Top SFX shots No.26: Forbidden Planet

Inserting real people into matte paintings or hanging miniatures is an SFX technique predating motion pictures, but A. Arnold Gillespie and colleagues went one better for this introductory shot to Leslie Nielson's tour of the vast underground labyrinth left behind by an alien civilisation in this sci-fi classic: the camera filming the large Metropolis-like miniature pans around to a pre-fixed position, at which point footage of actors Walter Pidgeon, Nielson and Warren Stevens walking through the MGM car park is matted in. The same technique is applied to later shots but with rostrum movement and slightly less convincingly (one can plainly see that the actors are moving in daylight and also discern the concrete of the car park). The initial movement of the camera sets up the conceit that it can move any time it likes, and reinforces the realism of the shot.

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