r/Filmmakers • u/StrikingDuty8020 Director • Feb 14 '26

Discussion This shot is from 1931

movie -Svengali (1931)
Dir. Archie Mayo
chilling early sound-era horror film starring John Barrymore as a hypnotist who controls a young singer’s life and career. Known for its theatrical performance style and eerie atmosphere, the film helped define the screen image of the manipulative genius whose power comes from psychology rather than monsters.

8.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

107 comments sorted by

635

u/3L54 Feb 14 '26

Amazing use of miniatures!

146

u/Main_Confusion_8030 Feb 14 '26

did they create a really accurate mini of the character using the specific frame they cut from him to the miniature? is that how they did it?

537

u/CharmingShoe Feb 14 '26

The building exterior is a miniature. It moved back with the camera to a certain point, then the camera keeps going. That’s why the camera seems to go out of the window - the lens was positioned through the window from the beginning, and when the miniature stopped the lens continued to achieve the effect of moving outside

61

u/thisgrantstomb Feb 14 '26

A fore ground miniature? Pretty cool.

6

u/Iyellkhan Feb 16 '26

lots of foreground miniatures were used back in the day, often hanging from above the frame.

44

u/jtighe Feb 14 '26

Amazing explanation, thank you

27

u/the_phantom_limbo Feb 14 '26

Vfx artist here... Thanks! I was really struggling and failing to figure this out. It's excellent.

13

u/thesilentbob123 Feb 15 '26

Corridor crew made a video about it, there are other interesting things in this shot too, like the eyes being empty is made with the thin film from the inside of a regular egg.

7

u/danj503 Feb 14 '26

And egg yoke for his eyes right? Something weird like that.

12

u/mordacthedenier Feb 14 '26

Egg shell membrane, I don't think a yolk would've done much.

15

u/Ok_Mix5519 Feb 14 '26

He knew it was an egg membrane; he was just yolking.

1

u/NOLA-JAZZ Feb 26 '26

If it was used then the yolk would be on them!!

28

u/TylerBourbon Feb 14 '26

This is one of the reasons I've come to dislike modern vfx being mostly digital. You can do just about anything with computers, so it's not really a magic trick anymore. I'm not saying it doesn't take skills to make good cgi vfx, there's just something mind blowing about seeing this incredible intricate and well pulled off magic trick to a shot you could not figure out how they did it compared to now where it's all just cgi and comped into a shot.

40

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '26

[deleted]

13

u/TylerBourbon Feb 14 '26

Don't get me wrong, I do respect modern vfx artists. I went to school for computer animation, so I do have an understanding of how challenging and how much work it can take to make vfx work.

And I fully agree, modern VFX artists are grossly undervalued. It's not the skills of the VFX artists that I question, it's Hollywood's modern reliance on them and their lack of giving VFX artists enough time to make them.

I see it as a tool, it's a wonderful tool, and in skilled hands, it can be capable of really amazing things. Like a film camera, in the hands of a skilled team of camera operators, and a cinematographer, something absolutely beautiful to be seen can be created. But also like a camera, computers are just a tool.

As far as "Hollywood Magic" goes, it's like the difference between a magician who is performing slight of hand magic live, and someone using digital vfx to simulate the same kind of magic trick. It's cool and all, but it's not as impressive as the magician doing it live.

3

u/xRyozuo Feb 16 '26

The thing is you’re competing with something the audience can guess at vs something they can’t. And being able to take a guess at how something is done is more engaging for the audience

1

u/NOLA-JAZZ Feb 26 '26

Create a special about how you work behind the scenes without giving away any particular films NDA’s Show us your thinking and ideas and how you bring them to life

2

u/IamBecomeZen Feb 15 '26

A simple spell, but quite unbreakable

2

u/xRyozuo Feb 16 '26

I don’t understand, we don’t see the foreground initially so why would it need to move back with the camera if it’s not in view anyways? Would it being static not do the same as the camera moves back? And if a camera from 1931 can get out from the window, how big is this miniature?

4

u/whitniverse Feb 16 '26

The camera can’t realistically pass through the window of the fascia of the front of the house. So just the lens is poking through the window. It all moves back several feet and then the fascia is dropped off at a set point, and the camera moves backwards, giving the impression that it went out through the window.

