Shooting Miniatures

I am in no way an expert when it comes to making or shooting miniatures, but I do a bit of it and plan on doing a lot more.  Especially for "Alien Vengeance III" and the ongoing web series, "The Simplest Things".  With "The Simplest Things" being a sci-fi comedy about a fish out water alien named Pratt, the cartoonish, childlike quality of the miniatures I make fits right into the look I'm going for with the show.  It says, "low budget retro sci-fi" when you can tell something is a miniature. 

Having done a bit of shooting in miniature, however, I have developed an eye for what I like and I'm going to share some of that with you in the hopes that it will help someone else who may be curious about trying this out.

For one thing, I like to shoot with a long or zoomed lens.  I like to throw the focus on one particular part of the miniature set, preferably the best looking piece.  I think having foreground objects in sharp focus and backgrounds in soft focus or vice verse helps to give the illusion of size.  It makes thing appear to be further apart than they actually are.

For example, in this picture, the plastic tree and the paper house are about 6 inches apart, but the focus makes it seem like we're looking at a horribly painted full scale house...sort of.

I chose to make the tree the in focus part because the house has no windows and is made of paper.  The grassy hill behind it is paper mache and plaster spray painted green.  It looks like toys, but it looks like toys that you know are supposed to look bigger.

Another thing I like is direct light.  Shadows and highlights can cover flaws and also add some scale.  I especially like to this for my spaceships , but it does make them harder to screen in at times.  Light coming from one direction helps make the curves show up and may obscure a lack of detail.  Plus, a single directional light just makes things look more ominous.

In the photo to the right, the spaceship is lit from one side, leaving the far side in shadow so it blends into the starry sky.  The foreground is an actual model green screened into the image of a CG landscape.

Using as many layers as possible, whether they be real or computer generated can help to add depth too.  Here I wish I had put some sort of skyline in the background, but that lumpy "rock" in the mid ground helps a bit.

Finally, if you're more skilled than I am, or know somebody who is (and you must), the more detail in your miniature, the less you have to try and hide.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've made a spaceship sliding door out of a cereal box and I have to figure out how to make me walk through it.

See ya' next time.

Meanwhile, watch "The Simplest Things" in the players in the right margin.