VFX History: Optical Printers

Beyond the basic explanation of "blue screen", have you ever wondered how they used removed the blue from a background. These days compositing software makes it simple to select a colour and make it transparent, but before After Effects and similar compositing software existed, the entire process was done optically with physical film strips, lights and cameras. Join me in a deep dive as I share with you what I've discovered about the labour intensive process involved. By the end of the video, I hope you'll be as awed as I am over the lengths companies like Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) went to in order to make cinema magic. (I also feel that I should point out, the optical printers ILM used were "computer controlled" so that all the frames and timings lined up correctly. Everything was still composited optically.) *Get ShiveringCactus VFX as phone cases, T-shirts, mugs: https://www.redbubble.com/people/ShiveringCactus/shop* *Or buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/shiveringcactus* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Chapters* 0:00 Old movies 3:58 A quick primer 5:37 An optical printer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Bibliography* Vargo, M. _Bluescreen 1980_ (2016), MarkVargo.com. Available at: https://markvargo.com/videos/blue-screen-1980 (Accessed: 06 January 2024). Knoll, J. _Old School School 1 - Optical Compositing_ (2019). Available at: https://vimeo.com/318705942 (Accessed: 06 January 2024). Kasden, L. _Light & Magic_ (27th July 2022). Disney. Available at: https://www.disneyplus.com/home (Accessed: 06 January 2024). _The evolution of green screen: from early-stage to LED blue screen_ (2021) Neweb Labs. Available at: https://neweblabs.com/the-evolution-of-the-green-screen (Accessed: 01 January 2024). Goldwyn, E. (1985) _How to film the impossible_ UK: BBC. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwMLOjqPmbQ (Accessed: 06 January 2024). I'm an Adobe Community Expert - which means you can find me on the Adobe forums if you need any help. https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/ct-p/ct-after-effects?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all #AdobeCommunityExperts