Schüfftan process
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The Schüfftan process is a movie special effect named after its inventor, Eugen Schüfftan (1893–1977). It was widely used in the first half of the 20th century before it was replaced by the travelling matte and bluescreen effects.
The process was designed by the German cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan while working on the movie Metropolis (1927). The movie's director, Fritz Lang, wanted to insert the actors into miniatures of skyscrapers and other buildings, so Schüfftan used a specially-made mirror to create the illusion of actors interacting with huge, realistic-looking sets.
Schüfftan placed a plate of glass at a forty-five-degree angle between the camera and the miniature buildings. He used the camera's viewfinder to trace an outline of the area into which the actors would later be inserted onto the glass. This outline was transferred onto a mirror and all the reflective surface that fell outside the outline was removed, leaving transparent glass. When the mirror was placed in the same position as the original plate of glass, the reflective part blocked a portion of the miniature building behind it and also reflected the stage behind the camera. The actors were placed several metres away from the mirror so that when they were reflected in the mirror, they would appear at the right size.
In the same movie, Schüfftan used a variation of this process so that the miniature set (or drawing) was shown on the reflective part of the mirror and the actors were filmed through the transparent part, as shown in the illustration.
Over the following years, the Schüfftan process was used by many other film-makers, including Alfred Hitchcock, in his film Blackmail (1929). The Schüfftan process was later replaced by matte shots, which were easier and more efficient to create.
[edit] References
- Pinteau, Pascal; & Hirsch, Laurel (Translator) (2005). Special Effects: An Oral History — Interviews with 37 Masters Spanning 100 Years. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. ISBN 0810955911.
