he was worried that Lizard might still be nearby.

"Please do not eat me," said the woodcutter. He quit laughing and said, "I will not tell anyone."

"You will not tell your wife?" asked the Leopard.

"I will not tell my wife," agreed the man.

"You will not tell your children?" asked the Leopard. "Or the other villagers?"

"I will not tell my wife or the other villagers," said the man.

The Leopard let him go. Later the Leopard began to worry. Men and women are not good at keeping secrets. If the other animals hear of this, they will all laugh at me. Then the Leopard left the forest to sit outside of the woodcutter's hut and listened to what was being said inside. The Leopard heard laughter.

"What is so funny?" asked the man's wife and children?" But, the woodcutter would not tell them.

"I cannot tell you," said the woodcutter. "I made a promise, and I intend to keep it."

Leopard watched through the window. He saw the man and his wife put the children to bed. The wife laid down to go to sleep. The man blew out the light. Leopard was just about to leave when he heard the man laugh aloud again. "I cannot help it," he said. "I will not tell the children. But, I must tell you." He told her about the fight and how the small Lizard had beaten the large Leopard. "It was so funny. The Leopard kept saying, 'He bit me here and here and here!' It was so funny."

Leopard was so angry that he climbed on top of the man's house. He removed part of the roof and climbed down into the house. He waited until the man went to sleep. Leopard crawled under the man's bed and picked it up and carried it out of the house. He was going to take the man into the forest and eat him.

The man dreamed that he was walking through the woods. He could see tree branches moving over his head. It seemed so very real. Then the moon shined in his eyes. It WAS real! He was not in his home. He looked under the bed and saw Leopard. The woodcutter knew the Leopard was going to eat him. The man sat up in the bed and then jumped up to grab a tree branch and climbed the tree.

Leopard felt his load get lighter. He looked up in time to see man beginning to climb the tree. Leopard threw the bed away and growled. He began to climb the tree. Nothing would stop him from eating that woodcutter.

That is when the man said, "Mr. Leopard, I am sorry about laughing at you. But, you should not climb any higher. Lizard is in the tree with me, and he is going to bite you again. This frightened Leopard, and he ran away in a hurry. Leopard ran far away. He did not wish to fight with Lizard ever again. The man can now tell his story without fear of the day when Lizard dueled with Leopard.

This folktale is Folktale Motif B264.3. - Leopard duels with lizard. It is from Sri Lanka, formerly called Ceylon.


http://www.mikelockett.com/stories.php?action=view&id=193

Impressionism

Thomson, B. (2000) Impressionism. Origins, Practice, Reception. Thames and Hudson. London.

Impressionism involved discarding traditional, painstaking methods of building a composition from dark to light using tonal gradation and glazes, replacing them with emphatic brushwork and colouring of great freedom and subtlety. pg12

Solid quote of how it developed from realism.

It could also be argued that the dominance of mechanical forms of image-making, which increasingly constituted people’s main experience of the visual in the mid-nineteenth century, led certain painters, in reactive self-defence, to optimize the exclusive properties of painting - namely, its colouristic and tactile values. pg 35

When photography was invented in the 1820’s it had been supposed to herald the death of painting. Photographers consistently improved their techniques over subsequent decades, quickly achieving remarkable results in fields - architecture, portraiture, landscape - which were bound to make a forcible impact on the painting profession. pg 35

These photography quotes are important for here because it shows I haven't just made up how photography influenced painting. Maybe I should add a reference to this book after that bit in my dissy.

Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot, Dardagny, Morning, 1853

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/corot-dardagny-morning-NG6339-fm.jpg

The mountains in this painting could have been taken from a matte painting.

Camille Pissarro, The Crystal Palace, 1871

https://publications.artic.edu/pissarro/sites/publications.artic.edu.pissarro/files/iip_thumbs/iip_image_node_123.jpg

this looks like a matte painting I've already looked at in the history of matte's, would be could to have these two side by side in the dissy.

“Manet was a charming and convivial artist who thrived on contact with others. He was a habitué of the café, a witty man about the town or boulevardier. pg 55

- this was just for twitter obviously!

‘Impressionism was born from the meeting of two men with names so alike that at first they were often taken for one another: Monet and Manet. From the crossbreeding of their two methods was born modern painting.’ So wrote Germain Bazin Chief Conservator of the Louvre in 1958. pg 87

 Growing up I always used to get Manet and Monet confused. I think this would be a useful quote if I was looking at both artist's in my dissertation, however although I think it would be a good thing to do, I think I would just end up going off on a tangent and it's really important I keep the dissertation on track and keep it relevant to matte painting.

