The technique of model aircraft visual effects.
Early in the film the main character dies in a plane crash and thst sequence employs some miniature aircraft shots. The first shots are the model against a real sky followed by a dive against a rear screen projection. there is also a view from inside the cockpit that uses a rear projected miniature background. The crash is shown from a high vantage looking down on a miniature landscape as the…
Some impressive miniature work supervised by Gordon Jennings. The clouds made with a smoke machine and shot inside the studio are particularly effective. Very still air and different temperature layers of cold air on the floor and warm air above helps to float the clouds above the studio floor without too much movement. There are shots where multiple aircraft are in rigid formation, sometimes…
An Early Technicolor film directed by William A. Wellman who directed a lot of aircraft related films. Most of the aircraft action in the movie employs actual full size aircraft with a few miniature exceptions. There are a couple of montage sequences that show the development of aircraft through the years that are depicted using models against a painted sky background. There is also a ditching at…
For the most part the miniature shots consist of a model Douglas DC7 against rear projected skys. The shot where the aircraft ditches into the sea is very blurry and is an entirely different aircraft.
Reasonable aircraft miniature work only let down by some marginal traveling matte work. There is some obvious matte lines around the falling debris seen through the arches of the full size set and a couple of shots of the miniature aircraft matted into a background of searchlights in a night sky where the aircraft seems to be in negative. Matted aircraft seems to be a negative. Chunky matte lines…
This American Japanese co-production features a Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw helicopter and Grumman Albatross HU-16 models. The miniature effects were produced by the Daiei Studios special effects department who were responsible for the miniatures in the Gamera series of monster films. Along with the aircraft there is an exploding ship model and a mountainous environment miniature complete with an…
State of the art miniature effects circa the mid 1970s on display in this film. The special visual effects were supervised by Albert Whitlock and certainly all his skills in matte painting are evident throughout. In the shots with no perspective change and at a distance the Hindenburg it is usually a matte painting but with all the closer moving shots and moving through clouds it is a very…
There are a number of miniature aircraft techniques on display in this movie with the special effects supervised by Vernon L. Walker. The first model we see is of a Stearman C2B. It can be seen flying against a real sky in the background as well as using a traveling mattes for the shots where it is flying over the heads of live action extras. Later shots the same model is being photographed with a…
Some basic miniature work in this film. Mostly shots of model aircraft against a rear projection screen, sometimes with some foreground mist moving past. There is a crash sequence with a miniature landscape, the wing breaking off on impact. Some miniature work is also used in the rear projected backgrounds through the windows of the interior cockpit set. There are no credits listed for the…
All of the miniature aircraft sequences in the early part of the film are a series of take-offs and landings with an early model B17 miniature. Later sequences have some miniature attacking fighter aircraft shots and then the film really ramps up with a massive model ship sequence. The ship models look like the same ones from Action in the North Atlantic another Warner Brothers production released…
Ostensibly a very early disaster movie which has at the climax of the film some very creditable miniature zeppelin effects. It was released in the same year (1930) as Hell's Angels which featured a brilliantly staged and shot miniature zeppelin sequence. This film doesn't quite match the quality of the Hells Angel's miniature effects but comes a very close second. There are some early traveling…
A few shots of a private jet liner appear in this film supervised by Kit West. The model looks to be a fibreglass travel agents model of a Boeing 707 that has received a more realistic paint job. When the plane explodes the model is removed and an explosion is substituted in the same position. There is also an explosion on a tall building that looks like it was a large photographic cutout of a…
Famous for its aerial photography and the use many actual biplanes from the WW1 period, this film, in addition, has some incredibly well staged and shot miniature scenes. A 60 foot (18.2m) zeppelin miniature was constructed and filmed in a 240 foot long aircraft hangar. It travelled on a trolley that ran on a cable stretched the length of the hangar. An electric winch system allowed for up and…
This movie has some very impressive miniature sequences depicting a fictional raid by a German airship during World War One. The dirigible of the title is based on the R33, a British class of rigid airship based on the German LZ76. The airship was represented by a large model, 37 feet (11.3m) in length for close shots and a second half size again model for longer shots at 18 feet (5.5m) long. The…
There are some interesting if not altogether successful miniature aircraft effects in this film. There are model Mosquito aircraft filmed against a large miniature landscape meant to represent the island of Borneo. Typically for British miniature effects of the period the model work was shot in a studio and the lighting is never really convincing as sunlight. One of the products of the studio…
This film opens with miniature footage lifted from Operation Crossbow made in 1965 of V1 flying bombs being launched. Other miniature Mosquito footage is lifted from 633 Squadron made in 1964. There are however miniature sequences shot specially for this film by the Les Bowie Organisation that apparently employed the mosquito models from 633 Squadron (according to a reader of this site). The…
This film has really terrific miniature effects depicting the operation to defend against and ultimately destroy the German capacity to launch V1 and V2 flying bombs aimed at Britain during the Second World War. The miniature shots are uniformly excellent with only an occasional wire visible in some V1 launch shots and a few obvious matte lines around some live action plates. The miniatures…
There are three full size flying mosquitos used in the film, all converted from target towing versions, with 3 more static non flying versions one of which was destroyed in a crash sequence. For the bombing run shots miniatures were used supervised by Tom Howard. IMDB claims the miniatures were 1/48 scale however I believe this is erroneous as they would have been much larger than that. There are…
There are two aircraft miniatures in Casablanca. The first one is a model of a Fokker Super Universal and the second one seen in a hangar as the Fokker lands which also ends the movie is a model of a Lockheed L12A Electra Junior. Purportedly the model Lockheed Electra from Casablanca from an auction site. The model is made from balsa and sheet metal for the engine cowlings. 47" (1193mm) x 36.5"…
A10 Warthog models feature in the movie but are only seen in the fiery destruction shots as the rest of the aircraft shots are all CG. 1/6 scale models were built by Kerner Optical. They were about 9 feet (2.3m) long with 10 foot (2.5m) wingspans. Masters were built and then molded to produce fibreglass parts. The aircraft models were mounted on rigs to travel forward along with a tracking camera.…
Mostly standard but effective shots of an internally lit model against a rear projection screen with foreground smoke haze and rain effects. There are some shots of the model sliding along a miniature runway with a very rudimentary background buildings that look like cut outs as well as a joke Israeli Airlines model with a beard. One shot has the model colliding with a radio mast in a miniature…
The visual effects were supervised by Albert Whitlock most famous for his skill as a matte painter. There are a number of those in evidence in this movie along with some spectacular miniature work both large and surprisingly small. The opening shot is entirely a matte painting with a model 747 in motion across the frame. The original opening shot matte painting photographed when it came up for…
Won Academy Award for Special Effects in 1956. Special Photographic Effects John P. Fulton. According to an article by David Sears in the July 2013 issue of Naval History magazine (the article can be viewed online, see link at bottom of post) a miniature Korean valley landscape was built at Mint Canyon about ten miles (16km) north east of Los Angeles. It was around 200 feet square with 8 foot…
The miniature sequences in this film depict the bombing of a German rail yard and surrounding industrial area by a lone flyer in the First World War. The miniatures are handled by Fred Jackman and they are pretty spectacular. Amongst all the pyrotechnics, the model buildings break up in a convincing manner . There are some great point of view shots looking down on the miniature landscapes. You see…
Known mainly for its impressive full size aerial photography this film none the less has some atmospheric miniature sequences. While a few shots are of a model aircraft against a rear projection screen most have model aircraft in large scale miniature environments complete with mist and cloud effects. The crash sequences are particularly effective in the way the models break up. There are also a…