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Question
You can see the clouds moving, and it’s clear those clouds were done through effects. Is this a greenscreen shot? (Where the prison and Dinero are in front of a greenscreen). Or was this done with another effect? Thanks
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Probably just a sky replacement.
How did they do that back when this film was made?
Well, off the top of my head, most likely, blue screen and matte paintings with the sky either being stock footage from elsewhere, or created on a set in a fish tank by using salt water on the bottom, fresh water on the top, and then in the middle injecting injecting inks or paints that when lit and filmed from below mimic cloud, it's how a lot of cloud effects were done way back in, like in Close Encounters, Ghostbusters.
If you watch the scene through to his walking into the camera and pause it, you can see pretty clearly that he his body outline isn't natural due to it being a blue screen shot.
https://youtu.be/yLvoeGWxM8U?t=95
And one thing to consider, with shots like that, even in 1991, they were using computers for compositing work too, heck Twister only came out 5 years after Cape Fear with it's heavy use of CGI tornadoes.
Amazing comment, and just to piggyback and muse, this technique isn't theoretically that fundementally different than photographic inserts AKA "mattes" that you would see in films from decades before like the studio films in the 40s for instance Joan of arc.
Or even earlier than that, rear projection in the 30s.
Rotoscoping is kind of just another advancement in inserting one photo into another.
Edit: I found a link to put my money where my mouth is, all these gorgeous mattes from joan of arc: http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2010/09/cosgrove-and-fulton-joan-of-arc.html#:~:text=As%20a%20follow%20on%20from,version%20of%20JOAN%20OF%20ARC.
I’m confused. And not a filmmaker. Is there technically a difference between a matte and a “composite” shot?
Edit: I presume a matte is one form of a composite shot? Specifically painted backgrounds?
Cloud tanks are a lovely technique, nothing really quite has the same feel, even actual ominous clouds
Right? There's just something about some of the older techniques that you just can't duplicate in digital. Well done cloud shots from late 70s and 80s movies just carry with them this otherworldly weight you can't get with digital.
Rotoscoping
You can actually see the matte line right there.
In fact if you follow some of the fences they are crooked.
They would use existing topology of the scene's matte lines as best they can.
You can even see the bluescreen edge on his hair when he gets close here
The sky is the original blue-screen. Matte paintings were common, usually done by hand on glass, a rare trade these days. By the time Cape Fear was made they were also overlaying frames on footage. This could have been an actual time-lapse of clouds, but it could also have been done in a cloud tank
Back then weather machines were still used or a native doing a rain / storm dance
Right but in the 90s this was probably a hand painted matte with clouds made practically in a water tank with milk.
ding ding ding ding. The skyline is also very sharp and easy to matte (I'm sure deliberately), so the optical lab would use the matte to expose just the foreground, then do another pass exposing just the sky part on the same strip, and then you have a new sky.
I think it was a hand painted matte that was animated for movement
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2013/01/?m=1
This should be the top post. Here's the source itself, with attribution.
Yes, Stromberg painting, probably hand-animated parts of the clouds. They do the exact same thing with another Stromberg matte painting for an Adams Family movie and explain the technique towards the end of this video
The shot from Cape Fear is shown, including the original footage without the matte.
If the camera is locked off everything is possible in post.
This scene always made me laugh with how close he gets to the camera.
Im watching it now and yeah, played it back a few times because it's indeed quite weird lol. Also cutting a bit sooner would have made it so his head isn't against the clouds, because the rotoscoping is really evident on his hair
That's the best part of the shot; it's unexpected and feels like a violation. It's the best type of weird.
Ya lol, should have cut like a second earlier
Matte painting, multiple exposure passes to add movement. Explained here.
Even the same matte artist (Stromberg) and a movie from 1993 (Adams Family Values).
They matted out the actual sky and optically printed the stormy one. It’s how they composited shots using film before digital compositing tools were available.
Side note - this was 1991 so there were some digital tools available at the time. Not sure if this film took advantage of them though.
Matte was the way.
Off of this: I’m filming an exterior scene for my film in a few months and it’d be cool to do something similar. How would I achieve that? Thanks to anyone who reads and responds
You start with buying Red Trousers and it all just works from there.
They did it with mirrors
Dude this is my fav DeNiro… he got f’n Crazy for this one.