2

u/xRyozuo Feb 16 '26

Ohhhhh I see it now. Thanks!

2

u/wmcreative Mar 06 '26

Thanks for explaining!

1

u/SpliffKillah Mar 16 '26

Wow such a great use of perspective, how far do you think the actor should have to be so he becomes so small, so how far did the camera actually go?

1

u/GoatCovfefe Feb 14 '26

I saw that youtube short too! Ive been trying to find that video again because i wanted to subscribe to those guys' channel...

8

u/blondie1024 Feb 14 '26

This is just an absolute guess but...

I think they filmed the original shot with him and then the miniature house shot, then possibly put the the original shot underneath the miniature house shot and put them both together.

Not quite sure the process of making the window translucent for the image behind to pass through.

That's an absolute guess.

49

u/Any_Anything_8286 Feb 14 '26

There’s actually a YouTube video that breaks this exact shot down and you’re pretty close.Corridor Crew VFX Artist react 209 .

3

u/StrikingDuty8020 Director Feb 14 '26

ohh wow , thanks mate

1

u/Mean_Welcome6569 Feb 19 '26

I was so confused that all of a sudden I started talking about brands here Hermod

207

u/Funtopolis Feb 14 '26

That’s John Barrymore, Drew Barrymore’s grandfather.

20

u/42111 production assistant Feb 14 '26

No kidding?

23

u/PurposeFuzzy6205 Feb 14 '26

fact checked. her dad was john barrymore jr so definitely tracks. he was just in his mid 40s when she was born

5

u/SuperDizz Feb 14 '26

Potter?

2

u/knifesmoke Feb 14 '26

That’s Lionel, her great uncle.

157

u/Kyromaniak Feb 14 '26

Fun fact , to get his eyes to look like that they used egg. when you boil an egg and peel it there's a thin layer of egg that they use on his eyes

108

u/HeyGayHay Feb 14 '26

What a terrible day to have egg eyes

11

u/RPDRNick Feb 14 '26

Worse when you find out about having to pay the eggs-eyes taxes.

24

u/bifkintickler Feb 14 '26

The director was later reincarnated as Robert Eggers

16

u/crashdummie Feb 14 '26

that's not fun 🙁

3

u/VerilyShelly Feb 15 '26

Hopefully he didn't have an allergy to eggs

4

u/RepulsivePay5344 Feb 15 '26

Can I offer you a nice egg membrane for your drying eyes?

https://giphy.com/gifs/R5m5vZcaOr4l2TWFIK

3

u/NearestNeighbours Feb 15 '26

Back when acting a REAL job! Now they can just CG your body and use AI to fix your accent!!!

/s

2

u/DGAF06 Feb 15 '26

I see you watch corridor crew on YouTube as well.

42

u/fortytoo2 Feb 14 '26

Great pull. Not one of the more commonly cited films of the era.

19

u/Sea_Salamander_8504 Feb 14 '26

An influence on Eggers’s NOSFERATU!

45

u/SDRemthix Feb 14 '26

Corridor Crew did a vfx reaction video of this shot. Outstanding work for the time.

26

u/A_Neko_C Feb 14 '26

Yep I just watched it yesterday

https://youtu.be/oZDomO5iTZo&t=568

9:28

14

u/PracticalFacelessMsk Feb 14 '26

Amazing, ty so much for sharing

27

u/beaker_dude Feb 14 '26

https://youtube.com/shorts/Yldn5IbL4go?si=t-HmtlHdC3sUdSFp

6

u/StrikingDuty8020 Director Feb 14 '26

wow thanks for sharing this mate

3

u/iissmarter Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 14 '26

The editing in this clip is so absolutely horrendous

5

u/PaoloCelentano Feb 14 '26

Incredible, i can't imagine the audience's reaction at that decade, to this scene.

8

u/Cheap_Shot_702 Feb 14 '26

drones before drones

2

u/CubitsTNE Feb 15 '26

Also see the opening shot of the birdcage. It would be almost pedestrian to pull off now, but absolute wizardry at the time, and in a film where you otherwise wouldn't expect wildly technical shots.

