January 31st - 2022: City in the Palm of My Hand - Part 1

Forced perspective has been used for decades now since it was discovered, and not just in artwork, but still creatively in other mediums. For instance, take the 1982 movie, Blade Runner, for example.

Due to the lacking of CGI in 1982, mainly because it would not exist properly for another decade. The film, like a lot of other movies that were about to come out in the coming years, and had been used in the prior decade, miniatures was the way to go when creating something of a large scale or simply impossible to crate full scale.

Famous examples of movie miniatures made prior to 1982 are:

• Sydney, Australia - Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

• Manhattan Island - Escape From New York

• U.S.S. Enterprise - Star Trek: The Motion Picture

• The Nostromo - Alien

• X-Wings - Star Wars: A New Hope

Now, even though most people would think that a perspective piece of art work is only viewable from one able, especially since a lot of perspective artwork is dont using point perspectives (1, 2, 3, 4+).

Yet! Yet, it doesn't have to be like that. As you can see from the imagery, the miniatures used give the audience a forced perspective, subliminally tricking them into thinking something is bigger than it actually is! Cities miniatures allow people to see places which would never be possible due to their sheer scale, like a dried out ocean next to Sydney, or a wall surrounding Manhattan Island, acting as a massive prison. Or ships, such as the U.S.S. Enterprise, or the city sized interstellar cargo cruiser Nostromo, or even the tiny fighter X-Wings, each of them utilised to take the audiences off world and show them places and fights not possible to be done full size.

Now, where am I going with this? Firstly, back to Blade Runner. The opening sequence to the film is an expansive wide shot of Los Angeles in 2019 (not our 2019 mind you, a fictional one, just making sure you follow me), black towers of flames erupting over the industry fields below, lights of the skyscrapers glowing and dimming in the distance, and 'spinners' flying between the structures.

All of these glorious opening minutes are incredible, and not just due to its sheer tiny...massive...miniature...scale?

I think i just confused myself...

Anyway, the miniature of the city, even though supposed to look tiny, was massive. Using meters and meters of thick card, plastic, ink, paints, wires and fibre coptic cables (7 miles of those to be exact) .

Los Angeles Miniature Article Link: https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-miniature-models-of-blade-runner/