Matte Painting

Here's a list of the 50 greatest (pre-digital) matte paintings of all time from shadowlocked.com:

shadowlocked// The 50 greatest matte paintings of all time

The list includes some classic matte paintings from the likes of Citizen Kane, Vertigo and Black Narcissus but also lots of shots from more obscure films that I'd never heard of like the Broadway Lights sequence from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) that tops the list (above).

It's a phenomenal piece of work overseen by future director Don Siegel that combines matte painting, miniatures , rear projection, graphics and live action. If the same sequence was produced today using CGI it could be finished much quicker but the end result wouldn't necessarily be any better than the original.

I have a lot of respect for the traditional matte painters of yesteryear. An invisible art that has pretty much died out in the last quarter of a century. It's amazing to think how much time and effort went into some of these shots. I quite like it when an old matte painting isn't quite photo real. In some ways it can be more impressive if it maintains some of it's painterly quality but still seamlessly blends with the live action. It also allows you to appreciate the work that has gone into it a bit more if you know it is a painting.