Manet’s Chief stylistic characteristics were, on the one hand, seeing in terms of broad shapes so as to capture the general impression rather than the minute details; on the other, using a light-toned palette of bright, unmixed colours. Accepting such formal innovations was difficult for viewers accustomed to artists who built up solid forms by working with subtle gradations from dark to light, whose predictable, sober palettes dealt predominantly in tonal values. pg 87

This is a good quote to describe what impressionism is, it's really annoying that there isn't a simple quote with an outline of what it is, like it's blobs of colours that your eyes blend together to make into a more realistic painting essentially. 

Claude Monet Impression Sunrise

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Claude_Monet,_Impression,_soleil_levant.jpg

Charles Busson, The Village of Lavardin, c. 1877

‘A high-keyed, close-toned colour range is used to translate the single overriding effect which initially arrested the artist’s interest, Busson adopts a dramatically wide tonal range, passing from steely dark greys, and blackish browns, for overcast sky and shadowy water, to bright yellowish sunlit areas. Busson also uses a fine brush to pick out incidents, such as ducks and reeds in the foreground, thereby creating a readily acceptable, indeed beguiling, degree of anecdotal verisimilitude, just as Daubigny had done eighteen years earlier in his highly naturalistic The Banks of the Oise. Bussons whole compositional arrangement is brought in greater relief by the use of varnish, which pushes the houses back into a clearly articulated space. pg201

The above picture is my favourite, this digital image does not do it any justice. It amazing how when you look at it in the book it looks painted but you hold it at arms length and it looks really realistic. It's fantastic. 

It is clear, even from these examples, that while theoretically united by their devotion to nature, the Impressionists had no one definitive way of painting it. Most of them evolved different techniques year by year and, periodically, forced themselves to take stock and work on areas of weakness. This was true of both Renoir and Morisot ; dissatisfied with painterly effects that had perhaps come too easily, they felt the need, in the early 1880’s to strengthen the structural element of their work. Both went back to drawing and studying the Old Masters with that aim in view. pg 218

Free spiriting painters doing what they want rebelling against the traditional methods obviously.

Impressionism. Ingo F. Walther. Taschen. 2002 Munich.

I did read through this book but I felt it pointless rewriting the quotes because it basically is the same as the above book but in more detail, and it goes into impressionism all around the world.

Dietrichson felt that the Impressionists did not reproduce Nature as they saw it, but rather created an abstract image of it, by dividing colours into component parts and by using colourist rather than formal means to convey emotion. He drew attention to technological and scientific developments, and stressed photography’s ability to record the passing moment as one of the many preconditions that had made impressionism possible. pg 468

This is another definition, I just have been able to find a nice one. 

“I buy, I buy, I can’t help myself,” He told Halévy in 1895. He also went to exhibitions, dispensing his characteristic sarcasm: Monet’s landscapes, he said, with their light and agitated atmosphere, made him feel there must be a draught in the room - he felt like putting up his collar. 

pg 372/373 - about degas! - I love this quote, he was blind at the time and turned to sculpture!

Tutorial 5

Good Progress on Essay!! [4,000 words, half way through!]

Wizard of Oz chapter needs revisiting, it's very descriptive, and the description there could be more critical. Think about what you are actually trying to say. Well I'm trying to compare the two main processes, maybe add a concluding paragraph. [I have now done this, and it reads so much better.]

Start to think about the chapter on your work. You need to demonstrate your synthesis. [This is easier said than done when I don't have any practical work.]

Don't neglect your practical. Aim to get your essay finished within the next week and then you can solely concentrate on your practical.

It will be easier if you come up with a backstory for your practical so you can hang everything off of it.

Identify exactly what you are going to provide in the practical.
So far I'm thinking a traditional matte, oil on glass. A digital matte and a piece that's a combination.
Does it relate to the original statement of intent?


Also from the crit the following day, I realise that there is no discussion on what is a background and what is a matte, so this should be brought up in my essay but I don't know where this would fit in, Annabeth suggested the conclusion but we will see.

