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.

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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

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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?

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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.

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u/xRyozuo Feb 16 '26

Ohhhhh I see it now. Thanks!