Special effects miniature for Angels and Demons.
 To furnish an ornate ceiling filled with smoke above the cardinal, Mattes and Miniatures built a 1/3-scale miniature set extension. “The miniature was about seven feet deep and included the tops of columns and the ceiling arch,” said Leigh Took. “We built it out of bent-skin plywood and created frescoes using photographs of the church in Rome. The photos had been taken from ground level and had perspective distortions, so we corrected those in Photoshop, printed them out, wallpapered them onto the miniature and retouched them to create a hand-painted texture.” Modelmakers detailed the miniature ceiling with sculpted cherubs and angels cast in Fastcast resin. Angus Bickerton then filmed smoke roiling up into the rafters, at high camera speeds, lit with interactive flame-coloured light. |
Mattes and Miniatures were commissioned to construct a 1:3 scale ceiling of the Santa Maria della Vittoria Roman Catholic church in Rome.