CG Society Portfolio's

So I follow this organisation called CGsociety on facebook and it's like a deviantart for artist's who create computer generated imagery and there's some absolutely fantastic work on there. Admittedly a lot of it is concept artwork and background for animations/video games, but I think the skills are transferable, and what I'm look to do isn't photorealism, because although that would stun the audience I just think it'd be a bit boring and I think I'd have more fun if it was a juxtaposition. Also there would less pressure on it, I'm just going to give it my best shot. So I hand pick a few of my favourites over the past months just to share what I've been looking at.

1. Sebastien Hue

Concept Sketch.
This reminds me of the chapel and church and the discussion of the battle of the light and dark, I love it. Really subtle in detail.

Thumbnail Greyscale.

Now his work mainly focus' on spaceships etc, but I picked out these two because they are in black and white and stood out to me, I guess I never really thought about doing my work in black and white, but I don't think I will because of how much I love the colours of the old saturated films, but it's an interesting thought provoke reaction I had to his work. 

Finally from Sebastian is this really cool breakdown of his concept art, which makes it look super easy, I don't think it is though.

Mech City - Concept Art - From Another Age

To see Sebastien's work check out his portfolio at: http://shue13.cgsociety.org/

2. Yousaf

City 14

This could be a matte painting.

This is pretty bloody cool, the fact that there's a figure in the scene makes the architecture a lot more imposing as it provides scale. It's great. One thing I really like about the CG society's website is the fact like the National Gallery of London you can zoom in really close to see the brushstrokes.

Close up's from this image:

Final image from Yousaf:

A legend and his dog.

To view more of Yousaf's work go to: http://yousaf.cgsociety.org/

3. Alejandro Olmedo

The Conquerors. 

Lost in the Highlands 2014.

The Valley, Artist's first ever landscape painting in photoshop.

http://alejandroolmedo.cgsociety.org/

4. Andy Walsh

The Watchman, made in 3Dmaxs textured then painted over in Photoshop.

Infected.

Retro Sci-Fi

http://stayinwonderland.cgsociety.org/

NB: Another technique I could use is 3D modelled buildings, but I have two issues with this, which is why I've chosen not to 1. 3D modelling means the matte painting is no longer flat so is it still a matte painting, take for example this video:

Because of the water simulation the entire 3D environment has to be built. However how fantastic is the breakdown, so swanky.

Secondly I'm doing some modelling for PPP project so I'm gonna learn the skills anyways, yeah practice makes you better but I don't want focus on it because I don't think I want to do it in industry. I don't really know what I want to do.

Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion

Art and science are once more allied in the service of today's most complex methods of producing images.pg 4

The panorama demands special consideration for two reasons: first, this illusion space represented the highest developed form of illusionism and suggestive power of the problematic variety that used traditional methods of painting. The panorama is also exemplary in that this effect was an intended one, a recalculated outcome of the application of technological, physiological, and psychological knowledge. With the contemporary means at hand, the illusion space addressed the observer as directly as possible; this latter was "implicit." Second, the study of the panorama can help to lay the foundations of the systematic comparison, where the metamorphosis of image and art associated with computer-aaided virtual reality emerges in a clearer light. pg 6

Immersion is undoubtedly key to any understanding of the development of the media, [is it really though? This is a very subjective and bold claim.] even though the concept appears somewhat opaque and contradictory. [this is ridiculous, you haven't even explained your take on the concept, and now your making me feel thick as shit for not understanding your bias point of view, the author the proceeds to start the next sentence with obviously, no no it's really not obvious shush now.]

The author then goes on to discuss virtual realities and immersive art space and then says this:

This is a great difference from the non hermetic effects of illusionistic painting such as Trompe L'Oeil, where the medium is readily recognisable, and from images or image spaces that are delimited by a frame that is apparent to the observer, such as theatre or, to a certain extent, the diorama, and particularly television. In their delineated form these image media stage symbolically the aspect of difference. They leave the observer outside and are thus unsuitable for communicating virtual realities in a way that overwhelmed the sense. For this reason, they do not form part of this study.

OKAY that's it I've had it with you author, and your delineated way of thinking, I'm sorry but how does a Trompe L'oeil not communicate a virtual reality in the street in street art? Is in not the same as going to a strip club paying a shit load of money to have a woman to look at but it doesn't overwhelm the senses because they aren't hookers so basically you're purely sticking to the hookers of illusion. Great one.

