Take Harryhausen skeletons for example. They film the actors and the skeletons, but how did they put them onto one bit of film? Surely someone didn’t have to cut out a skeleton from each frame and stick them on?
Likewise, how did they add matt paintings to the film?
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I’m sure there’s tons of documentaries on the internet showing all sorts of neat little tricks older filmmakers used to create effects.
The effect you cited can be a simple overlay. It’s not so different from green screen or rear projection.
A matte painting is, well, just a painting that actors act in front of. The camera positions itself to make the actor and background blend. Again, an early ancestor to green screen.
For something crazy like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, they specifically had sound stages that were elevated so crew could run underneath and manipulate real objects that animated characters would appear to be holding. Overlay several different layers of animation on top of the live action stuff to give the animated characters realistic lighting, shading, and focus depending on what the camera and lights were doing. It’s a massive pain in the butt compared to CGI, but ultimately it looks better.
All the colored lasers and force lighting in the original star wars was all hand drawn stuff. There are matte paintings left right and center.
Even modern movies employ old techniques. Lord of the Rings uses forced perspective to make Hobbits short. Titanic filmed a 3 foot model of the ship breaking in half in slow motion then added in some CG elements later.
Again, lots of behind the scenes documentaries exist for all sorts of shows, films, etc. Check them out, It’s really cool how clever filmmakers can be at making an effect.
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