40 Well-Known Moments Shown From a Different Perspective

Movie magic is everywhere in films; sometimes, it can be a simple trick. It doesn’t always have to be big-budget special effects. For example, in the beloved holiday comedy Elf, the filmmakers needed to find a way to portray Will Ferrell as a grown human man next to tiny holiday elves. Their solution was so simple that it’s brilliant.

The filmmakers employed a technique called forced perspective. If you’ve ever heard painters talk about perspective in their works, you get the idea. For Elf, all the cameraman needed to do was place Buddy the Elf closer to the camera, with everybody else further back, and it created the illusion that Will Ferrell was a giant next to the rest of the actors.