Photo-Realistic Transparent Movie Set Backdrop, 1950

Transparent Manhattan Movie Backdrop 1950
Transparent Manhattan Movie Backdrop 1950

For most of movie history, set backdrops had been opaque (non-transparent) sheets of fabric stitched together to form larger, set-sized sheets.

In 1950, photographer M.B. Paul was profiled creating transparent set backdrops from actual photographs.  Because they were transparent, they could be lit from the back as well as the front.

Click to Enlarge to 956 x 721 px:

Transparent Manhattan Movie Backdrop 1950
Transparent Manhattan Movie Backdrop 1950

The backdrop below may be from a movie called “Beloved Over All,” later retitled, “Our Very Own.”

Backyard Movie Set Transparency Backdrop 1950
Backyard Movie Set Transparency Backdrop 1950

 

 

Source:  Popular Mechanics January 1950

By Lee Wallender

Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.

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