This Invention Made Disney MILLIONS, but Then They LOST It!

Summary

In this intriguing video, the narrator explores the sodium vapor process, a visual effects technology invented by Disney in the 1960s that surpasses the green screen. Despite its superior ability to layer moving images without common green screen issues, the technology was forgotten due to the difficulty of replicating its unique prism. Dr. Paul Debevec joins to explain the science behind this 'magic' technique, which uses a specific yellow light spectrum to separate images. The video culminates in a modern recreation of Disney's lost prism, showcasing its potential for flawless compositing and reigniting the debate on whether sodium vapor could be superior to green screens in today's visual effects landscape.

Takeaways

• 🎥 The video discusses the nostalgia and superiority of visual effects in old movies, specifically the technology invented by Disney in the 1960s.
• 🟢 The traditional green screen has limitations, such as issues with filming blurry or transparent objects and wearing clothes of the same color.
• 🌟 Disney's technology, known as the sodium vapor process, used a specific yellow light spectrum and a beam splitter prism to achieve effects without modern computers.
• 🔬 The sodium vapor process was able to block or allow only the specific wavelength of light (589 NM), which allowed for high-quality compositing without affecting other colors.
• 💡 The process involved splitting light through a lens onto two strips of film, with one reflecting the sodium vapor light and the other capturing the color image of the actor.
• 🚫 The technology was not widely adopted due to the inability to replicate the custom beam splitter prism, which was expensive and only produced in limited quantities.
• 🧙‍♂️ Dr. Paul Debevec managed to recreate Disney's lost prism using modern components and techniques, marking the first test of the sodium vapor process in over 30 years.
• 🛠️ The recreation of the process involved using off-the-shelf components like filters and two cameras instead of a custom beam splitter and film strips.
• 🤹‍♂️ The video demonstrates the effectiveness of the recreated sodium vapor process in compositing a scene of a clown getting married on Mars.
• 🆚 A comparison between the sodium vapor process and green screen shows the former's superiority in handling transparency, motion blur, and color spill.
• 🌐 The video concludes that while modern compositing tools have advanced, the sodium vapor process still holds value for perfect transparency in visual effects.

Q & A

What is the fundamental building block of visual effects?

The ability to layer one moving image over another is the fundamental building block of visual effects.

What are some common issues with using green screen technology?

Issues with green screen technology include difficulty filming blurry or transparent objects, restrictions on wearing clothes the same color as the screen, and color spill that can ruin footage.

What was the technology invented by Disney in the 1960s that was superior to the green screen?

Disney invented the sodium vapor process, which used a specific spectrum of yellow light and a beam splitter prism to achieve superior visual effects.

How does the sodium vapor process differ from green screen technology?

The sodium vapor process uses a specific wavelength of light that can be blocked or allowed through using filters, enabling the separation of the actor's image from the background without affecting other colors in the scene.

Why is the sodium vapor process considered superior to green screen technology?

The sodium vapor process is considered superior because it allows for perfect compositing without issues like mat lines, motion blur, or color spill, which are common with green screen technology.

Why is the sodium vapor process not still in use today?

The sodium vapor process is not in use today because the custom beam splitter prisms were difficult and expensive to produce, and only a few were ever made. Additionally, the location of these prisms is currently unknown.

What was the main challenge Dr. Paul Debevec faced in recreating Disney's Magic prism?

The main challenge Dr. Paul Debevec faced was replicating the physics of the sodium vapor process using off-the-shelf components, as the original custom beam splitter prisms were no longer available.

How did Dr. Paul Debevec manage to recreate the sodium vapor process without the original prisms?

Dr. Paul Debevec recreated the physics of the sodium vapor process using two filters and two cameras instead of the original custom beam splitter and film strips.

What is the significance of the recreated sodium vapor process being tested for the first time in over 30 years?

The significance lies in demonstrating that the sodium vapor process can still provide superior results for visual effects compositing compared to modern green screen technology.

What is the potential impact of the sodium vapor process on the film industry?

