If you have any information or anecdotes about movie or TV ship models and miniatures, their construction and filming, or any photographic material, or know of someone who was involved I would love to hear from you.
I would really like to hear from model makers who built these things as well as visual effects supervisors, directors of photography, tank filming facilities and technicians who manipulated the models for the camera and their families who may have an old box of photos hidden away in an attic somewhere.
Screen credits were a very rare thing on old movies. Usually only the head of the visual effects department received a credit on screen if at all. I would like to find out the names of the technicians and craftsmen that created these shots that have so captivated me over the years and celebrate their enduring work.
Hi!
I’m very interested in that theme too, because I love old sailing ships and classical 1940′s /1950′s swashbuckler flicks like “The Sea Hawk”, “Captain Horatio Hornblower” or “Against All Flags”. Nevertheless, good informations about handcrafted wooden movie miniature ships or interesting “behind the scenes” water tank shots are extreme hard to find. By the way I’ve got my own personal backlot tank. It’s completely made from plywood. Originally the bassin was constructed in 2009 for the shooting of a short sequence showing (the model of) a medieval crusader ship wich is crossing the mediterranean sea from France to Palaestine.
Hello
I am looking for a photograph, preferably from the 1950s showing a frigate in a tank on a film set with Special Effects Supervisors working on it. Do you know where I might find something like this? Thank you very much.
http://www.life.com/image/50375331
Follow this link to a photo of the master special effects man John Fulton in a tank with a model ship dated from the fifties. I’m not sure this is a frigate or not and I am not certain which film this is from.
It is difficult to find behind the scenes photos from the decades before the end of the seventies. Star Wars heralded a new era in publishing details about visual effects in film, before this it was kept fairly secret as the production companies generally didn’t like to spoil the illusion for film goers.
Thank you both for your replies! Kindest Regards, Emma
Great articles! If you go to my website, you can see lots of info on the 1953 TITANIC and the model effects.
I have been to your site before but must have missed the pages on the 1953 Titanic. Great photos and really interesting story of the miniatures. Lots of really great titanic movie stuff. I will add your site to my links. Thanks
Found this site and pictures while trolling the net LOL….thought you may be able to use it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/konabish/6133178641/
Great photos, really shows the size of these Tora models. Not so sure about the orange paint on the hull though. Thanks for the heads up.
There are excellent miniature sailing ships, circa 1640, in the MGM film PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE (1952). Some of the best simulated ocean waves and model movement – not an easy task at the best of times. Arnold Gillespie won an Oscar for the superb tank work including a truly outstanding storm at sea – some of the best work of it’s type I’ve seen.
I can send you frames if you like. Good site by the way!!
NZPete
Thanks NZ Pete, Plymouth Adventure is high on my list with one of the most violent ship in a storm sequences ever committed to film. The only film that comes close is Ridley Scott’s White Squall but Plymouth Adventure I think is more effective. I have been slowly collecting what stills of the miniatures I can find and plan to cover it sometime in the near future.