How to use MINIATURE MODELS as your movie sets (like Titanic) - After Effects Tutorial

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Steve Ramsden here and this week I tried a Hollywood trick of using a miniature model as the background for a scene, instead of building a full-scale set!
So you might have seen this effect used in some of the biggest films ever made, but you probably never even realised you were seeing it. A good example is “Titanic” where they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by not building huge portions of the ship that they weren’t going to use very much. They did this for at last two sets: the First Class lounge and the giant engine room. For these scenes they filmed their actors against green screen with a motion-control camera and filmed miniatures as the backgrounds with a scaled-down camera move to match. These passes are then combined and you don’t even question the final result. A same process was used by Peter Jackson using 'bigatures' (big miniatures!) in Lord of the Rings.
These days a lot of films choose to extend their sets and scenery with CGI, but if you’re making a film on a low budget and you enjoy that real-world feeling of miniatures, then this can be a great effect to try.
If you want to see more fun DIY Moviemaking experiments like this, then hit that subscribe button!
So for this test I got the background model shot while we were at a location to do some filming for a client. There was an old model there of a fusion power plant which was big enough to provide some great detail, and the best part was, I didn’t have to build it! It was however in a glass case which couldn’t be moved, and this presented a real challenge to light and film it without reflections. It also included two model figures at the bottom which couldn’t be removed, but my plan was to film another element such as a foreground character who could cover these up.
Back in the studio we planned to film me as a foreground character in front of a green screen and composite it together with the miniature model as the background. We filmed a slow push-in on the slider towards me to try and replicate the move done with the model. Now in Hollywood they would have done both shots with motion control and some clever sums to work out the corresponding camera move at two different scales, but for this DIY version my plan was just to cheat a little bit and begin with the image scaled down smaller so it would look like a longer move. For this shot I just looked up at the green screen as if I was looking at something pretty amazing in a location.
The first thing I did was to load the two takes into After Effects and remove the green screen from the studio shot using Keylight and cut off the edges of the frame using the pen tool. This then left just the figure on its own which could be lined up with the model shot using the position and scale controls. Another thing that helped was to add a fake tilt-up movement in the shot. For this I parented both layers to a Null object and then key-framed its position so the shot appears to tilt up. And then I hid this move by adding some cinematic black bars to the top and the bottom, which allows you more room to reposition the image in the frame.
Next I wanted to remove the top part of the model shot which reveals the ceiling of the room it was filmed in, so I masked out these areas with the pen tool and keyframed them over time. I chose a starry night sky to be a dramatic background behind this giant machine, and so placed this behind the model layer and also attached it to the same null object so that it moved with the other layers.
Now in films that use miniatures a good trick to make them look less lifeless is to add some small moving background characters in behind the main action (you can see this in Lord of the Rings), so I did the next best thing for a low-budget experiment, and found some willing extras on stock footage websites, which I could remove from their backgrounds and scale down to add into the scene. As the perspective of the model shot was quite tricky to match due to the wide lens, I kept them all in the extreme background and tracked the motion of the scene using the Tracker panel to attach these elements to, and then they stuck nicely on top of the model layer. Basically these are all designed to add enough movement into the frame so that your eyes don’t question the miniature which is of course not moving.
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[@OfficiallyOToole]

To be honest, when people copy a Hollywood effect (like miniature effects), most of the time it's completely underwhelming. Yours is honestly the best I've ever seen. It's very good!

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Many thanks!

[@MrDukeSilverr]

You should check out Slice of Life

[@yusufkarriem4806]

I second that

[@hughdismuke4703]

@@SteveRamsdenKZbin Curious. Do you get hired by film studios to help with some s-f/x scenes? Very nice work by-the-way. That's impressive and very influential. Thanks!

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

@@hughdismuke4703 Thanks, so far it’s mostly been VFX for my own projects and I’m mostly hired on other productions as a director, cameraman and/or editor 👍

[@jenssylvesterwesemann7980]

It makes you want to build a miniature set really urgently, doesn't it? Fantastic work!

[@flippy5655]

It really does!

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Haha me too, many thanks

[@pizzajuiceanunclefrankiech8316]

I am the 69th like

[@damianstech1502]

It's mind blowing how good we can do things with miniatures.

[@YannickFilms]

Woooow! Those light flashes, sparks and workers really tied everything together and sold it to me! GREAT work!💯🔥

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Many thanks!

[@user-yl3pb3yh1d]

Steve, your level of editing is amazing every time!! Don't stop editing and post your talent!!!

