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Shooting miniatures


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For example, I need to shoot a scene, where a war ship is drowning.

I have a miniature 1:10

How should I shoot it to look realistic?

The scaling factor for overcranking your camera for miniatures is as follows

 

model speed = normal speed (24 for film USA) x square root of 1 over the model to life size ratio.

 

example 1:10 model

 

24x square root 1/.1= 24xsquare root 10= 24x3.18= 76fps

 

The water in your shot will be a little harder to deal with as waves don't scale well. I have heard of using wetting agents to reduce surface tension though I have no personal experience if this helps.

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When dealing with natural elements, smoke, fire, water, don?t really hold up when employing them in miniature environment that is less then 6th scale. A friend of mine while working on the titanic miniatures said that this was the case and they stuck to it.

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High speed will help, are you shooting film or video?

Video.

The scaling factor for overcranking your camera for miniatures is as follows

 

model speed = normal speed (24 for film USA) x square root of 1 over the model to life size ratio.

 

example 1:10 model

 

24x square root 1/.1= 24xsquare root 10= 24x3.18= 76fps

 

The water in your shot will be a little harder to deal with as waves don't scale well. I have heard of using wetting agents to reduce surface tension though I have no personal experience if this helps.

Thank for the formula! I`ll try to deal with water somehow...

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"Titanic" used very large miniatures plus a full-scale set -- there wasn't much use of a CGI Titanic actually.

 

But for the most part, the water hitting the sides of the ship was digitally created (CGI), combined with real ocean plates. Only the super large miniature sections, like the stern sinking, used a water tank.

 

Since there is no way to miniaturize water or flames, the larger the miniature, the better, unless you create the water or flames separately and composite them in. Some people try detergents or other agents in the water to break-up the surface tension.

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Hey,

 

how do you shoot convincing miniatures with video? (mini dv) I'm guessing you shoot it with standard settings and then do something in post production?

 

Lukeo

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I would film it slightly out of focus firstly. Then in focus but with a thin film of vaseline on the filter. Make sure lots of spray and water is splasing. Shoot some scenes with only water drops on the lens. Keep the craft small for detail purposes. Good luck 1

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Why do you overcrank when film miniatures?

 

Thanks in advance,

Tony.

 

To give a sense of scale to movement when it interacts with an organic environment (like a foot hitting the dusty ground, something exploding or a heavy object splashing into water, etc.)

 

Not necessary when it's a mechanical movement with no interaction with other materials -- for example, a spaceship moving through space is often shot at extremely low frame rates, moving the camera or spaceship very slowly, to allow longer exposure times so the lens can be stopped way down to improve depth of field.

 

But a shot of something like a miniature bridge collapsing or a miniature tank crashing through miniature trees would be shot with a lot of light or in sunlight (to stop down the lens) and with the camera overcranked to give the proper scale to the motion. A ship miniature moving through water, exploding, etc. would also be shot overcranked.

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