How Characters Are Made to Look Bigger and Smaller in Movies & TV | Movies Insider | Insider

Since the invention of film, filmmakers have tried to trick viewers into believing that an actor is either shorter or taller than they really are.

The most classic techniques are sticking an actor on a platform or having them interact with props built to scale. But those need to be paired with clever camera angles and visual effects. In “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), director Peter Jackson employed a forced perspective so Gandalf would really look like he was interacting with a hobbit. More complex computer-controlled camera moves and blue-screen compositing helped make the shots more complex and were used further in “The Two Towers” (2002), “The Return of the King” (2003), and the “Hobbit” trilogy (2012 to 2014).

Performance capture created even more opportunities for actors to play giants on camera in “Avatar” (2009) and “The BFG” (2016), but creating the proper sense of scale gets trickier when these characters have to interact with normal-sized actors. When playing 8-foot-tall Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), Josh Brolin wore a cutout on his head to fill the gap. A more sophisticated method used in Marvel’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” (2022) involved using CG to combine Tatiana Maslany’s performance with that of a much taller body double.

Now, with “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022), director James Cameron and the artists at Weta FX figured out some of the most precise and convincing ways yet to size up actors through a combination of floating monitors, virtual cameras, and props.

Check out more of Weta FX’s work:

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Every Way Characters are Resized for Movies and TV | Movies Insider | Insider

[killuanen]

Production at it’s best, especially for LOTR, Avatar and old movies. Respect for all the crew

[Livlifetaistdeth]

This is why movies cost so much to produce. Absolutely fascinating.

[mtable]

Even after seeing how it’s done… it’s still magical

[BrunoKarett]

The visual effects of the movies are amazing. Every movie gets better and better

[amanofnoreputation]

Sometimes the height illusion is as simple as giving an actor heels, like Tom Hardy playing Bane in _The Dark Knight Rises._

[josephlongfellow]

In that scene with Frodo and Gandolf, I never thought about how that's forced perspective. Now knowing that, I would assume that the wooden rectangle beams on each side are not the same size, but only appear to be the same to really secure it in our minds that Frodo's hand is far smaller than Gandolf's.

[jacktoma]

The way the hobbit was shot to accommodate for the hight differences made Ian McKellen have a breakdown on set

[simply-tom]

It’s pretty amazing to see the progression all these many years. Imagine what it’ll be like another 50 years down the road! Wow.

[mr._rdx_]

Truly Avatar's CGI and VFX is mind-blowing

[Nevyn]

“No, Dougal, this one is small, the ones out there are far away” - Father Ted Krilly

[BlenderStudy]

Amazing CG work..!! Thank you for the update, Insider..!!

[ct]

The picture of the face propped above the head is kind of hilarious. I guess the tennis ball wasn't cutting it anymore.

[mollycblaeser]

Honestly, I want to see more from Darby O'Gill & other older movies. Practical effects always impress me more!

[ileana]

In the LOTR they also have "Scale actors" : they were children or dwarves (small people, not the fantasy species) with the size the hobbits should have. There were used in larger camera shots when their faces were less precise in the camera.

[christoph]

the clip at 1:44 of "Darby O'Gill And The Little People" is a 1959 Disney film that set a certain standard for using forced perspective photography to make people look smaller, it is quite brilliant with some very complicated set ups and it has never quite been equalled, there is no Cgi and no back projection, the small characters and full size characters are on set at the same time, it is quite mind boggling to watch the film and try and figure out how it was done, it is totally convincing. Nowadays it is very easy to do with Cgi.

[seedywriter]

This video could be made up of examples of all Tom Cruise movies and it would still make sense.

[arothmanmusic]

Sharp-eyed watchers can see a giveaway to the forced perspective in the shot of Gandalf and Frodo at the table. Ian McKellan bumps his leg on the table during the scene, and only the front half of the table jiggles while the Elijah-sized half stays steady.

[RobbieFitzgerald]

I was really hoping this would go into detail about Hagrid in HP.

[Mcthindi]

What can i say, tech is getting better and better day by day

[RPAudioeVisual]

Props for the props teams in these movies.