The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) — forced perspective at Bag End
See our character’s iconic-scene parody →Two actors not very different in actual height are in the same room at the same table, but one looks as small as a child and the other so big his head touches the ceiling. Borrow it when you want to put two beings of different sizes, like a giant and a tiny person or a miniature world, in the same frame.
Put the smaller character much farther from the camera, and line it up so the two seats read as one table.
To recreate it: For AI, spell out the distance and size relationship in a sentence, like 'forced perspective, the far person appears half the size'.
So the illusion doesn't break when the camera moves, part of the set was put on a platform that moves with the camera.
To recreate it: In AI video, the size relationship easily collapses in motion, so use just one slow pan and no zoom.
The near person and the far person both have to be sharp to look like they are in the same place.
To recreate it: Be sure to include 'deep depth of field, both in sharp focus'. If one is blurry, the distance gives it away.
The big character has almost no space above his head and seems to touch the ceiling, while the small character has wide empty space above his head (observed).
To recreate it: Give each character opposite headroom in the same room, and the size difference is emphasized on its own.
Dialogue scenes were shot with separate shots for each person, with a stand-in of a different build placed in the other person's spot.
To recreate it: If you make the big character's shots at a low angle and the small character's shots at a high angle, it is easy to keep the size difference even with AI.
The warm light of the fireplace and candles fills the round room (observed).
To recreate it: If you fix the light source with 'warm firelight', the colors of separately made shots match well.
Cinematic multi-shot sequence, 12 seconds total. Shot 1 (3s): static wide shot inside a cozy round underground cottage with a low curved ceiling, a very tall old man in a long gray robe and pointed hat ducks through a round green door. Shot 2 (4s): forced perspective two shot at one long wooden table, the tall man at the near end and a curly-haired old man half his size at the far end pouring tea, both in sharp focus, slow pan. Shot 3 (2s): static high-angle shot of the small man smiling up. Shot 4 (3s): static low angle as the tall man stands and bumps his head on a hanging lamp. Consistent warm firelight, 35mm film grain.
Forced perspective makes two people at different distances from the camera look as if they were in the same place, making the one farther away look small. The Lord of the Rings used this technique in moving shots too. Part of the set was put on a platform that moved precisely in step with the camera movement, so the illusion didn't break even while the camera moved. In reality, the height difference between the actors who played the hobbit and the wizard was only about 13 cm, and the actor who played the wizard filmed many scenes with doubles for the hobbits (scale doubles of smaller build).
Wide static shot inside a cozy round underground cottage with a low curved wooden ceiling: a very tall old man in a long gray robe and pointed hat ducks through a round green door, his head brushing the ceiling beams; warm firelight, 35mm film grain.
Forced perspective two shot at one long wooden kitchen table: the very tall old man in a gray robe sits at the near end, while a curly-haired old man half his size sits at the far end pouring tea; deep depth of field, both in sharp focus, slow pan, warm firelight, 35mm film grain.
High-angle medium close-up of the small curly-haired old man in a red waistcoat looking up with a delighted smile, holding a tiny teacup, cluttered cozy shelves behind him; static camera, warm candlelight, 35mm film grain.
Low-angle static shot of the very tall old man in a gray robe rising from the table and bumping his head on a low hanging lamp, wincing, the lamp swinging and casting moving shadows; almost no headroom, warm firelight, 35mm film grain.
Show Shot 2 first as the master shot that sets the size of the two, then alternate Shot 3 (the small person, high angle) and Shot 4 (the big person, low angle) as shot/reverse shot. Even if they were made as separate shots, setting the eyelines up and down lets them read as one space, like cheat cuts.
When you put two characters in one frame, AI tends to make their heights similar, so be sure to use size and distance phrases like 'half his size' and 'at the far end of the table', and make the reference image for each character with the size ratio set. For shots with only one person, expressing size by angle is much more stable, and in a 480p draft check first the size of the teacup in the hand.
Wikipedia — Forced perspective · Wikipedia — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring