The magic of handcraft
Take a look at this picture. Do you see anything special about it?
Just an ordinary classroom, right? If you look closely, you might notice it’s a Japanese classroom, but other than that, there is nothing peculiar about it. Or is there?
What if I told you it wasn’t a real classroom?
If it was a computer rendering, would you be impressed? Maybe 10 years ago that would have been remarkable, but with photorealistic CG all around us today, it’s not that impressive anymore — at least not to me.
It’s not a rendering, it is an actual photograph — but not the kind you think. It’s a photo of a miniature classroom. Take another look:
That is impressive isn’t it? It’s hard to believe everything in the photo is a scale model, but here is proof:
I absolutely love this kind of trickery. I have always admired miniature effects more than CG in movies. I’m not saying photorealistic CG is easier to make — I’m sure it’s very difficult and a lot of work. But there is something about miniatures that fascinates me. Small things that make us believe they are big things. But what I admire the most is the manual work that goes into making miniatures. Creating scale models requires so much patience, obsession with detail and craftsmanship to make it look real. The hard work is done by a human, not a computer.
And when it works, there is nothing like it. The White House exploding in Independence Day is still one of the most iconic shots in movie history. Movie magic at its best.
The more the world is controlled by computers, and the more experiences are created digitally, the more extraordinary handcraft becomes. I don’t care what Arthur C. Clarke said — no amount of technology can replace the magic of humans.