Up close vs. far away
August 11, 2013 4:11 PM   Subscribe

I am looking for movie/TV scenes in which the audience or characters think that something is one thing up close, but realize that it is something different from further away.

Think "this close, they always look like landscape," but not so raunchy (it's for a lecture). I also thought about the "this is no cave" scene from Star Wars, but that is more inside vs. outside than up close vs. far away. Would love to use "she's a full on Monet" from Clueless but that would probably be more for my sake than my students'. I've seen this thread, but it focuses more on zooming in than zooming out. Online clips would be helpful!
posted by quiet coyote to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Peter Cushing eye/magnifying glass joke in Top Secret!?

There was a UK cinema ad for diamond white that centred on using false perspective, Google diamond white giant bottle.
posted by biffa at 4:24 PM on August 11, 2013


Father Ted addresses this, but perhaps more explicitly than you are wanting?
posted by JerryCornelius at 4:26 PM on August 11, 2013 [12 favorites]


Not quite sure if it's quite right, but I thought straight away of this scene from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Bonus YouTube clip of the animation, which remains awesome, here.
posted by tardigrade at 4:27 PM on August 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


A scene from the first Pirates of the Carribean film comes to mind.
posted by likethenight at 5:00 PM on August 11, 2013


Well, the classic is the Planet of the Apes ending, no?
posted by thinkpiece at 5:05 PM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]


The opening shot to the proof-of-concept trailer for the probably-never-to-be-made "Slingers" TV show does this, with a planet in space that turns out to be a cherry in a drink.
posted by incessant at 5:23 PM on August 11, 2013


I totally thought of Hitchhikers too, I admit it.
posted by Miko at 6:37 PM on August 11, 2013


There's the "Hey, little fella!" appearance of the whale in Finding Nemo (around 2:00 in this clip).
posted by tomcooke at 4:32 AM on August 12, 2013


Terry Gilliam plays a lot of tricks like this in his movies.

- In The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, just before they land on the moon, you see a sky full of stars, then the stars move, and you realize that you are actually seeing stars reflected in water, and a boat enters frame.
- In Twelve monkeys a scene starts with a view of a beautiful sunset, but then the camera pulls back and it turns out to be a picture suspended over a hospital bed.
- In Time Bandits you meet a grumpy old couple sailing a ship, but then they turn out to be giant ogres. Then you find out that the ship is actually a hat on the head of an even bigger giant.
- Near the end of Brazil you see a truck driving past trees and fields, and the camera pulls back to show that the lovely nature is just billboards, and behind them is a barren landscape.

I'm sure that there are lots more that I'm not remembering - watch his films! they are excellent.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:04 AM on August 12, 2013


How well-known do you need it to be? The opening few seconds of Twin Sun might qualify.
posted by metaBugs at 9:28 AM on August 12, 2013


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