SCALE: CAMERA PART 2

Part 1 of this study went over how camera’s speed and depth of field can give indicators of the scale of the scene and can be used to help the scene feel less like a miniature. In this next study, we will be looking at shots of miniature sets to see how their camera moves show their scale.

Notice how the shot comes to a perfect resolution at the end (comes to a perfect halt). This is a tell that it is a miniature being shot by a regular sized camera on a crane because that’s not the movement of a helicopter.

Hogwarts had a miniature set that was used throughout the movies, this makes it ideal to study miniature photography. Let’s look at The Goblet of Fire.

The following shot has the same stage shot feel: the camera is on a crane rig and comes to a perfect stop once it has its final framing.

While these camera moves would be impossible for these sets at actually size, this doesn’t exactly make them an “impossible camera“. An impossible camera is what breaks integration by conspicuously moving an an impractical way or by being a camera that has no mass, allowing it to move through objects. This miniature camera movement effect is a positive if you want your shot to feel model-made and practical, and to shoot exteriors like a small-scale set with a normal size camera that can come to a perfect stop in “mid air”. However, if you want your set to feel larger and like aerial footage shot by a helicopter rather than a miniature crane, one of the keys is to not resolve the shot at the end: do not let it come to a halt in the cut and maintain camera speed. Let’s compare the two shots below:

Blade Runner, camera rig:

The Dark Knight, helicopter: