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At our meeting last night, we also started to watch the new DVD of THE BRAINIAC. Same thing again -- no opticals, not even rear screen projection! Two shots at the beginning were done with photo backgrounds, which would seem to me to cost as much to make as rear screen shots (unless you just don't have the equipment, of course).


After looking at those shots again, particularly the one with the cityscape in the background, I'm inclined to think that these were slides. The brightness of the city lights would look different in a mere photo blow-up.

Also, there's one shot where the actors exit off screen right at a diagonal towards the screen and step into darkness. This is a characteristic lighting technique seen with rear projection -- not washing out the image with too much light near the screen -- not with a photo blow-up which would probably benefit from the additional light.

While the technical limitations of the Mexican film industry at that time may have precluded conventional rear projection, the rear projection of a slide would be relatively easy for anyone. I could be wrong but that's what I'd do in a low-budget situation. A slide is cheaper than a photo blow-up and an easier set-up than standard rear projection.