Make some actors appear a lot shorter or taller than others (even if they aren't really short or tall).

Find out about techniques that make two objects of the same size appear to be different sizes. (You could research in books or on the Internet, visit an art gallery, or talk to a visual arts expert.)

e.g. using distance to change perspective, framing shots differently, using optical illusions

See:

• the methods used to show an actor against a fake or miniature background (zone 14)
• the different-sized tankards, carts, packs, and fabric used for different-sized characters (zone 13).

Read about the scaling techniques used in the film and try the Scaling interactive (zone 13).

Focus questions:

• What is the average height of a Hobbit?
• What is the average height of the actors playing Hobbits?
• What is the approximate height of Gandalf?
• How is Gandalf made to appear much taller than Frodo?

The movie uses many different scaling techniques, including:

• "scale doubles" (very short actors to stand in for Hobbits in shots of taller races, and very tall actors to stand in for Elves and men in shots of Hobbits)
• placing actors at different distances from the camera but composing the shot so that they look as if they're beside each other
• shooting the same scene twice but with different-sized sets and props (e.g. the small character in the large set and the large character in the small set) and then combining the shots to make one
• getting actors to kneel down (sometimes the simplest solution is the best!).

• Choose two students of similar height and experiment with ways to make one student appear much shorter than the other.
• Storyboard a sequence of shots that use some or all of the techniques. Film the shots if you can, either with a stills camera or a video camera.
• Present and assess your work.

Possible solutions:

• Get one student to kneel and the other to stand.
• Have one student look up and the other look down.
• Place one student in the distance with a large version of a prop and the other in the foreground with a small version of the prop (perspective).
• Edit together separate videos of the same scene (e.g. one student in a small chair and the other in a large chair).

Related activity links: