ArchDaily: You may not have guessed that the dystopian state of Los Angeles filmed in Blade Runner 2049 is a real place, just smaller. The scenes, from Los Angeles to the Trash Mesa and Wallace Tower were built to scale in Wellington, New Zealand by Weta Workshop, the massive ‘miniature’ sets were then filmed by cinematographer Alex Funke.
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Wow. It is so impressive to me that people will still take the massive amounts of time required to build things like this in order to get them absolutely perfect instead of simply rendering them on a computer. This style of filming could have easily grew and died with the likes of the first set of Star Wars movies, but some how it has survived. And I think that is due to our innate desire for art. Our passion as a species to build and create. Truly passionate people will pour their hearts and souls and bodies into their work like this with such meticulous detail. It is truly inspiring to see work like this take place. This kind of high level insane attention to detail is exactly the kind of stuff I want to be working on as an artist, and hopefully, one day, I will have the means and the ability to do so effectively.
This is so cool!!! I have never thought about how they actually get all of those amazing shots in dystopian movies, but I have always been mesmerized by them. I have always kind of had the idea that all of the content in those shots were computer generated. I don’t really know why I thought that it was all computer but probably because we are seeing more and more technology being integrated into design these days. But to hear that sll of those buildings and the landscapes where made into physical models is remarkable. There are so many tiny tiny things. The detail work is astounding. Watching that man put the wires on the buildings with plyers is amazing. Every little inch of those models is looked over in order for it to b perfect. Outside of the physical model making, the computer renderings of the buildings are really cool to. As a designer doing that you basically get to become an architect and that is something that is really cool.
A couple of weeks ago I saw Blade Runner 2049 and it was absolutely visually stunning and now I understand why. When looking at these models I see the love, care, and detail that has been put into these them. I really enjoy learning about how films are made, and I appreciate that they use old and new techniques. Having the models used to create the Star Destroyers in the original Star Wars films, vs this city, the technology has come such a long way. Partially, that may have to do with the modern ability to computer draft these models. For example, I found it amazing that they were working at 1/600th scale for these buildings. Their ability to do that comes from how computers and technology have changed. Having seen the films, I never doubted for a second that these models weren’t real because they did such a good job.
I have always been fascinated by the ways in which filmmakers and film designers are able to utilize practical effects to achieve their vision. The use of miniatures is incredibly impressive to me, due to their staggering attention to detail, and the pure devotion of the artists working on them. It would surely be easier to simply produce a CGI rendering, but the makers of Blade Runner and other films which utilize practical effects are willing to go the extra mile (or ten miles) to get that extra feeling of authenticity. The makers of these miniatures really have a hands on role in making the world of the film, and I can't help but marvel at it. I would love to do this kind of work in the future, as movies like these have always fascinated me, and are probably in no small part responsible for my love and interest for theater.
Wow just wow. The attention to detail and the skill of the artists that do this kind of work for film are truly amazing. In a modern era where we as audiences demand or films to be as accurate and as real as possible this kind of model building technique must seem to be so excessive and expensive when compared to the idea of CGI creation. But at the same time the creative ability and control that the artists creating these sets must have when it comes to the models in comparison to the CGI recreation must be so much more realistic an immersive. But still in the end the idea that some has to recreate all of this just for a model set something that is only used for those wide angle scenic shots that allows the director to have direct control over the image of his setting is unique and special to the film itself.
I am so in love with this art form and the dedication it takes to create models like this. My dream job is to work at a claymation studio, like Laika, and seeing how they create those crazy shots in movies by using models is amazing. I think that these models can almost be more beautiful and impressive than life sized scenery because of the detail and precision required to fabricate them. I think it is interesting how few people know that models are used in these kind of sci-fi, post apocalyptic films instead of computer generated scenery. It seemed to be assumed that computers are used, as a lot of the landscape shots and city skylines in those movies do not actually exist, when in reality these beautifully crafted models. Sometimes, the only way to truly get the look and texture desired is to create it meticulously by hand.
