Matte painting or the quest for the perfect illusion

Abstract

For over a century, matte paintings have abounded in films. This trick consists in enlarging a “real” space with a decorative painting, via different techniques. Like any faking, matte painting strives to create a particular illusion, in this case to give the impression that the painted scenery actually exists. To achieve this “trick of the camera,” the artists constantly try to draw the viewer’s eyes to specific parts of the image, to details that are used to authenticate the rest of the shot, thus diverting the spectator’s attention from areas that could reveal their true nature and destroy the illusion. This article analyzes the modus operandi of the “illusionistic detail,” especially that of moving details such as birds, and the issue of the ripple effect of illusion, from the detail to the shot, to the film.