Creating Special Effects for TV and Video, 3rd Edition

Action Miniatures

 

Because the purpose of a miniature is to convince viewers that they are looking at a real-life scene, movements on an action miniature must be correctly scaled. This implies that distances and times must be co-related and that every motion is recorded at the right speed.

Water

Model ship sequences in movies are among the finest special effects created for the medium, but they are invariably filmed on huge outdoor tanks. (The one at Pinewood Studios is 230ft (70.1m) wide backed by a 60ft (18.3m) high false sky.) Nevertheless quite creditable results can be obtained on smaller tanks constructed from tarpaulins.

Storm sequences require the use of wind machines, wave paddles and foam mixtures, but the drops of water that are ...