Making the miniature world of Asteroid City with Simon Weisse | BAFTA

Simon Weisse, miniature maker for the films of Wes Anderson, chats with BAFTA about his career, the world of movie miniatures and the challenges of his role.
Behind the scenes footage courtesy of Berton Pierce (piercefilm productions) and by Berton Pierce, Simon Weisse, Susanna Jerger, Alex Friedrich, Cindy Schnitter.
Select archive photography courtesy of Simon Weisse private collection via Berton Pierce (piercefilm productions).
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[@robynmasters335]

This makes me very happy because I love miniature building. That would be my dream job and I thought that most movies had replaced that with CGI. I'm glad that it's making a comeback.

[@nigelcarren]

As a maker of miniature armour and associated miniature musical miniatures in metal, I am always overjoyed to see Wes Anderson celebrate the work of these fellow detail- obsessed miniaturists.
Unlike seemingly all other filmmakers, I especially love the way that Mr Anderson often celebrates the use of miniatures and makes no attempt to pull the wool over the audience's eyes at all!
Bravo to all concerned. ⚒️🏆⚒️

[@zero-coolpropshop1748]

thanks for sharing! As a prop maker it makes me happy to hear that practical is coming back.

[@saulescobedo]

Thank you for sharing this great videos!

[@xyz8888]

this abduction score is legendary

[@simoncarter7020]

Simon W mentions the fact that creating scale water and fire at around 1/6 scale or below is virtually impossible but .. the explosions on the set of the Inception model look incredibly real AND to scale for the architecture. My dead reckoning is that the architectural scale there is about 1/6 (?) so .. any pyrotechnics experts out there .. can you elaborate on the mediums and process to retain scale with the fireballs at 1/6 scale? Many thanks.

[@HarlequiNQB]

I suspect by fire he specifically means flames, rather than a fireball. Flickering flames can't be scaled, and have a natural rhythm to them, so look weird when small and slowed down. While a fireball is more a big spherical shape, so the scale inconsistencies are less apparent, and slowing them down works well to make the expansion seem natural at the smaller scale.