Blending Model-Making and Filmmaking

Filmmaking as Play

The type of filmmaking I advocate for is small-scale and within the bounds of an enjoyable hobby. I like to call it “DIY Filmmaking” for ease of understanding.

Of course, the term “film” itself can mean many things. Some may nitpick and say, “That’s just a video project, not a film.” But I prefer the broadest definition, treating all moving-image works as films.

At its simplest:

1. Create a story,
2. Shoot footage that conveys the message,
3. Edit it into a watchable form— And your film is complete.

Nowadays, with smartphones, tablets, and PCs readily available, anyone can make a movie.

The Appeal of Combining Models with Film

Traditionally, filmmaking derives its charm from pairing “filming techniques” with something else:

• Theater,
• Music,
• Stories,
• Physical performance.

For DIY filmmaking, models and shooting techniques offer a practical and creatively rich pairing.

By leveraging miniature models and compositing techniques, hobbyist filmmakers can bypass obstacles like the lack of ideal locations, high production costs, or expensive props.

My Journey with Models in DIY Film

Since the 1980s, I’ve incorporated miniature models into my filmmaking experiments. Initially, this simply meant editing miniature footage into scenes. Composite shots, like integrating people into miniature sets, seemed beyond my reach. For such shots, I often made miniatures of people as well.

However, with the advent of digital editing software, chroma key compositing—once requiring specialized setups—became accessible. This opened the door to placing real people in model environments, enabling scenes precisely as I imagined.

Challenges and Progress

Around 2005, I created a short experimental film shot entirely on a blue screen, using a home computer for editing. The subject? A Heian-era tale of the monster Nue.

• Miniature Japanese houses were crafted from paper,
• Monks’ costumes were made from washi paper.

At the time, analog video cameras were the norm, and resolution was limited. To meet the computer’s performance, I had to further lower the image quality during editing, resulting in a final product far less polished than the raw footage.

Additionally, lacking knowledge of blue-screen techniques, the outcome was crude—a true “experimental film.” To mask its flaws, I rendered it in monochrome and added silent-film-style scratches.

Rediscovering Chroma Key

It wasn’t until around 2015 that I realized chroma key compositing had advanced far beyond my assumptions. I revisited it with Dark Beast Wanigame-Eater (2016), crafting scenes by blending models and human actors.

Chroma key’s greatest appeal lies in merging different scales—placing humans into miniature worlds. This taps into the same playful imagination found in dollhouses, bonsai gardens, or rock gardens.

Endless Potential for DIY Films

Assembling a life-sized Gundam model may be impossible for an individual. But using a Gundam kit and compositing techniques, one can create a DIY film where the Gundam towers over real humans.

The charm of DIY films lies in this limitless creativity. Commercial films fear the “exposure” of miniatures, but DIY films embrace it, adding the delight of appreciating well-made models.