History Main / ScullyBox

* ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'' features the {{Ink Suit Actor}}s Creator/IlkkaVilli and Sam Lake portraying various characters, particularly the titular Alan Wake and Alex Casey, respectively. The ingame character models are extremely detailed digital doubles, except that the models for Lake's characters are all nearly the same height as Villi's characters, perhaps an inch shorter. Villi is about 6'2", and [[https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxs9w9PNEqH/ various real-life]] [[https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvho4nJtnx6/ photographs of]] [[https://twitter.com/deathsstranding/status/1768310858441195756/photo/4 the two men]] show that Lake is at least 4-5 inches shorter than him, indicating that the character artists gave Casey a little bit of extra height.

[[quoteright:278:[[Creator/TomCruise https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tom_cruise_scully_box_8.png]]]]

[[quoteright:279:[[Creator/TomCruise https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tom_cruise_scully_box_8.png]]]]

[[quoteright:279:[[Creator/TomCruise https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tom_cruise_scully_box.png]]]]

* ''Manga/OshiNoKo'': InUniverse, Aqua plays his father Hikaru in a dramatization of his mother Ai's life. [[HowDadMetMom They first met]] when Hikaru was in middle school, but Aqua is well into high school, so they film those scenes with the other actors standing on a box offscreen.

* In ''Anime/LuckyStar'''s opening, Konata's skirt is shown on the same level as the other girls, but she is significantly shorter than them, which leads to the obvious conclusion.

* Music/{{Tool}}'s Maynard James Keenan is 5'7", putting him in the same slightly below average range as Tom Cruise, yet is matched with taller than normal band members Danny Carey (6'5"), Adam Jones, and Justin Chancellor (both 6'). Coincidentally, he's often on a stage platform and/or hunched over to make it difficult to determine his height. However, this is an aversion, since multiple band photos clearly reveal he is shorter than his bandmates, such as "[[https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/tool-new-album-aeb79008-af4d-443e-86ca-da43cadf1ab1.jpg this one]]" and "[[https://www.revolvermag.com/sites/default/files/media/images/article/tool_2006_travis_shinn_1600x900.jpg this one]]". He also performs from the back of the stage cloaked in shadows, sometimes with his back to the audience.

* Music/{{Tool}}'s Maynard James Keenan is 5'7", putting him in the same slightly below average range as Tom Cruise, yet is matched with taller than normal band members Danny Carey (6'5"), Adam Jones, and Justin Chancellor (both 6'). Coincidentally, he's often on a stage platform and/or hunched over to make it difficult to determine his height.

* In ''I Love Your Work'', Giovanni Ribisi's character kisses a woman while filming a scene in an elevator, then promptly hops off the Scully Box at the end of the take, revealing that the woman is about six inches taller than him.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''. When Elliot gets intoxicated by E.T.'s PsychicLink, he kisses a female classmate. Since she's much taller than him, he stands on top of a tripped classmate to kiss her.

* Simon Pegg himself wore lifts in his shoes in ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' because the actor playing his character's younger self was about 2 inches taller than him.

* ''Series/BabyDaddy'' actually came up with a clever piece of set design for this, no doubt since their cast already existed in the extremes, with the 5'4" Creator/TahjMowry sharing scenes with the 5'10"-and-heeled Creator/MelissaPeterman and the 6'6" Creator/DerekTheler. Realizing they had large height differences to deal with, they seemed to design the sets with this in mind, such as the [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140612213059/babydaddy/images/1/1c/10259256_654741817906378_2039755034018526124_o.jpg bar set]] being designed with a staircase in the background for the actors to line up their heights on (this came in '''really''' handy when the aforementioned Theler got a love interest played by the 5'2" Creator/LaceyChabert, a full sixteen inches shorter than him.) This only seems to be used for blocking, however, as the show will often use the height differences of their actors as a [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140612214805/babydaddy/images/1/1f/10358936_660808070633086_4784475361706970306_o.jpg source of humor.]]

** During Creator/JohnBarrowman's first five episodes, Creator/BilliePiper had to stand on a box whenever she was in a scene with him since he is seven inches taller than her. This is an unusual example given that John Barrowman and Creator/ChristopherEccleston are the exact same height (6'), and she never did so with the latter. It probably has to do with the mystique of the Doctor.

* In ''Series/GetSmart'', Barbara Feldon was slightly taller than male lead Don Adams. This led to Adams standing on an apple crate or Feldon bending her knees and/or not wearing shoes so he would appear taller than her in close-ups.

* ''Series/IClaudius'': Both used and referenced in Claudius' marriage to Plautia, whom he meets on his wedding day. When seated beside her, they're at eye level, but when they stand, Claudius is horrified to discover that she towers a full head taller than him. After gaping up at her for a moment, he looks down at her feet, obviously looking to see if she's standing on something, but she's not. The actress Jennifer Croxton actually ''was'' standing on a box, as she's of normal height.

