Magicians of the Miniature (2014)

Summary

I had fully intended to have my career tribute article on matte exponents Ken Marschall and Bruce Block ready to roll for this final issue of Matte Shot for 2014, however it will be a little delayed as Ken uncovers and photographs more of his glorious matte art and old 35mm before and after clips that he feels will be of interest to me and my readers. With that being the unavoidable case I had the option of just hanging on and waiting it out, or, being the impatient, now or never, go for broke type of fellow that I am I decided to assemble a 'fill in' article just so special effects fans won't feel 'hard done by'... and although it's somewhat off tangent, I'm fairly sure most of you will approve and enjoy the following chronology and pictorial album of the next best special effect after matte art ... the miniature. I've been planning this retrospective on model work for a few years and wasn't sure how or when to include it. The site's called Matte Shot for a reason as that medium has always been my lifes blood, as it were. However, ever since I was a youngster I've been equally mesmerised by the use of the model, or miniatures if you prefer, in motion picture trick shots for as long as I can remember. I feel that miniatures - as with traditionally painted mattes - are the purest of the whole all encompassing realm of special effects with their success being to a considerable extent the result of - as much as anything else - the gut instinct and 'eye' of the miniatures exponent. Miniature ships from NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (1947) I vividly recall building model towns and 'sets' as a 11 year old and photographing these with a cheap Kodak Instamatic camera which had absolutely no control whatsoever over focus or aperture. A few years later when I was 13 or 14 my Dad bought me a Canon FTb SLR (still got it), and although it was still just static images, the leap forward was amazing. I clearly recall trying to achieve maximum depth of field by 'shooting' model tanks, planes, w...