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Types of Visual Effect Techniques

Green Screen

Definition:

In film and video techniques such as chromakey (Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a Visual effects / post production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues.) a blue or green background in front of which moving subjects are filmed and which allows a  separately filmed background to be added to the final image.

Green is the go-to because it doesn't match any natural skin tone or hair color, meaning no part of an actor will be edited out through chroma key. When a green costume or prop is essential, a blue screen is often substituted.

Green screens were originally blue when chroma keying was first used in 1940 by Larry Butler on The Thief of Baghdad – which won him the Academy Award for special effects.

The use of this was used in 1898 by George Albert Smith and was known as double exposure. This later on developed and more elements were introduced using a black draping method which would nowadays be a green screen.

Matte Painting

Matte paintings are one of the original VFX techniques used in filmmaking. Originally used in photography, matte paintings have evolved from painted glass panels to entire 3D digital worlds. A matte painting is often a painted glass pane that is used to show a landscape or large set piece.

matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques to combine a matte-painted image with live-action footage. At its best, depending on the skill levels of the artists and technicians, the effect is "seamless" and creates environments that would otherwise be impossible or expensive to film. In the scenes the painting part is static and movements are integrated on it.

The Earliest Matte Paintings can date back to will be in the early 1930’s movies such as Dracula, King Kong and The Adventure of Robin Hood. A very common way was to have the actor directly in front of the camera with a blue screen in front of them and then a 2d matte painting will be put in place to make it look like the actor is walking inside the painting. The overall result was a smooth looking scene with no signs of a painting for a background

Rotoscoping

Definition

Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action.

It is an animation technique in which animators’ trace over live-action film movement, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator.

Rotoscoping has often been used as a tool for Visual effects in live action movies. By tracing an object, the movie maker creates a silhouette (called a matte) that can be used to extract that object from a scene for use on a different background. While  blue screens and green screens have made the process of layering subjects in scenes easier, rotoscoping still plays a large role in the production of visual effects imagery.

The rotoscope technique was invented by Poland-born animator Max Fleischer in 1915, and used in his groundbreaking Out of the Inkwell animated series (1918–1927). It was known simply as the "Fleischer Process" on the early screen credits, and was essentially exclusive to Fleischer for several years.