Richard Carnahan
2008-07-23 15:51:21 UTC
The special effects Charlie Chaplin used in his last silent film will
be discussed Thursday at the film academy's Linwood Dunn Theater.
By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 23, 2008
CALL them the CSI team of vintage movies.
Today's film buffs know just about every trick of the trade when it
comes to special effects. But that wasn't the case during Hollywood's
Golden Age. "The techniques were trade secrets," says Craig Barron, an
Oscar-nominated matte painting innovator who heads his own visual
effects company, Matte World Digital.
So Barron and other special effects enthusiasts have investigated how
those vintage effects were accomplished, watching classic films over
and over in the process.
"We're using computer graphics as a way to simulate and help an
audience appreciate [the effects]," Barron says.
On Thursday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences'
Linwood Dunn Theater, Barron will discuss the methods that Charlie
Chaplin used on 1936's “Modern Times.”
He will be joined on the "Techno Chaplin" program by John Bengston,
author of "Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the
Films of Charlie Chaplin." The evening includes a screening of the
digitally restored film.
be discussed Thursday at the film academy's Linwood Dunn Theater.
By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 23, 2008
CALL them the CSI team of vintage movies.
Today's film buffs know just about every trick of the trade when it
comes to special effects. But that wasn't the case during Hollywood's
Golden Age. "The techniques were trade secrets," says Craig Barron, an
Oscar-nominated matte painting innovator who heads his own visual
effects company, Matte World Digital.
So Barron and other special effects enthusiasts have investigated how
those vintage effects were accomplished, watching classic films over
and over in the process.
"We're using computer graphics as a way to simulate and help an
audience appreciate [the effects]," Barron says.
On Thursday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences'
Linwood Dunn Theater, Barron will discuss the methods that Charlie
Chaplin used on 1936's “Modern Times.”
He will be joined on the "Techno Chaplin" program by John Bengston,
author of "Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the
Films of Charlie Chaplin." The evening includes a screening of the
digitally restored film.