Review of "From Mattes to Green Screen"

For the time period Méliès was working in, I was surprised he was able to create the effects of removing and adding his head to multiple parts of the screen. What I would like to know is how he came up with the idea to block out certain parts of the film. When the speaker began talking about traveling mattes in the film Sunrise, I began to look around the figures which had their silhouettes outlined, and noticed the cropping was somewhat off around the individuals. Seeing how awkward the space is around the man's head, I know I will need to have precise cropping in my projects. In The Thief of Bagdad, I want to know if the slight color changing in the background was intentional, or just because of the filming technologies used. I do not believe modern day film makers are too reliant on green screens. With the green screen, things unimaginable are possible and these films attract a large audience.