[@simonlaurens584]

Steve you are such a likeable person. You have a true vocation for film effects and a genuine talent. Very inspiring and clear to understand.

[@Abathingwolf]

4:48 now this was hard asfff !!!

[@tbip2001]

Its amazing how far we have come and what can be achieved at home providing you are willing to put in the time.

[@carrotman]

I like the Titanic one in specific because dolls houses are classy as hell so the savings would be massive.

[@tysonq7131]

Good work! My only critique is the JJ flare, as it seems unmotivated from any light source on screen.

[@matheuspeixoto5525]

Absolutely astonishing

[@dadsongs]

Brilliant.

[@bjoernphotography]

Unbelievable - great result

[@Miracle_T_]

Steve, I am also impressed that you put so much hardwork in your videos. You are really underrated man! Keep it up😄

[@user-wr2uy9pj4m]

I absolutely love this!

[@MikeEu0]

Steve, your work amazes me so much....❤️❤️

[@lakebeaustudiosSDM]

Get this man his own film.

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Haha very kind!

[@3dtimetraveler806]

Always love these ... great length, great content. Very inspiring.

[@steverileyretired]

Fantasic steve as usual keep up the great work

[@BobsWoodStuff]

This looks great, and the extra details really tie it together. Great video tutorial!

[@reinelgiraldo9542]

Muy buen trabajo, gracias por compartir.

[@1966tvbatman]

Simply brilliant

[@KnivesInTheMoon]

These tutorials are so, so good.

[@OllisFilmkueche]

Great and helpful tutorial. Thank you!

[@Venkatesh_006]

Just one word for you "Awesome" Keep it up 👍🏻

[@samwestonpotter]

Awesome. I’m going to go through your courses. I’ve been meaning to get back into filmmaking.

[@RSpudieD]

Looks really good! That's a lot of work for such a quick shot!

[@fernandocecchetto]

Hermoso trabajo!!

[@filmhorizonstudios5108]

This was amazing!

[@AllanGildea]

Fab work, Steve!

[@abeljosiah3679]

This has been on of best tutorial I have ever seen.. Been able to explain in details is much appreciated... I think you got it all and you deserve my subscription... Piximperfect is my giant at Photoshop and I think I have to make you my Giant at Video editing too... I hope to learn more from you.. Thanks !!!

[@byBbibo]

Wonderful effect, and tutorial!

[@AnimationGoneWrong]

Great work, Steve. Kinda makes me want to go out and build a model! And a slider.

[@anubratsahoo1351]

beyond fantastic 😍😍😍

[@motanveer]

Love that you added that tiny tech that was welding. I just thought it was so funny and clever!

[@marcellshotya]

I swear this guy is so damn creative and slick with the editing. so creative love the videos you bring out nothing but good content 💯

[@jaceperrodin4514]

Nicely done! More miniature effects, please! :)

[@sumanchattopadhyay7405]

Awesome tutorial

[@Cjw.4]

I love this idea because I love the craftsmanship of making and designing a model with your hands.

[@Cjw.4]

The model looks huge, is there a video of you building it ?

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

@@Cjw.4 Thanks, I do build models but I didn't build this one! It was already built and I just filmed it for this experiment

[@stevbounce]

That's really cool, Hollywood need to do this more! It's much better than CGI

[@shiva6104]

One word just wowwwwwwwwwww bro that's so amazing 👍

[@DanielTuriman]

Classsy, your tutorial is honest, thank you

[@mash_rafi]

Awesome sir 👍🏻

[@vidhyavathi9068]

Super given the most impact man 😎

[@ryanbarton72]

Ive officially add Steve as one of my favorite channels I just keep coming back to this channel. Great great work thank you so so so much your the man.

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Great to hear!

[@DionProbo]

STEVE always my fave.. in Movie maker 👏👏👏🌷

[@MuhammedArshofficial]

Amazing work bro

[@munnower8135]

Wow man amazing keep it up

[@willpritchardch]

lets go new steve ramsden video

[@androidfilmtube3430]

Love it so much.

[@hamthemanster]

I love it!!

[@champavithanage456]

Good content 👍 please keep uploading more

[@nazlyahamed4802]

Wow man 🔥

[@bojskiable]

amazing job

[@David-cz7mm]

The finished shot looked amazing 🤩👍🏼

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Many thanks!