The potential impact includes offering a superior method for compositing that could lead to more realistic and high-quality visual effects, as well as providing valuable training data for machine learning tools in post-production.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Rediscovering Disney's Forgotten Visual Effects Technology

This paragraph delves into the nostalgia for old movie visual effects and introduces a superior technology invented by Disney in the 1960s, known as the sodium vapor process. This technique allowed for the layering of moving images without the limitations of green or blue screens, such as issues with motion blur, transparency, and color spill. The process utilized a specific yellow light spectrum from a low-pressure sodium vapor light, which, combined with a beam splitter prism, enabled the separation and combination of the sodium vapor wavelength and the rest of the light spectrum to create a perfect composite without the need for modern computers. The paragraph also discusses the challenges of recreating this technology due to the loss of the original prisms and the high cost of production.

05:00

🤹‍♂️ The Resurrection of Disney's Magic Prism and Testing the Sodium Vapor Process

The speaker expresses a desire to create a film with complex visual effects that would be impossible with green screen technology, such as a clown wearing colorful attire on Mars. The paragraph then shifts to the surprise and excitement of receiving a message from Dr. Paul Debevec, who claims to have recreated Disney's magic prism. The process involves setting up sodium vapor lights and LED lights to illuminate the actor, JC, without causing the sodium vapor light to make her transparent. The paragraph details the meticulous setup and testing process, including the use of a spectral light meter to ensure no sodium vapor light hits the subject, culminating in the successful test of the sodium vapor process after 30 years.

10:01

🚀 Comparing Sodium Vapor to Green Screen: A Revolutionary Visual Effects Experiment

The final paragraph focuses on the practical application and comparison of the sodium vapor process with the conventional green screen technique. The team conducts an experiment to film a scene of a clown getting married on Mars, addressing the difficulties of keying out certain elements like a veil and a colorful dress with green screen. Despite using advanced green screen tools and techniques, the results are not satisfactory, with issues like color spill and edge feathering. In contrast, the sodium vapor process, which Dr. Debevec recreated using off-the-shelf components, yields a flawless composite with no need for manual adjustments or post-production cleanup. The paragraph concludes with the team's astonishment at the success of the sodium vapor process and a discussion on its potential relevance in the age of LED screens and volumes, suggesting that it could provide valuable training data for machine learning in compositing tools.

Keywords

💡Visual Effects

Visual effects (VFX) are the techniques used in film, television, and other media to create images, objects, or environments that cannot be captured through traditional photography or filming methods. In the video, the theme revolves around the evolution and comparison of visual effects techniques, specifically the discussion of older methods like the sodium vapor process versus modern green screen technology.

💡Green Screen

A green screen is a technique that uses a bright green background to make it easier to separate a subject from the background in post-production, allowing for the insertion of different backgrounds or environments. The script discusses the limitations of green screen technology, such as issues with filming blurry or transparent objects and the inability to wear green clothing.

💡Sodium Vapor Process

The sodium vapor process is an old visual effects technique invented by Disney in the 1960s. It uses a specific spectrum of yellow light from a low-pressure sodium vapor light to create a separation between the actor and the background. The video explains how this process was superior to green screen in many ways, allowing for more complex scenes to be composited without the common issues associated with green screen technology.

💡Chroma Keying

Chroma keying is a visual effects technique that involves replacing a specific color (usually green or blue) with another image or background. The script mentions how traditional chroma keying can be problematic, especially with the green screen, but the sodium vapor process was able to break the rules of chroma keying without the need for computers.

💡Composite

In visual effects, a composite refers to the final image that is created by combining multiple elements, such as live-action footage, computer-generated imagery, and backgrounds. The video demonstrates the process of creating a composite using the sodium vapor process, which allows for a cleaner and more seamless integration of elements than traditional green screen techniques.

💡Prism

A prism is an optical component that can refract and disperse light. In the context of the video, the prism used in the sodium vapor process was a custom-made piece of glass that allowed for the separation of the sodium vapor wavelength from the rest of the light spectrum. The script discusses the difficulty and cost of replicating this prism, which contributed to the decline in use of the sodium vapor process.

💡Beam Splitter

A beam splitter is a device that divides light into two separate beams. In the video, the sodium vapor process used a beam splitter prism to split the light coming through the lens onto two strips of film simultaneously. The script explains how modern recreations of the process use off-the-shelf components to mimic the physics of the original beam splitter.

