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how to make a dollhouse exterior look semi-realistic

M

marqueemoon

I own a beautiful dollhouse, and would like to use an exterior NIGHT shot of it in a dream sequence I'm working on as a stand in for a regular sized house (there's a good reason for this). I'm wondering if it would be possible for me to make the house look convincingly life-sized given my small budget with the use of matting and lighting? I know there are miniature lawns that I could find. I'm mostly concerned about the background and lighting looking believable. Setting it at night will make it more believable of course, but I feel like a few believable details would make it more convincing like a shadowy hint of trees, sky and possibly street-light. How would I achieve this? Also, bear in mind that all the lights INSIDE the house will be on. But what kind of lighting on the exterior of the house and surroundings would be best to make it look less miniature. If I do matting on it, how should I arrange the lighting?

One caveat. Since this is a dream sequence it doesn't need to look completely realistic. If it has a kind of subtle weirdness that could work well to create a creepy effect. I just don't want it to look ridiculous.
 
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Probably in the small details...make sure nothing 'stands out' as being of a smaller scale.

Watch the movie Beetlejuice, and study the miniature scenes...
 
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Lighting miniatures for photography is an art form unto itself. You have to light it and use light smoke effects to get the house to look bigger than what it is. Focal lengths and depth of field will also sell the illusion.
 
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I think conventional camera movements will give the scale away. Since it is a dream sequence consider things like jump cuts, choppy movement, black and white, grain, flash frames, etc., etc.
 
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It's almost like the opposite of what's called "tilt-shift" photography, whereby you photograph normal-scale buildings or vehicles but manipulate the photographs so they look like miniatures. Probably not going to find any answers by researching tilt-shift photography, but it's still very cool looking and might spur your creative mind. For how it's done on a still photograph, check out http://www.tiltshiftphotography.net/photoshop-tutorial.php and for examples of series of tilt-shift photographs strung together as a time-lapse movie, http://gizmodo.com/5060074/amazing-tilt+shift-time+lapse-videos-make-lilliputians-of-us-all
 
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