* In ''Series/TheOrville'', Creator/SethMacFarlane's boots help make him look taller than Creator/AdriannePalicki, even though he's only an inch shorter than her. Both of them typically tower over the rest of the cast.

** In his wedding photos, where Scully Boxes couldn't be used, he had Creator/KatieHolmes squat down a bit so that she wouldn't be taller than him. After divorcing him, Creator/NicoleKidman (who is 6'0") commented "Well, I can wear heels now." on Letterman.

* [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Both Prince Charles and Lady Diana]] were about 5'9" tall, yet all official photographs of the former couple display him as considerably taller than her.

When planning out the framing of an image, sometimes the real-life height of an actor can be a hindrance to making the shot look good. If an actor looks too short next to a costar, the easiest thing to do is to have them stand on something to make them taller while making sure the camera can't see their feet. This helps to keep people in frame and sometimes better convey power dynamics, as [[LargeAndInCharge taller people tend to feel more in control]]. While boxes are common, this trope refers to a number of different techniques used to bridge that gap including heels, camera angles and specialized blocking (never standing face to face, always sitting down).

** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling}} Once More, With Feeling]]", for a scene where Willow and Tara walk through the park, Creator/AlysonHannigan can be seen wearing high heels in order to minimize the three-inch height difference between herself and Amber Benson.
* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Stana Katic is tall at 5'9" but Nathan Fillion is 6'1 1/2". Even though the show is called ''Castle'', the two actors' roles are basically equal in importance. So Katic almost always wears 3- to 4-inch heels, which are her version of the box. This is Lampshaded quite often on the show as asides from other characters and it is very obvious when she is not wearing heels. This example is also unusual because height differences of only a few inches such as this usually don't cause an issue.

* ''Series/BabyDaddy'' actually came up with a clever piece of set design for this, no doubt since their cast already existed in the extremes, with the 5'4" Creator/TahjMowry sharing scenes with the 5'10"-and-heeled Creator/MelissaPeterman and the 6'6" Derek Theler. Realizing they had large height differences to deal with, they seemed to design the sets with this in mind, such as the [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140612213059/babydaddy/images/1/1c/10259256_654741817906378_2039755034018526124_o.jpg bar set]] being designed with a staircase in the background for the actors to line up their heights on (this came in '''really''' handy when the aforementioned Theler got a love interest played by the 5'2" Lacey Chabert, a full sixteen inches shorter than him.) This only seems to be used for blocking, however, as the show will often use the height differences of their actors as a [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140612214805/babydaddy/images/1/1f/10358936_660808070633086_4784475361706970306_o.jpg source of humor.]]

* During a debate when Robert Reich was running for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 (against the 6'2" Mitt Romney), a camera pan showed he was standing on one of these behind the podium. Understandable since Reich is 4'10" due to a bone condition. [[SelfDeprecation He's made fun of this]] in interviews, notably during one with the famously tall Conan O'Brien.

If an actor looks too short next to a costar, the easiest thing to do is to have them stand on something to make them taller.

An inversion of this, where a character is framed to look smaller in the environment than they should be, is sometimes referred to as "trenching." Compare CheatedAngle.

If the camera is lowered and angled upward to create the illusion of height, it's a HitlerCam shot. A ''lack'' of Scully Box can lead to a DownHereShot.

If the camera is lowered and angled upward to create the illusion of height, it's a HitlerCam shot. Compare CheatedAngle. A ''lack'' of Scully Box can lead to a DownHereShot.

* {{Invoked|trope}} in Episode 15 of the ''Anime/AceAttorney'' anime; Pearl has to jump onto a box in order to see over the Defense Stand.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', because Creator/ChristopherLloyd (6'1") is much taller than Creator/MichaelJFox (5'4"), director Creator/RobertZemeckis used camera tricks to avoid using one. For example, the two are rarely in the same shot together and, when they are, one is usually sitting down or much closer to the camera than the other. When Doc Brown is talking, he's often moving around so much that the viewer can't really tell how tall he is. Lloyd also improvised a hunch in his posture that helped give the character more of a MadScientist look.

* Similarly, spin-off ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' rarely made any effort to conceal height differences between actors, averting TeensAreShort by allowing the 6'3" Cirroc Lofton to tower over virtually everyone else and the 5'7" Jeffrey Combs to appear much shorter than most of his costars. Most noticeable [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ucYaefmjWY when the two share a scene.]]. They did usually have 5'7" Nana Visitor in heels to lend more strength to [[ActionGirl her character]] when dealing with the other main characters, who are all around 6' or taller, including 6' tall Terry Farrell.