It’s appropriate that one of Matte Paintings earliest pioneers was called NORMAN DAWN. Although painted backdrops and double-exposure have a long history in photography, Dawn was one of the first to integrate them for motion pictures
Mattes had been used before – notably in THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903) – but Dawn innovated “glass shots” to reconstruct houses for his movie MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA (1907), despite it being a documentary! By painting on glass, Dawn could shoot both images together for less cost
Dawn would direct countless movies but developed as a matte shot guru. He achieved spectacular results in UNDER WESTERN SKIES (1913), THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS (1918) and countless others, with remarkably precise shots that still hold up today.
Dawn became affixed to Universal in the 1920s and then MGM in the ‘40s. One of his biggest achievements was GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (1947) – which won a VFX Oscar – despite alleged behind-the-scenes drama from his memoirs.
Dawn is not exactly a household name, nor as whimsical as his inspiration Georges Méliès. But his work remains vital for the development of cinematic illusion. The University of Texas also have collected hundreds of Dawn’s meticulous production cards which are free to browse!
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