This is the coolest. I mean, really. I wish more people had gone to see this movie, not just because I want there to be a market for more intelligent, well-made sci-fi, but because the art direction alone was worth a viewing. I honestly can’t praise it highly enough. It was true to the original, had emotional impact, was indispensable to the story, and was impeccably executed.
CGI still has distinct limitations despite the fact that is has gotten better over the years. You can almost always look at it and register it as “fake.” The falseness of it, no matter how good, pulls you out of the movie. Miniatures, especially great ones like those used in Blade Runner, don’t do that. I like the idea that there are still things that analog does better. Not to mention the artistry and attention to detail involved in the creation of the models is spectacular.
I hate making models. Of course when I was making models, I didn’t have a laser cutter to precisely cut the shapes I wanted. Nor was I working on anything as cool as this. I think that what this article shows is that making models can lead places. I’m glad that at this day in age the Blade Runner movie is still using actual, physical models. They could have done this completely computer generated. The fact that they didn’t proves that the realizations of designs like this and the skills of turning a concept on a computer into reality will never go away. The article also has a fair point in not calling them miniatures – compared to buildings they are, but these are anything but miniature. This production even went the extra mile to include fiber optic lighting inside the buildings. On screen, we might never know the difference. If I see this movie, I’ll be sure to pay close attention to these shots and look at the cinematography of the miniatures.
Miniature models in film making had always been pretty damn cool to me, the level of detail that is put into them is kind mind numbing when you think about it. I find the passage in the article that states "The Wallace Tower, the bad-guy headquarters is built at 600th scale, which would make the building 3.5 kilometers tall." To be kinda cool and funny. It reminds me of Kevin Hines off handed comment about drawing a circle the size of the earth in AutoCAD. The fact that while these models are still pretty sizable even though the scale factor is so high is kinda cool. Pamela Harvey-White, Production Manager - Miniatures Unit is right when she states that the models they are making are “ really bigatures - they’re not miniatures. They’re massive buildings. They’re just stellar pieces of art.” I wonder what they do with them once they are done using them to film, maybe I should try and get some cool bigatures.
I think this is the coolest part of filming. I live set modules and am always impressed and the sheer magnitude and attention to detail that has to go into making a realistic set model. I would considered building models for a living, but I fear that with this new age of technology, we will need less and less scaled models and model builders. For now I can be sure to have a reason to learn the skills of model build for its continuing use in theatre. That, I trust with live on for ever. I don’t know what it is about making something small look like a realist large object, that is so satisfying to me, but it dose. The other part of this video I like was the cad rendering of this. I also love to draft in a cad program. Usually vectorworks, but I am excited to learn autocad next semester.
I LOVE Blade Runner. I have done so much research into this movie as well as the original. I love that they have continued to use models in their filming process because it really is what makes the experience what it should be. One day I hope to be able to work for Weta workshop, however it makes it more difficult because you have to be a New Zealand resident or have a highly unique or masterful skill that can’t be found anywhere in New Zealand. I love how practical lighting can be used in films and how the models work in films. The result yielded is one totally unlike any other way of filming. The imperfections is what makes the shot more real than any other way of creating a false world. I really hope that Weta Workshop gets to work on another film with a similar atmosphere as Blade Runner because it is just so absolutely amazing to watch and experience.
Oh my gosh. This is like the best thing ever. I love love love miniatures and models because they are so small but yet still so detailed. People always think that building big is the most impressive thing ever but what is not often realized is that building small is very difficult and meticulous. I love that this film chose to use miniatures instead of computer generation to create these images of the landscape. I think that having something exist in real life, in the 3 dimensional space, is always better because it is a tangible physical piece that can be touched and interacted with. A computer rendering takes some thinking and shifting of the mind to come to terms with the axis and what is left and right but there is no question about that when something exists in real life. People don't think specialized skills to understand that what something will look like in post because they can see every single detail already existing on the miniature.
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