How can you make a short person look tall?

[Edmund Olszewski]

When you have two people standing next to each other holding hands for example is there a way to make one of them look taller or shorter than the other? :blink:

[Brian Rose]

When you have two people standing next to each other holding hands for example is there a way to make one of them look taller or shorter than the other? :blink:

 

Well on Casablanca, Bogart wore lifts so he could be taller than his 5 foot 10 co-star Ingrid Bergman.

 

That and careful framing and composition.

 

BR

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

You should take a look at Julie and Julia shot by Stephen Goldblatt - they did an excellent job of making Meryly Streep look very tall.

[Brad Grimmett]

I've worked with a couple stand in's that have lifts so they can stand in for people of different heights. Should work fine if you don't see them head to toe.

[JD Hartman]

If they're not standing shoulder to shoulder, you can use stage tricks like forced perspective, a raked ceiling and floor.

[Tom Jensen]

How tall do you want him? Start with a pancake, then a half apple and then if you have to stick him on a full apple.

[Brad Grimmett]

How tall do you want him? Start with a pancake, then a half apple and then if you have to stick him on a full apple.

Clearly that's the easiest and best option for a single shot. I think it's a harder issue to solve if they need to appear taller throughout a whole film. It's very time consuming to try to build a whole platform for someone for a walk and talk for example.

[Edmund Olszewski]

I did not have a shot planned out yet... I was just trying to figure out what my possibilities were first.

I was limited on actors and I wanted a guy to be taller than a lady.

 

I started wondering how they did it with the Hobbits vs. regular people in Lord of the Rings.

Maybe there are some common practices.

 

I appreciate all the suggestions very much... you guys are great!

 

Thanks