When utilized properly, though, matte paintings had their own special beauty. See these stills from 1947’s Black Narcissus. And they look even better on Blu-ray.
I think there’s a difference between matte paintings and just painted scenery (the kind you can cast a shadow on).
Matte paintings were done on glass and were very realistic; they were composited with film run through a multiple-headed camera through holes that had been masked off in the live-action negative, producing the desired effect (eg., a Depression town on the Great Plains, or 18th century dockyards on the Thames). I use the past tense, because I think CGI has largely replaced matte paintings in the special effects department.
Painted backdrops are just that: paint on canvas, dryboard, or something similar, just like in a theatrical production.
Sometimes, the backgrounds in old TV shows and movies were just slides projected onto a screen, eliminating the need to paint anything. Both back and front projection were used. (I remember this best from the exterior shots on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction.
On Star Trek in particular, colored gels and camera filters were used in combination with the studio lights to “paint” the sets different colors from week to week. In the original (and now remastered) films, the effect was often quite striking.
Even during the first run, I knew it was astroturf in the Brady’s back yard. I just thought it was because it’s expensive to grow and keep a real grass lawn indoors on a sound stage. I just thought it was a budgeting decision. Of course, back then, TV programs weren’t released on vhs or dvd to be dissected frame by frame or pixel by pixel by people using 54" HD monitors.
Sometimes “good enough” is, in fact, “good enough”.
Actually I think I noticed it was fake, but it didn’t bother me because the Bradys felt like the kind of people who would have a fake lawn in back. Green plastic on a rubber pad over concrete. And a plastic Christmas tree.
mrAru’s grandfather paved his ‘yard’ and painted it green. [combination of hay fever and not wanting to be arsed to mow a quarter acre of allergens.]
I have frequently considered ripping up the grass and paving the scrap of a yard we have. Would be better for using the wheelchair anyways.
Eh, cheap sets and astroturf yards of the days gone by are not really any worse the obvious CGI we put up with today. We use the tools and budgets we have at the time.