💡LED Lights

LED lights are a type of lighting technology that uses light-emitting diodes to produce light. In the script, LED lights are used to illuminate the actor during the filming process for the sodium vapor test. They represent a modern alternative to traditional lighting methods and are part of the updated approach to recreating the sodium vapor process.

💡Spectral Light Meter

A spectral light meter is a device that measures the spectrum of light, providing information about the intensity of different wavelengths. In the video, a spectral light meter is used to ensure that the sodium vapor light is not hitting the subject, which would cause transparency issues in the composite. It's an essential tool for achieving the correct lighting conditions for the sodium vapor process.

💡Transparency Mask

A transparency mask is used in visual effects to isolate certain elements of an image, allowing for the replacement of a background or other elements. In the script, the sodium vapor process creates a black and white transparency mask that can be used to composite the actor onto a different background without the issues typically associated with green screen compositing.

💡Volume

In the context of the video, a volume refers to a physical space where scenes can be filmed with LED screens providing dynamic backgrounds. The script discusses the value of the sodium vapor process in comparison to modern techniques like shooting in a volume, highlighting the continued need for effective compositing techniques despite advancements in technology.

Highlights

Old movies had superior visual effects due to a technology invented by Disney in the 1960s.

The technology, known as the sodium vapor process, was superior to the green screen.

The sodium vapor process used a specific spectrum of yellow light to create a 'yellow screen'.

A beam splitter prism was used to split light onto two strips of film simultaneously.

The process allowed for blocking one wavelength of light without affecting other colors.

The sodium vapor process enabled perfect compositing without issues like motion blur or spill.

The technology was lost due to the inability to replicate the custom prism.

Only three of these prisms were ever made, and their current whereabouts are unknown.

Dr. Paul Debevec recreated Disney's Magic prism using modern components.

The recreation used two filters and two cameras instead of a custom beam splitter and film.

The sodium vapor process was tested for the first time in over 30 years.

The test demonstrated the process's ability to handle complex elements like veils and motion blur.

Green screen techniques were compared and found lacking in comparison to the sodium vapor process.

The sodium vapor process produced a superior key without the need for extensive post-production tweaks.

The experiment showcased the potential of sodium vapor for compositing and visual effects.

The sodium vapor process could provide valuable training data for machine learning in compositing tools.

The experiment was successful, proving the sodium vapor process as a 'gold standard' for visual effects.

Transcripts

do you ever feel like visual effects in

old movies were better what if I told

you that wasn't just Nostalgia speaking

back in the 1960s Disney invented a

technology that was in many ways

superior to the green screen but that

Tech has long since been forgotten and

what if I told you that we found a way

to recreate

[Music]