So I decided at this point I couldn't be bothered reading this book thoroughly because Oliver Grau was winding me up, so I went to the index to find he only talks about films over a span of ten pages, pretty sure I could manage that, but then right at the end I noticed the word Trompe L'Oeil again, so he does look at it even though he says he doesn't crazy person.

The section on films starts with the 360degree panorama machine created in the 1800's, an illusion obviously cast to the immersion of the cinema room, I quite like this quote he's referenced:

"Cinema as an environment for the enjoyment of art, for immersion in traumatic experiences, for films constructed in deliberate opposition to the experiences of those who pay to enter the dark womb and be at the mercy of the play of light and sounds." pg 92
Zielinski, Siegfried. 1999. Audiovisions: Cinema and Television as Entr'actes in History. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press pg 152

Cinema is intended for direct sense and emotional perception, and this inevitably gives the director "power" over the feelings of the audience, even leading some filmmakers into the aberrant self-deception of being a demiugre. For Tarkovsky, these highly sensitive and suggestive components of film, allows us to interpret and comprehend the recurrent forays attesting to film's polysensory aims. Their basic trend is toward extending the system of illusion beyond the visual to include the other senses. Essentially a reproductive and psychological art form, the medium of film has seen many projection in order to intensify its suggestive effect on the audience. pg 153

He then goes on to discuss the development of 3D films and surround sound - obviously not in these simple terms and how cinema immersion improves, and the development of IMAX's.

Although not completely useful I think now after reading this that maybe the paragraph I string together from Frank Rose and Oliver Grau might form part of the conclusion rather than a chapter.

Conclusion:

Immersion arises when artwork and technologically advanced apparatus, message and medium, are perceived to merge inseparably. In this moment of calculate "totalisation," the artwork is extinguished as autonomously perceived aesthetic object for a limited period of time. The conscious illusion, as in the weaker form of trompe l'oeil, can shift right around for a few moments into unconscious illusion. The examples discussed here demonstrate that a constant characteristic of the principle of immersion is to conceal the appearance of the actual illusion medium by keeping it beneath the perceptive threshold of the observer to maximise the intensity of the messages that are being conveyed. The medium became invisible. pg 340

Illusion media may follow a genealogy, but they are not carried over one to one into new media. An illusion medium is composed of a number of factors; for example, film components include image definition, movement in real time, colour, sound and so on. New factors added to these which represent a significant advance in proximity to the familiar environment, for example, communication with agents or interaction in the case of the virtual reality, can for a period of time predominate vis à vis th other factors, which may even be less developed in comparison with the precursor medium (in virtual reality, for example, image definition and brilliance of colour) and, in the sort term, reduce decisively the observers' power to distance themselves from the image. Theoretically, this may offer an explanation for the shock effect of the Lumières' approaching train: The lower illusionary quality of other factors was thrust into the background by the new factor of movement. pg 342 -- 

This might be a good quote but it's a bit too flowery for me, I want this dissertation to be understandable, clear as day what I'm getting at, I don't have time for stuff written like this, it's too difficult to get your head round, I don't want to challenge people's vocab I'm more interested understanding the visual aspect of the work.

In summary, one can say that artistic visions reflect a continuing search for illusion using the technological most advanced medium at hand. Without exception, the image fantasies of oneness, of symbiosis, allied to media where the beginnings exist but are not yet realised, are still utopian. This was the case with Prampolini and it was no different with Eisenstein, Sutherland, Heilig, Youngblood, or Krueger. Moreover, it is apparent that new media, in their aesthetic content, always draw from their precursors, a perennial constituent. Today, not only are various audiovisual media, computer, home electronics, and telecommunication converging to form a polysensory and virtual hypermedium, but the expectations placed in this new medium of illusion appear to be more highly developed than ever before. A consequence of the constitutive function of artistic-illusionary utopias for the inception of new media of illusion is that the media are both a part of the history of culture and of technology. Thus, it is only logical that art is now making its way into the centres of high tech research, even though the necessary technology is military n origin and has been developed for commercially profitable spectacles. Media archaeology has excavated a wealth of experiments and designs, which failed to become established but nevertheless left their mark on the development of art media. That which was realised, or has survived, represents but a tiny fraction of the imaginings that all tell us something, often something unsettling, about the utopian dreams of people. pg 351.

Grau, O. (2003) Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion. The MIT Press: Cambridge: Massechusetts

A Trick of the Eye

"The great Italian Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini considered painting to be a lie, and the best painter, consequently, to be the biggest liars of all." pg 5

Well matte's are a form of illusion so definitely are supposed to seem like a lie when painted realistically?