[@user-lc4jj7rm2p]

Thank you l your follower from Iraq 🇮🇶🇮🇶

[@warren19721]

Your videos are amazing

[@oxygenirani2876]

Perfect

[@ranger51262]

Interesting as always, I tried to do minature sets with the old VHS camcorder years ago, needless to say it did not turn out so well

[@soulofsri]

great job bro your videos are very useful great job keep it up love from india

[@viveksurya6695]

Bro I became your biggest fan just seeing this single video. You should go to the big level...all the best love from India...expecting more videos like this bro

[@emmanueljean-baptistelepro9021]

My brother thanks you You are very wonderful

[@Titandusk]

Awesome!

[@ShutUpAndShootMe]

Great job!

[@devendrapisda3528]

Thnx this is what I need

[@napnapnop]

Great video! Keep IT up!

[@data_1a]

Amazing

[@mohamedasiqrahman2987]

Really you're a genius

[@fulcifan6946]

This is sick. I would like to see how you would tackle creating things for a movie set in the post apocalypse. It would be hard to make a low budget movie set in this environment, but I feel like you could pull it off.

[@angelochafin]

I love your video!!! Very good!!!!

[@Paddy_Mac]

Loved it! Steve, your creativity with AE is next level my friend!

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Thanks, very kind

[@HarryJc]

Awesome. !!

[@shoaibiqbal9518]

Awesome

[@sellachathura9501]

You are best ❤❤❤

[@asdmpa]

Great!!!

[@MohammadMangaAliyu]

Wish I could do as half great as this one!

[@aa_gg]

*The welding sparks were too big...* They should be as big as the man doing welding... But you made them 2 or 4 times bigger, which make me feel something is wrong... Also the other sparks in the beginning could be little bit smaller... Overall composition is good

[@bigredjanie]

Ah, but the thing about miniature scale is that sometimes they have to be a little bigger than they are in reality to “read” correctly onscreen. I remember during the mkaing of The Phantom Menace, artist Doug Chiang saw bird poop (yes, stick with me) getting painted on certain parts of the building. To him they looked too large, but the artists assured him that they would look fine through the camera. And indeed, they did. This is all a long winded way of explaining that I didn’t even notice the size of welding sparks, the scale didn’t really bother me.

[@aa_gg]

@@bigredjanie Lol , i know this may not bother most of the people but when you see it you cannot unsee it....

[@carterwalker4065]

I'd like to see you try this

[@gethmikasasiru798]

Super

[@ohjackieb0y]

simply dope. hope you are still making videos

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Thanks, more coming soon when I'm not so busy!

[@4thwalltvandfilm]

Thsi is totally awesome.

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Many thanks!

[@SuchetB]

Fantastic.

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

Thank you!

[@rodao11]

gracias

[@thamoigeemapao391]

Wow ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@john2510]

Good stuff! Instead of rolling in on the slider, did you consider just zooming in from a wider shot in post? You’d lose resolution, but save a lot of hassle.

[@snowwolvesproductions]

VERY COOL... give me some ideas for a Star Trek fan film I plan on making in Georgia... I'm gonna need a big hanger scene... Thanks!!!

[@betaga2261]

The only thing I don't like is the blue lens flare comings from nowhere. But anyway, it's a really good looking at the end, good job !

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

I wasn't sure about that either haha. Knowing when to stop is always the issue!

[@cesarghful]

You're a beast

[@ELLFProduction]

That’s very very good! Gg!

[@changmaster7961]

Great！！！

[@BrokenBicyclesProductions]

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick 🔥

[@sksfilmstudio5000]

I love you bro

[@anasabbasi5991]

I like your all videos Brother i'm from india

[@d.badventures]

I need full course of AE sir... please

[@rolandgerard6064]

Wow

[@Zixy_ff_01]

Wowwww

[@editorblocks]

😄😄😄😄😄😄😄That's Incredible 😀😀😀😀😀😀

[@pilladisimo87]

The best example of it is lord of the rings movies, many things of them were miniature models like cities and other architecture and landscape elements

[@jhonalexandergarzon5113]

este material vale oro. papi jaja

[@muajin]

I have a question. can you do the same with say a playground or your apartment? make yourself seem very small while your surrounding space is HUGE?

[@linadecaseleycarloss5838]

Excellent tutorial... I am learning on FCPX & Motion - can this be done in those?

[@SteveRamsdenYoutube]

I expect so - if you can remove green screens, composite together, and keyframe to move, you should be able to do something similar :)

[@linadecaseleycarloss5838]

@@SteveRamsdenKZbin Thanks, will give it a try.