Models
and
landscapes
that
are
built
to
some
relative
scale
make
large
objects
like
cities,
ships
and
science
fiction
vessels
possible
on
film.
The
sky's
the
limit.
Many
films
have
been
made
with
miniatures
standing-in.
Scaled
miniatures
can
be
built
of
nearly
any
appropriate
material,
as
long
as
it
looks
convincing.
All
miniatures
must
be
shot
carefully,
not
to
reveal
their
actual
size.
To
maintain
the
illusion
of
scale,
there
are
two
simple
techniques
that
are
very
effective.
First,
shoot
with
the
lens
set
to
a
very
small
F/stop
(F/8
->
F/22)
to
maintain
depth
of
field
and
keep
every
part
of
the
miniature
in
focus.
Miniatures
only
look
small
up
close
because
your
eyes
cannot
see
both
up
close
and
far
away
at
the
same
time.
Something
huge
is
all
in
focus
because
it's
usually
beyond
arm's
distance,
which
the
eyes
can
keep
in
complete
focus.
For
example,
if
you
look
at
a
book
at
the
end
of
your
nose,
the
rest
of
the
world
behind
it
goes
out
of
focus.
It
doesn't
look
like
a
500
foot
tall
monolith
to
you
because
you're
busy
focusing
your
eyes
up
close.
If
you
were
to
look
at
a
real
500
foot
tall
monolith,
it
would
all
be
in
focus
to
your
eyes
because
it
really
is
big.
A
deep
zone
of
depth-of-field
on
a
miniature
can
simulate
that
kind
of
scale
by
keeping
every
part
of
it
in
focus.
Maintaining
the
illusion
of
scale
can
also
be
augmented
by
using
a
mist
of
fog
(like
dry
ice
or
aerosol);
we
are
used
to
seeing
haze
in
the
atmosphere
and
any
landscape
miniature
would
profit
from
a
bit
of
atmospheric
haze.
If
something
really
big
were
to
move,
you
would
have
to
shoot
at
a
higher
speed
(slow-motion
photography)
to
scale
up
its
speed.
For
example,
if
you
wanted
to
create
the
illusion
that
your
foot
long
model
is
supposed
to
look
like
a
fifteen
foot
long
truck
falling
off
a
cliff,
you
would
multiply
your
frame
rate
(24FPS)
by
the
scale
of
your
model;
in
this
case,
24
multiplied
by
fifteen,
so
you
would
have
to
have
a
camera
capable
of
shooting
at
a
frame
rate
of
360
frames
per
second
to
slow
down
the
fall
so
its
scale
looks
convincing
on
screen.