Benvenuto Cellini did not aim to make perfect copies of existing objects, rather he saw the main task of art as the invention of unseen things. pg 6

 This is definitely the description of a matte painting.

Baldassare Peruzzi 1481-1536
Hall of Architectural Perspective 1515

The painter clearly master the theoretical laws of perspective and puts them into practice with virtuosity: painted double columns open the view to a balustrade, over which a vista of the Holy City is presented. Peruzzi employs all of the tricks of illusionary painting, with the statues in the side niches contributing to the complete decomposition of the wall. 'Outside" the observer recognises the familiar architecture of rome, with the city fading into the distant hills.
 There was one thing however, that Peruzzi's painting could not overcome: the perfect illusion is only visible from one point in the centre of the room, the precise point at which all of the lines of the perspective presentation converge.

Trompe L'oeil translates to Cheat the eye.

The viewer should be able to distinguish reality from illusion only after lengthy observation.

But a matte generally isn't onscreen for a lengthy amount of time, so it shouldn't be suspect to judgement, it's usually sandwiched between multiple shot which means the illusion isn't lost the multiple shots give more evidence to the fact it's not an illusion but is actually real.

The observer is both entertained and disturbed, aware of how superficially and imprecisely he usually sees the world. To deceive the eye also means to open it.

People were no longer interested in the juxtaposition of painting and reality, the goal was no longer for picture to puzzle those who looked at them, rather it was no longer for pictures to puzzle those who looked at them, rather it was to give an overwhelming impression, a rush of senses, with the viewer capitulating to those emotions, something that reached it's highpoint in the later water lily pictures of Monet.
 The Impressionists tolerated tromp l'oeil at most as a point of reference. This relationship is illustrated well in the Portrait of Emil Zola, which manet painted of his friend in 1868. The prints in the painting's right upper corner take up a classic motif of tromp l'oeil, but the artist does not carry it out in all o fit's detail, he refers to it instead. A similar reference is made with the utensils lying on the table beneath the pictures. Manet even borrowed the practice, popular in the 18th century, of hiding his signature on an object with the picture, in this case a brochure.
 In a completely different way, the invention of photography and it's rapid advance through all fields of life further contributed to the decline of tromp l'oeil. Portrait and nude, street scene and interior, landscape and still life: each of these classical genres of painting were now captured by photography, which appeared to be unbeatable as far as realism was concerned.
 The viewer believe that he could recognise the world through photography that photography could capture it 'objectively', just as it was in real life. In contrast, the Impressionist painted the world as a sensual perception, a vision. The confrontation of illusion and reality no longer took place within one medium, namely the painted picture, it was now split into different media. Painting was responsible for the dream world, photography for the sober reality. pg17

I love this because it brings together Realism and Impressionism.

Paint and Lighting

Painting can be seen as a battle between light and dark. The battle can result in a victory for one or the other, be resolved in harmony or remain in a state of tension and flux. pg 5

Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Pena - Landscape

A dramatically poised battle of light and dark between the white church and the black castle. Heavily inspired by romanticism.

The alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's stone discovers Phosophorus. 1795

The two light sources, the harshness of the master's bewilderment and the soft glow on his apprentices. The book doesn't believe his apprentices share his same viewpoint in the existence of the philosophers stone, but I bet they turn just as crazy.

The Israelites led by the pillar of fire by night
- painting of supernatural light, very much like an alien matte painting, or even that of fantastic four. (the remake)

- diffused light is absorbed by its surrounding in paintings.

Atkinson Grimshaw : Scarborough lights
- glowing intensity is provided by spots of white with glazes of colour on top (i.e street lights), this could also be applied to reflections in water.

Everything else in the picture is subdued, it's darkness built up by layers of dusky green which are so strong that they obliterate the light undercoat which just shows through giving the whole picture a muted glow. pg 21

- hot sun during noon i.e. requires sharp shadows:
 This is especially true of dry, Mediterranean countries, when the sun can be so bright and the shadows so sharp that everything seems as if rooted to the spot.

i.e Tristram Hill: Chapel of Misericordia, Viseu, Portugal.

The light in this painting is clear in an oppressive way. The paint is applied in compact brush marks of opaque paint. The sky particularly appears impenetrable, like a wall of heat. The only hint of movement is in the highlights on the elaborate architectural mouldings. Even these do not sparkle or shine but seem liquid, melting in the heat.

If I was applying this to painting Sri Lanka so it doesn't look like monsoon season this is what I would need to take note of.

- control tones to make it seem more overcast / realism

'No substance can be comprehended without light and shade; light and shade are caused by light.' Wrote leonardo da vinci, who made copious notes on the nature of the two elements.

Light can be used as part of the flow of composition, like colour and composition. remember that. - David Bomberg's in the hold, with several yellow fragments to lead the eye.

Drew, J (1983) Three Little Books about Painting. 1. Light. Arts Council Publications: London.

Immersion

This book is about Storytelling, which is to say it's about memory, imagination and sharing. [Introduction]

The best opening line to a book? I think so.

The invention of the motion picture camera around 1890 set off an era of feverish experimentation that let to the development of feature films by 1910. Television, invented around 1925, gave rise to a quarter-century later to I love Lucy and the highly stylised form of comedy that became known as the sitcom. As each of these media achieved production and distribution on an industrial scale, we saw the emergence of the twentieth-century mass media -- newspapers, magazines, movies, music, TV. And with that, there was no role left for the consumer except to consume. pg 2

We Know this much: people want to be immersed. They want to get involved in a story, to carve out a role for themselves, to make it their own. But how is the author supposed to accommodate them? What if the audience runs away with the story? And how do we handle the blur- not just between fiction and fact but between author and audience, entertainment and advertising, story and game?  pg8

Pandora Bay: http://img01.deviantart.net/87d2/i/2011/102/e/c/pandora_bay_by_hardyguardy-d3dtdgb.jpg by Christopher Colomb.

In September, 2006, I stood next to James Cameron  as he discussed what he was about to take on with Avatar. "It's an epic," he said. "It's an entire world that's got it's own ground rules, it's own ecology. It's the kind of fantasy that, as a geek fan, you can hurl yourself into. And even though it not a sword and sorcery type fantasy, it's like Lord of the Rings in that it's immersive." pg 47

LOTR Matte Painting by Laurent Ben-Mimoun
http://www.blueman.ws/images/matte_painting/gallery1/14.jpg

"I love science fiction," he said. "I love the idea of creating another world - another ecosystem of amazing creatures." Yet of the animals he made up, only eight or so seemed likely to make it into the finished film. "That's just the limitations of movies." pg 48

Cameron put the idea in a draw until he saw the humanoid Gollum brought to life in Peter Jackson's film.

Gollum: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Gollum.PNG

Cameron and Landau were already talking with video game developers about turning the world of Avatar to a console game. "Why do you people turn to entertainment? Escapism." Landau said. "To get away from whatever it is in the world they want to get away from. And if you give them a unique universe, they will seek that out beyond just the cinema experience." pg 54

Basically Cameron had Ubisoft technicians live in a bunker each with a second computer without the internet creating the alternate reality, whilst he had the two main actors running around in motion graphics. How does this relate to matte painting I hear you ask? Well I'm not sure yet, but it's bloody interesting.

'By getting video closeups of the actors' eyes and features and mapping them to their characters' faces, Cameron hoped to avoid the "uncanny valley" - the creepy sense that the computer-generated humanoids aren't as real as they seem.

If the screen plane was an impediment to the immersiveness Cameron wanted to achieve, the uncanny valley was a roadblock.' pg 60

- when discussing on why the eyes and facial expressions needed to be real unlike that of the animation Polar Bear Express.

Polar Bear Express: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ib3Hn188Jwc/maxresdefault.jpg

-This chapter was labelled deeper and was all about exploring the world of avatar and the world of star wars, this is what matte paintings do they they take the world the film is trying to transport the audience to into a deeper more descriptive environment to express said story.

The next chapter covers the twitter accounts of the characters from mad men and how average obsessed fans were running them and Weiner didn't like it and had the accounts shut down for twenty four hours, but really he wasn't right to control them in this manner because it was getting the show free publicity. But this control was much wanted. The control in matte painting is in the composition and the direction of the director because at the end of the day the artist's have to answer to them. Without the control there wouldn't be the same flow in all the matte paintings and this would distract from the narrative and the immersion.

