Speed Racer is a 2008 movie based on the popular American cartoon series by the same name, which did 52 episodes on American television during 1967 and 1968. A few episodes of the cartoon have also been translated into comic books.
The story of the movie is about a young man called Speed Racer (played by Emille Hirsch) -- do not be astonished because that indeed is his name -- who can drive cars at extraordinary speeds and actually takes that up as his profession although he is miserable in his school work. His family runs a business of manufacturing racing cars and he is a great lover of the sport. He also has a girlfriend named Trixie (played by Christina Ricci) who is extremely supportive of all his actions.
Made by the famous Wachowski brothers, the movie is more of a cartoon that has come alive than a real motion picture. It is a treat to watch for young kids but will not appeal much to the older populace. Despite being packed from end to end with stuff that makes a movie unbearable, Speed Racer manages to be entertaining and fun. A major reason behind this is the fact that the Wachowski brothers have added to the film a series of special effects that makes the viewer literally gape in wonder. To make the movie spectacular, every action sequence was done utilizing the Chroma Key or Green Screen technique, as it is popularly known. The flamboyant visuals as seen in this movie had been witnessed in movies of the Matrix series only before this.
The Green Screen technology that has contributed significantly to the success of the movie deserves more detailed discussion. The Green Screen or Chroma Key is a process of editing pictures and movies by means of which a subject recorded on a camera can be morphed seamlessly into a scene that has been generated by other artificial means.
The main picture or subject is filmed in the foreground with a green screen at the back and the final background is edited as necessary and finally superimposed on the green background of the main picture.
The background, which is to be inserted, can be any visual image whose colors are not the same as that of the subject and the foreground of the image. However, although the process is named Green Screen there are newspaper restrictions on the color of the background to be used while filming the subject and the foreground as long as it is distinctly different from that of the background to be used in the final image.
The story of the movie is about a young man called Speed Racer (played by Emille Hirsch) -- do not be astonished because that indeed is his name -- who can drive cars at extraordinary speeds and actually takes that up as his profession although he is miserable in his school work. His family runs a business of manufacturing racing cars and he is a great lover of the sport. He also has a girlfriend named Trixie (played by Christina Ricci) who is extremely supportive of all his actions.
Made by the famous Wachowski brothers, the movie is more of a cartoon that has come alive than a real motion picture. It is a treat to watch for young kids but will not appeal much to the older populace. Despite being packed from end to end with stuff that makes a movie unbearable, Speed Racer manages to be entertaining and fun. A major reason behind this is the fact that the Wachowski brothers have added to the film a series of special effects that makes the viewer literally gape in wonder. To make the movie spectacular, every action sequence was done utilizing the Chroma Key or Green Screen technique, as it is popularly known. The flamboyant visuals as seen in this movie had been witnessed in movies of the Matrix series only before this.
The Green Screen technology that has contributed significantly to the success of the movie deserves more detailed discussion. The Green Screen or Chroma Key is a process of editing pictures and movies by means of which a subject recorded on a camera can be morphed seamlessly into a scene that has been generated by other artificial means.
The main picture or subject is filmed in the foreground with a green screen at the back and the final background is edited as necessary and finally superimposed on the green background of the main picture.
The background, which is to be inserted, can be any visual image whose colors are not the same as that of the subject and the foreground of the image. However, although the process is named Green Screen there are newspaper restrictions on the color of the background to be used while filming the subject and the foreground as long as it is distinctly different from that of the background to be used in the final image.