it being able to layer one moving image

over another is the fundamental building

block of visual effects every single

crazy effect shot from every movie you

love relies on this basic core technique

and the primary way we do that is with

green screen or blue screen but there

are lots of problems with green screen

even in this modern era you can't film

blurry or transparent things you can't

wear clothes that are the same color as

the screen and the spill of the color

often times ruins footage if I want to

make a movie about a clown wearing all

the colors of the rainbow getting

married on Mars I can't that bothers me

if I could get my hands on an invention

that didn't have any of these issues it

would be like a filmm superpower it

would be like magic do you really think

so what's special about that app it's

transparent it's arent

transparent I thought the stuff I was

seeing on screen was impossible they're

keying a veil they're keying salt smoke

they're even wearing blue and green

clothes this movie from 1964 broke every

rule of chroma and they did it all

without computers so how do they do it

to explain the science behind the magic

we are joined by Dr Paul debevic the

sodium vapor process instead of a blue

screen or a green screen they used what

was sometimes called a yellow screen

there a very specific spectrum of yellow

made from a low press sodium vapor light

that puts out one wavelength of light at

589 NM because it's just one wavelength

and because of how drro filters work you

can actually block just that one

wavelength or let just that one

wavelength go through so the magic of

the sodium vapor process is they used a

beam splitter prison so that the light

that comes through the lens gets split

onto two strips of film at the same time

the sodium vapor wavelength of 589 NM

reflects out this way and all the rest

of the spectrum goes through and can

expose a color image of the actor and

that's exactly what you need to get your

map what's kind of magical about it is

that you can block that one wavelength

of yellow without messing up all of the

other colors in that scene there's no

mat lines he's motion bluring he's

dancing around the compositing is

impeccable yeah it's perfect you

couldn't have gotten such great blur

over the alpha Channel with a green

screen or a blue screen seems too good

to be true why are we not still using

this technology today yeah really what

gives because they were never able to

replicate prism what I've read that

Disney was only able to produce one

prism is that true they had to join two

pieces of glass and then have layers of

material with different indices of

refraction it's a very custom job and it

would probably cost tens of thousands of

dollars at a minimum apparently there

were three of these ever made and

also we don't know where any of these

prisms are

today and that means I'm never going to

get to answer this Burning question I

have is sodium vapor better than Green

Screen the science the physics they all

tell me it is but because the prisms

have been lost the time I'm never going

to get to realize my dream of a clown

getting married on Mars and then one day

I got a message from Paul debevic he had

done what I thought was impossible he

had recreated Disney's Magic prism and

he needed somebody to test it out this

will be the first test of the sodium

vapor process in over 30 years well I

guess this is like our hello world of

sodium vapor matting we've got our color

image and our sodium vapor image there

there it is look at that that's the idea

it's working the first thing you need

are some sodium vapor lights so

thankfully they still make the bulbs

eventually after we've had these on for

10 minutes they'll start glowing that

color I think it's working and then

we've got a couple of LED lights here

that are going to illuminate the actor

so favor mats woohoo hey pretty sweet

how is this working how did Paul debevic

manage to resurrect Disney's lost prism

well with a deep understanding of the

science of light and a little bit of C

ity I'll do a beam splitter but I'll

just do a regular beam sweit like this

beam splitter and then we'll filter the

light after it comes out of the prism

Paul recreated the physics of the sodium

Vaper process but he did it with all

off-the-shelf components instead of a

custom beam splitter he used two filters

and instead of two strips of film he

just used two cameras yeah if you ever

think your rigs are janky they're all

janky for the first time ever my dreams

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click away all right now let's find out

what I'm going to do with all these hard

Tokey clothes Paul I would like to tell

you about this character every time I

approach a production company with it

they're like no can't do it it's

impossible okay and it's a story about a

clown that's trying to get

married you look so dumb me what look

I've heard big things about this magic

Crystal okay but this is ridiculous

that's impossible to key look at that I

hate to break it you but this video is

going to be a disappointment JC H feel

free to come on out it's my wedding day

oh my

God that would be difficult to key

wouldn't it it would I forgot to mention

that uh the Clown's getting married on

Mars hence the need to replace the

background oh of course yeah I think

this is going to be fantastic now I

suppose we should uh clean up the

lighting yeah kill all of the Full

Spectrum Lighting we need that one

covered yeah I need to cover one of the

skylights so that we don't have all this

like daylight spill coming in it's and

my dress is like marily been rowing

right now keep this side down it's the

best the clown can do so as you can see

right now we're spending a lot of time

getting these flags up because what we

don't want to have happen is we don't

want the sodium vapor light to be

hitting JC at all cuz then it's going to

be basically turning her transparent so

this is a spectral light meter it tells

you the spectrum of the light for

example this light here that shows its

LED light that's made out of red green

and blue LEDs to make the color white

and I can also take it and put in front

of the sodium vapor lights there is our

sodium vapor Spike at 589 nanm so let's

see if there's any sodium vapor light

hitting our subject mostly good but if I

look closely here I can see a tiny

little blip see that tiny little blip of

sodium vapor yeah science we're very

close but we're getting a little bit of

side spill on her and we're just

cleaning that up here if we're the first

ones to do this in like 30 years I want

to do it right you

know it went down nice that should be

better looks like we almost have a

perfect mat I guess the only thing left

to do is to shoot it maybe we should

shoot cool go ahead and roll the cameras

here we are in Mars the clown is looking

for the groom uh-oh there's aliens

behind you maybe turn around wave at the

aliens I want get one shot of myself as

well wearing my green hoodie which I

refused to take off and hopefully the

sodium vapor process lets us do

something Nico I want to see you do some

headbanging I want you to throw that

head

around I think we got it that would be

the hardest green screen shot that would

be so hard to do on a green screen and

cut dude this is going to be as

successful as Mary Poppins oh my god

[Music]