If a story is meaningful enough, a superficial encounter won't leave them satisfied. They'll want to go deeper. They'll want to imagine themselves in it, retell it, make it their own. And the more powerful the connection, the less likely they'll be to submit to a demand that they cease and desist. pg 97

The book then goes on to discuss interactivity and games, so it mentioned advertising and riddles and games used to advertise big films (i.e Heath Ledger's Batman) but also the few films that came with controls to decide what the hero should do next in crucial moments, but also the development of games and those with stories that took you on different paths or through different worlds. It's interesting but not right for this dissertation.

The next chapter goes on about how TV Game Shows are the next big immersion activity, whilst your eating tea at 5pm there always on blahblah, and then how the internet and social emdia has changed people storytelling of there lives and how we have this new way of immersing our connections into how we want them to see our life through social media, which is quite interesting but again not relevant.  Is it ironic that I feel quite immersed in this book on the art of immersion?

Then the book went on to describe why games / riddles and puzzles etc are the best form of immersion, because when you achieve something you feel rewarded and it explains the experiment some guys in london did with me in a PET scan machine playing a game called battlezone. I don't really think that was necessary, I think the fact you feel rewarded from achieving a level is common sense, it's escapism from how shit adulting is if you're in a dead end job, and people get addicted to it.

I'd just really like a nice quote on why people turn to films and entertainment to escape there shit life but in a poetic way.

This one almost seemed promising:

We forage, too, for an emotional connection - the kind that stories provide. Fiction is a simulation that gives us a feeling of empathy with characters that seem real, even though we know they're not. .... Movies, novels, television shows - it doesn't really matter what form the story takes. But games are different. 

Ohh frank you came so close then!

ooo the next chapter: How to build a universe that doesn't fall apart:

"I ask in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust there motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing" Philip K. Dick pg 291
... a fictional universe ultimately remains, well . . . fictional. A pretend space. An escape.
 That's why we like them. That's why we want to immerse ourselves in Stars Wars or Lost or The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. But the lure of that fictional worlds exert is balanced by the fear they engender. We are attracted, we are repulsed. pg 291

The author then goes on to discuss Disney's first Tron film, on another note, check these matte's out of the Tron Legacy Film came across these this week:

Matte for Tron Legacy by Romain Bayle: http://www.romainbayle.com/matte/films/tron/tron_main.htm
He did an amazing sky panorama I'll look at with my practical work, but all of his work is amazing so I might share some more in a seperate blog post. Look how "immersive" those blue lights are spoooky.

And how John Lasseter was fired because he started making his own film and the same time and this offended the company but little did they know they'd buy pixar and he'd be back! It mentions that the effects were too fake. But he doesn't really elaborate on this which is a shame because that ruins the immersion and that could have been good quote. This guy's really obsessed with the TV show Lost, it's really not that good. I think this book would be super super useful if I was doing advertising. It's really well written, I think as well I have a really short attention span if I'm not into something, and this guy has written the book in such a fast paced manner it's such an easy read. I think you know it's a good book when you stay up all night to read it, even though you know it's probably not completely useful. Immersed in the The art of Immersion book, how ironic.


He goes on to discuss about how disneyland is the ultimate form of immersion, it's weird about how he was so obsessed with please everyone he made a world where everything is controlled to a T so you go to be happy. And then he goes on to say but actually we are equally immersed in worlds that fall apart, we fear it but we love it. (i.e Walking Dead, obviously this book was written before Walking Dead but it's a perfect example, he uses Lost again.)


This is the conclusion? What these last three pages I just summed up, he could of given me a decent quote:

We live in a high-speed, always on world in which identity is always suspect, and technology gives us the wherewithal to demand it - if that's what we really want.
  Except, of course, that's not what we want. It's what we think we want. What we really want [I tell you what I want what I really really want...] - many of us, anyways - is the holodeck. We want to be sucked inside the computer like Jeff Bridges in Tron. We want to be immersed in something that's not real at all. pg 316

Rose, F. (2012). The Art of Immersion. W. W. Norton and Company LTD. New York.

The most amazing video!!

Syd Dutton at work back in the day, this video is great.

 

I've been reading about all these great people, and I can actually see them talking now, this next five minute video includes Craig Baron, it sums up the history of matte painting a lot faster than I did. And probably in a more lament way. Ah well.




The final five minutes, I can't believe, it, there all on there, Albert, Whitlock, Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw, Syd Dutton, all of them. And I've just found a documentary on Peter Ellenshaw this is fantastic.