Mixed media, and how to do it

This is a fun question, and is based in theory on how some special effects were done for a movie called star wars. IF you have older versions of the original films on tape, you can SEE the effects bleed through in the final product.

Heres the thing, I have an idea for a fun little photo project and i need to use these examples to help make it easy to get the idea across.

In Empire, during the snow speeder versus giant walkers, ILM simply used a simple masking matte of the forward view of the snow speeder as an overlay on the pass through shot around the walkers to show the movie goer the view of the attacking pilots. In most of the scenes you can see they used a thin transparency and the walkers are slightly visible through the mask.

Is this something that can be done by say going online and printing out/buying a transparency of say a ww2 nose gunners view and sticking it on the end of the lens...

or would it have to be done as a double exposure or would i be forced to simply use light room?

You can't just put it on the lens. You will never get both in focus. A composite is a composite. You have to mask the top image and overlay it. This has been done in darkroom work (ILM was doing it by hand on film) for about 150 years. The early photographers exploring the west couldn't take images that showed both the landscape and the sky so they took two images, one exposed for each and then combined them when printing.

ILM didn't really invest anything new for those films. They invented new ways to be more detailed.

If you can find a copy of the "Cinematographer's Handbook" of that era, it explains how optical effects were created "old school"

BTW, "Mixed media" usually refers to mixing two or more media in a single piece, like painting on a photo print, or doing impasto over a bas-relief sculpture.

If you can find a copy of the "Cinematographer's Handbook" of that era, it explains how optical effects were created "old school"

 

BTW, "Mixed media" usually refers to mixing two or more media in a single piece, like painting on a photo print, or doing impasto over a bas-relief sculpture.

Ive seen alot of work, referenced as mixed media on the internet that was one of the following:

1. live action film, with hand drawn cartoon charecters in it. "who framed roger rabbit" is the best example, the old film "bed knobs and broom sticks", and the cartoon "Bobbies World".

2. the mindless and endless drivel of photo shopped creations of naked women super imposed into a different photo or with unicorn and rainbow pictures skattered all over.