wow Paul's research has been super

influential on me to get to work with

him on an experiment is super super cool

I hope this works all right let's take a

look at what we got here's what our

color footage looks like and if I look

at the sodium vapor shot wow it looks

pretty good let's see what happens if I

take that and turn it into a black and

white transparency mask wow this should

work really well but before I try

pulling a transparency key here I need

to also try this with green screen to do

a true comparison to know if this is

better I'm using all the tricks for

perfect green screen that I've acquired

over the years lights with a hint of

green on them lights on Jordan with a

hint of magenta to cancel out the green

spill from the green screen I'm going to

do my best to light this green screen

and shoot it as good as I can all right

hi you're on Mars wave to us the

audience so we all know that sodium

Vapor should give scientifically better

results but green screen tools have had

years and years and years to mature I

can start pulling in the thickness of

that mat but while the dress starts to

come back the veil now has these ugly

lines I can try to you know close the

holes in the dress using a different

tool here but it patches up the holes in

the veil there's just no way to handle

the range of greens here and for green

screen tools to know what we want to

keep and what we don't want to

keep oh no yuck

destroyed actually not bad bad be honest

did you do your best with the key I did

the issue is is I can't get the

transparency of the veil and like the

slightly off green dress in fact the

only way you could do a shot like this

is to go in and cut out all these

different sections by hand and have a

bunch of Patchwork different solutions

in the image if the sodium vapor process

is superior it won't have any of these

issues all right so it's time to try the

sodium vapor process to do the composite

and see if it works here we have JC and

here we have our background right and

the way we're going to do this actually

mirrors the way they did it on film back

in the day the thing is if you just take

two pieces of film and you layer them

over each other you end up with a double

exposure you need something called a

hold out mat that leaves a hole for you

to Simply add your other image on top so

we're going to take our background and

we're going to subtract the mat we're

going to take our foreground and we're

going to subtract everything that isn't

the mat now I take our background and

our foreground and we simply add them

together honestly I'm really excited to

see this because it felt like we were

doing one of the coolest and most

high-tech things we've ever done and I

would love for this to pay off here are

the results and I'll let you guys be the

judge

[Music]

waa wow that's wild dude it's Mary

Poppins this is amazing it's

incredible oh no you dog water he's

drinking water on

M this is my favorite one the water is

just such a flex check out the motion

blur oh the hands oh wow the motion blur

drops the color exposure correctly on

the background right there turns it red

oh corrected ma oh my God it's so good

dude those little tiny hairs on top oh

my God and I didn't have to do any work

you didn't have to tweak your like white

clip black clip no I hate that D spill

bias no there's no spill what about your

Edge feather edge feather no D spill no

messing with gamma of your mat no

thresholds no restoring Fringe no

cleaning the blacks no cleaning the

whites nothing he's turn it on yes turn

it on wow good job good job that is

amazing

po y so I just got the opinion of

everybody at Corridor but I need to get

the opinion that actually really

matters oh wow you're zooming in on it

you are not afraid of your mat lines

that was clearly exactly what needed to

be filmed to show off this technique

exactly what about a volume could you

use a volume in today's age when you can

just go and shoot on a volume with an

LED screen is sodium vapor worth

pursuing in practice a lot of those in

camera back grounds will get replaced so

it seems like we're still in a world

where we need to be able to cut out

backgrounds and put people on new things

yeah flexibility in post- production is

incredibly valuable one thing that

you're noticing is like composing tools

are getting better CU they're starting

to have a bit of machine learning inside

of them machine learning needs training

data the question is where do you get

all that training data there is no

perfect easy compositing technique and I

thought this would be a good way to do

it so sodium vapor is another one of

those essential steps in this progress

towards having perfect transparency for

compositing and visual effects then

absolutely it is the gold standard the

yellow

standard well Paul thank you once again

for joining us here on the corridor

Channel if you like these deep dives

into classic visual effects technology

along with industry experts talking

about it you'll definitely love our

Abyss video so go check that out and uh

yeah thank you I really appreciate it

great to see you glad you come mind this

was fun this is a great time

totally