Filming Miniatures

sdeming

sdeming

Member
So, I've been playing around with this, very unsuccessfully I might add. Basically I want to film a miniature of a plane, and have if fly over a car. But, I've filmed a background plate (the car) and a few passes with a matchbox plane (747) and a green screen. The plane was on mini dolly. Even trying to get it to look right in the side to side movement seems impossible. Anyone know of any resources in this area? Is there a reason it's not a viable option for an indi film maker?
 
Miniatures can look amazing, but matching scale, perspective, apparent sharpness/DOF, and color grading/compositing to match can be tough. Stu's "DV Rebel's Guide" has a lot to offer in this regard, if you've not picked it up. Whole section on shooting minatures, complete with scale calculator in an Excel file.
 
sdeming said:
So, I've been playing around with this, very unsuccessfully I might add. Basically I want to film a miniature of a plane, and have if fly over a car. But, I've filmed a background plate (the car) and a few passes with a matchbox plane (747) and a green screen. The plane was on mini dolly. Even trying to get it to look right in the side to side movement seems impossible. Anyone know of any resources in this area? Is there a reason it's not a viable option for an indi film maker?
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Do you have access to a 3D animation package? Even with a cheaper one, you might have better results finding a freeware 747 model and animating a plate to composite in.
 
miniaturecalculation.jpg
 
I know that one of the most important things about miniatures is the frame rate. Usually it is done at a faster frame rate (overcranked/slo-mo) to help give more mass and weight to the object. This is especially important when filming miniatures of exploding buildings or spaceships or something like that.

I have to say, I really love miniatures and in-camera effects. Digital is great too, but I think films rely on digital effects too much these days.
 
Truly awesome.

Now, I'm no math wizzard, so if you've got a camera that can do up to 60fps, what scale should you keep your minitatures?
Anyone?
 
alternative

alternative

Not sure what you want this plane to do. But, there are places where you can film real planes, pretty low. They're called airports!

By finding the right vantage point, right lens, right shots to cut to, you could forget the miniature and go big -- real big.

If you really want a miniature plane, you need a big miniature, several feet long, and you need to calculate the frame rate at that scale. The larger the model, the less scaling is needed. I believe a 1/15th or 1/12th (forget which) needed an 83fps frame rate. A 150 foot plane scaled at 1/15th still needs a 10 foot model!

I would forget the miniature, the cgi, and find the right spot near the runway.
 
If you just need a simple quick flyover shot, you may be able to just move a still of the plane (with a transparent background) across the screen in post. But that won't work for anything complicated.
 
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