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  © Universal Pictures

The Thing Title Shot Original Matte Painting of Planet Earth by Jim Danforth

This is a matte painting of Earth from the title shot of John Carpenter’s science fiction film The Thing. The painting was used in the opening shot of the film where an alien craft can be seen skyrocketing toward our planet, just before the film's title comes onto the screen with it's unique and memorable lettering - THE THING. This matte was painted by veteran animator Jim Danforth on a thin rectangular sheet of glass in the upper right corner utilizing several shades of light blue and white colors. The matte, held in a brown wooden frame, features a black starfield underneath, which was added later for the purposes of display. The starfield seen in the film was a different scale and was optically composited into the shot later. The framed matte measures approximately 48” x 35” (122cm x 89cm).