35mm Course Project - Kalashnikov

A central location of this WWII-set script was a town square and the presence of a Russian T-34 tank.  The school's backlot would be dressed for the square, which was to be strewn with rubble from recent combat.  At the outset, with the expectation of a model tank of some sort being purchased and detailed, we began storyboarding ideas and taking test photos.

I have always found this step to be among the toughest for the students to embrace.   In the absence of an accurate version of the item to be created, in this case the tank, any crude approximation is better than nothing for testing ideas.  There is no exception to that rule, in my experience.  No amount of conversation or assumed similarity of vision will put you on course like a test image will.  It's the reason thumbnail storyboards exist, and these are the thumbnails of effects photography.

Essential Lesson:
The lens will do a lot of the work for you, but you have to arrange the scene properly.  There are real benefits to using even an awful mock-up like this jumble of random materials.  Both the tank and box are... well, boxy, so you can begin to learn about how to match perspective between a foreground miniature and the background.  First, it's terribly easy to shoot the miniature from too high an angle because it's so controllable.  This not only makes it look like a toy, but such a high angle could be very inconsistent with the rest of your shots, drawing that much more attention to something being odd.  Second, you would see right away how important focal depth is.  Here, even though the wall and tank are supposedly right next to each other, they are wildly out of focus.  That is just not how things look when they are really so close, and it's better to realize this telltale weakness early so it can be avoided.  Third, and this is a constant of effects design, ask yourself how you would shoot that situation if you were really in that environment.  If it's documentary or other live action, keep the ideas grounded and composed in a way that is natural and realistic.  Moving on...

This photo has a sheet of dollhouse brick positioned to obscure the paved backlot.  Focus notwithstanding (it's a test), this shows how a substantial amount of ground can be replaced with a foreground miniature to change its texture, or in this case to fill with set dressing.  It saves a lot of money and probably time.         

Here, one of the actors sits amid a narrow stretch of set-dressed rubble.

This wider shot includes the foreground miniature, visually extending debris across a larger area.

The tank purchased was a nicely scaled R/C version.  We would have preferred a larger one, but it's better than having less intrinsic detail.  The one student dedicated to the miniature set, an experienced model-builder, scrubbed it of stickers and paint.  He then added color and weathering appropriate to the harsh winter conditions of the story.

He also created a set piece of the town square to stand in during wide shots with and without the tank.  Rubble, barricades, barbed wire, and other appropriate scenery was crafted to fit the scale of the R/C model.

With this amount of detail, we tried to frame the tank as it might really be viewed at its full size.  We experimented with foreground scenery, depth of field, and even longer lenses in an effort to remove the toy quality of its appearance

Throughout the construction period, pictures were taken to determine the best angles for seeing not only this set piece, but the full-scale set of the turret that actors would interact with.  Eventually the complex rounded connection of the gun and turret proved unlikely to finish, so it was decided to only shoot it from the side, back, and in close-up.  Shots of the front would use the miniature.

The turret exterior allowed actors to climb in and out at the location, but a separate interior set was built and shot in the soundstage.

A variety of scenes were accomplished by inter-cutting the two tank exteriors, and blending with on-set smoke pots and composited snowfall.

Their willingness to embrace miniatures as part of their tool-set allowed these students to realize a period setting in a credible way.They also gained practical experience and more versatility as photographers and designers, and at least one director.