Pictures gallery from the film : 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

Director: Richard Fleischer
Dir Fotopraphy: Franz Planer
Production Design: Harper Goff
Special effects:  Robert A. Mattey John Hench  Joshua Meador
Matte artist:  Peter Ellenshaw
Special Photographic effects: Ralph Hammeras
Director of photography: visual effects unit: Charles Bovel
Miniature technician:  Warren Wray Hamilton
Back projection:  supervisorAndy Lane
Model sculptor: Chris Mueller
Visual effects supervisor: second unit: Fred Sersen
Titles designer: Albert Whitlock
Director of photography: second unit: Edward Colman
Special processes:  Ub Iwerks
 

" For the slaves loading the ship scene, we nedded hundreds os slaves and only had  thirthy extras. This shot was to have five different exposures on one piece of film.
Luckily, I had been taugght by master Pop Day, and during the seven years I worked for hum he made sure thata I was not hist an artist, but undertood how the effects process worked. The camerra was mounted into a dark  shed . The black matte (mask) was carefully cut into five separate pieces, each part was lined up so that we could photograph the same thirty or so extra people in four differente places, of course, rewinding the film after each take.  We took only one piece of mask away for each exposure, as no time was there more that one removed. The fifth mask was for the ship, to be painted later at the studio."
By the book : Ellenshaw under glass.

Ellenshaw and Ub Iwerk into the dark shed.

 

The final scene with the group of slaves composed and the painted elementes, ship, ocean, distant mountains, and foreground tree.