Behind The Biggest Movies Tiniest Sets

A behind the scenes look at some of the most famous miniature sets

An alien spacecraft blowing the White House to smithereens in ‘Independence Day’. The action packed opening battle on the frozen plains of Hoth in ‘Empire Strikes Back’. The arrival via boat to the wonderful wizarding world of Hogwarts in ‘Philosopher’s Stone’. How are these enchanting and sensational scenes in some of the biggest movies of all time achieved? With the help of some of the smallest sets of all time.

Since the beginning of VFX in movies, miniature sets and models have been used to pull off authentic and realistic visuals- whether it be a Star Destroyer in Star Wars, The Tower of Isengard in Lord of the Rings or even the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters- without models and miniatures, these scenes could never have been achieved. The craft and attention to detail that goes into creating these miniatures and models is mind boggling with hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars going into their production. But no-one can argue with the end result.

In this video we take a look behind the scenes of the biggest movies and their tiniest sets. The challenges the tiny sets present and the way the movies overcome them. We will take a look into the benefits of using miniatures, how they came to fruition and how their popularity began to fade away.

So come take a look at some of the tiniest scenes of all time, a few of which will really shock you.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:27 Blowing the White House
2:22 In the Beginning
3:23 The Resurgence of Sci-Fi
7:18 The Rise and Fall of Miniatures
9:30 Miniatures in the Present
13:37 Stop Motion Animation

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Written by: Aiden M
Narrated by: Michael Keene
Edited by: JimmyMax

[alexmaff]

I was a modelist once, not a pro, but a good one and I enjoyed each and every model I made. These guys are doing an astonishing job (especially the ones who worked in older movies) and have all my respect and simpathy even though they are not recognized, just their names in the end credits. But I guess they really love their job. I got nothing against cgi but, being old fashioned, I truly think that miniature models make you feel you are truly watching something that really looks real.

[huntercressall]

Pretty sure 2001 predates MoCo entirely and there were no copyright issues with the Millennium Falcon. It was simply that after building the original model (later refitted to become the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV) the effects team said it looked like the Eagle from Space 1999.

[genshianomaly]

They did finally find some new names to work for their list videos

[ryanw]

Doc Brown apologizes for the crudity of his model; it’s not built to scale.