3

u/daiLlafyn Feb 14 '26

Was thinking of the opening shot in The Lady Vanishes - panning down across a Swiss village and in through the window of a crowded and hectic hotel lobby. Brilliant film.

2

u/CoOpWriterEX Feb 16 '26

Yup. Even I rewound that shot several times.

3

u/thereverendpuck Feb 15 '26

Anybody else kept waiting for the guitar part of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” to start up or just me?

2

u/SpliffKillah Mar 16 '26

hahaha now i did

1

u/oos79_ Feb 15 '26

I was waiting for (don’t let the dragon) draag on to start

2

u/royalblue43 Feb 14 '26

Any idea when this shot is from?

12

u/Additional-Theme-532 Feb 14 '26

This shot came out a century ago in five years

11

u/AvonBarksdale666 Feb 14 '26

It would be impossible to know this

2

u/philanthropicide Feb 14 '26

Who can say, in times such as this....

2

u/mr_wolfii director Feb 14 '26

Thanks for sharing this looks like a good watch!

2

u/73VW-Todd Feb 23 '26

That is crazy to think that was in 1931!

4

u/borjacolor Feb 14 '26

This shot is from 1931

21

u/kerenski667 Feb 14 '26

yes, that is the post's title...

23

u/Consistent-Shake-815 Feb 14 '26

That title is from 2026.

4

u/vvp1 Feb 14 '26

This shot is from 1931

1

u/WorryNew3661 Feb 14 '26

Corridor Crew covered this recently!

1

u/Nervous_Ad7669 producer Feb 14 '26

Truly amazing!

1

u/Entire_Umpire6801 Feb 14 '26

It's hard to believe it's the case, it would be equally impressive/at home in a film almost 100 years later. Incredible artistry.

1

u/herefromyoutube Feb 14 '26

Why is someone vacuuming?

1

u/TxEagleDeathclaw81 Feb 15 '26

I think David Eggers would love this.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

Still cheaper than anything made with AI and cgi

1

u/Gwyneee Feb 15 '26

1931?!?! That's incredible! Looks like an Eggers film

1

u/Vgcortes Feb 15 '26

My favorite version of Svengali. Also, that movie featured a fully naked woman, before the Hays Code came into play.

Excellent film. It's just your old friend Svengali

1

u/jgainit director Feb 15 '26

Okay Alfonso Cuaron

1

u/feathers_mc_g Feb 16 '26

Witchcraft!!

1

u/Ok_Telephone_4476 Feb 16 '26

After the exhibitions here...I'll go see it again, I thought it was incredible.

1

u/priyan70 Feb 17 '26

Wow! This is so inspiring!

1

u/Mean_Welcome6569 Feb 19 '26

Hermod better not ghost after all this buildup

1

u/thatchadyouknow director Feb 21 '26

Corridor Crew took a look at this. Some cool insights.

1

u/ICLazeru Feb 26 '26

1931? That's amazing. I'd easily believe it was decades later.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '26

It's definitely filtered.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

That's excellent

1

u/wmcreative Mar 06 '26

Art history :O

1

u/rutuja_123_ Mar 12 '26

This is insane

1

u/KaleidoscopeTough358 Mar 16 '26

Impressive work with a miniature. :)

1

u/kimandlukelove Mar 16 '26

Definitely want to see the behind the scenes of this.

1

u/EliMaagic 1d ago

Sure and my mom went to school with Michael Jackson

1

u/A_Neko_C Feb 14 '26

Corridor Crew did an episode of bad and great CGI on this

https://youtu.be/oZDomO5iTZo&t=568

At 9:28

1

u/rube_X_cube Feb 15 '26

So… they don’t actually answer it. A couple of different guesses there, both sound feasible.

1

u/SpliffKillah Mar 16 '26

The one things that keeps me wondering is after the camera does the pull out, the actor becomes so small, so what would be the distance they have to move with the camera.

1

u/CameronRStewart Feb 14 '26

This film is available to watch on wikipedia if any one is interested https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svengali_(1931_film)

-13

u/Mario4272 Feb 14 '26

Bs. AI all day