Moses raises staff to part the sea

Annotated photograph used in the production process for the `Parting of the Red Sea' sequence from the film THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 1955: Moses raises staff to part the sea, piece #492-3.

This is a combination of a blue-separation positive of the exact moment of the parting of the sea, plus hand-drawm art made by the art department at Paramount Pictures. Most of the "white" is painted on, but the white around the actors is the blue screen (blue looks clear through a blue filter, hence a "blue separation", another printing step for mattes).

Blue screen photography took place on 29 September 1955, cloud photography on 28 September 1955.

Actors present Charlton Heston, Olive Deering, Lawrence Dobkin and John Carradine.