A veteran of Shepperton Studios, Doug Ferris held a long and prosperous career, including here (above) doing one of the last traditional painted mattes for SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (1997).
Ferris always wanted to work in films, and eventually assisted on THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1962). Ferris also developed the ‘soft matte’ which reorganised the workflow. Ferris would be a reliable hand at Shepperton, including helping out on Stanley Kubrick’s DR STRANGELOVE (1964), whose famous nuclear ‘joyride’ ending was done with an Alan Maley matte painting.
Ferris added to several productions, including the misty castles in Polanski’s MACBETH (1971) and the optical shrinking effects in ALICES ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (1972) before Shepperton starting closing in 1974.
But Ferris kept working for films like THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (when the house blasts into space) and creating vast landscapes for John Huston’s THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975).
I’d also like to highlight Ferris’ painting on the moody bonkers Arthurian film EXCALIBUR (1981) and the brightly lit ERIK THE VIKING (1989)
Ferris also painted divine landscapes for Terry Gilliam’s THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1980), wishing to keep the fanciful artifice of Karel Zeman’s original BARON MUNCHAUSEN (which I will be screening 29th November!)
Ferris worked on countless other films, but this exaggerated background from BATMAN (1989), a segment from WIND IN THE WILLOWS (1996) and an anonymous TV commercial both show his frequently impressionistic style that use lesser detail to incredible effect.
Check out this Dennis Lowe interview with Doug Ferris and matte cameraman John Grant for more detail on Ferris’ films and career: http://www.zen171398.zen.co.uk/index.html
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