Promotion From an Unusual Direction

[krpalmer]

Leafing through this month's issue of Scientific American, I saw that its "Working Knowledge" page (a sort of "how it's done" feature) was looking at blue screen effects. One little bit in the article mentioned seeing "how software has improved matting" by getting the two-disc release of The Empire Strikes Back, also mentioned in its timeline as showing how "mini-computers automated the blue-screen process." I have to admit, though, that one of my first reactions was the ungentlemanly "What, Star Wars itself isn't good enough for you?" Then, though, I remembered how, when watching the Vintage Editions, it was during The Empire Strikes Back that the visible matte lines really started catching up to me. I suppose that's one product of having a lot of special effects composited against blue sky and white snow. Still, some other points in the article did seem a little sketchy to me as well, such as referring to "computer-animated characters" in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?