History Main / ForcedPerspective

* The core mechanic of ''{{VideoGame/Superliminal}}'', where flat represntations of 3D objects viewed at a certain angle can be manipulated as though they were in 3D.

** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Lucas used ''[[IncrediblyLamePun Force]]''d Perspective to make Darth Vader seem much taller than Palpatine.

* An unusual use of Forced Perspective happens in the 1987 film ''The Gate'', where a zombie menacing the kid leads falls to the floor and breaks up into little demons. The demons are full-sized humans in suits, filmed in forced perspective bunched up in a roughly humanoid shape (animation is used to transition between the fall and the breakup). You can see the scene at 1:15 in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOX6-Rw5PWc#t=1m15s the trailer.]]

** All of the parks have a Main Street leading to the central castle. The castles all look bigger than they really are because the buildings in Main Street are built on a progressively diminishing scale both horizontally and (as is the castle itself) vertically.

* Used frequently in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' for the character Junior, a baby alien. Since the game engine does not allow the player to resize their characters, the makers used a regular sized Elite, but just stood him in the background.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' Used this a few times.
** In the episode where they watch the aforementioned ''Future War'', Mike is inspired by the film to run to the back of the theater and start "threatening" the bots with forced-perspective shadow puppets.
** The end of the ''Film/TheScreamingSkull'' episode sees Observer shrink Bobo--this is achieved by having Bobo stand at the back of the room, while Observer sticks his hand in front, pretending to hold Bobo. The makers of the show were well aware of the hypocrisy of using this "special" effect after having made fun of it so many times.

* ''{{Magazine/Analog}}'': The [[Recap/Analog1939 July 1939 cover]] (inspired by "Literature/BlackDestroyer") has a black cat-like creature in the foreground on a rock with a rocketship and crew in the distant background. It initially looks like the cat-like creature is larger than the ship, but more careful examination of the rocks and people show it to be a forced perspective trick. In the story, "Pussy" is around the size of a human instead of bigger than the ship.

* Referenced on ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' when Finn and Jake are making a movie. Finn equips a frog with a miniature chariot and instructs Princess Bubblegum to stand back so that she appears to be riding the chariot.
* A similar gag was used on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. As Fry watches the view outside the Planet Express ship and marvels at how big outer space looks, a planet that first seemed far away suddenly spatters on the windshield and is wiped away by the windshield wiper.
* ''Westernanimation/PhineasAndFerb'': The gag was played with in "Last Train to Bustville". Linda does in fact see the boys' face-shaped hot air balloons, but were placed directly behind a rack with clothes resembling their everyday wear. Because of the mother's poor eyesight, she assumes it's really the boys, says hi, and walks away.

* Inverted in a gag in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E21SimpsonsTallTales Simpsons Tall Tales]]": Marge sees Homer in the distance running towards her. She reaches her arms out ready to hug him, only to realize Homer is a giant (playing Paul Bunyan) and barreling towards her at a dangerous speed.

Compare DepthDeception (when this happens in-story for comedic effect), PerspectiveMagic, VertigoEffect.

'''Derek Wilcox:''' ''[Chuckles]'' No, no, no, no. The sign was way in the background. I was standing in the foreground going like this when Jillian took the picture, so by forced perspective, it looks like I'm holding up the whole sign.\\

* ''{{Magazine/Analog}}'': The [[Recap/Analog1939 July 1939 cover]] (inspired by Creator/AEVanVogt's "Literature/BlackDestroyer") has a black cat-like creature in the foreground on a rock with a rocketship and crew in the distant background. It initially looks like the cat-like creature is larger than the ship, but more careful examination of the rocks and people show it to be a forced perspective trick. In the story, "Pussy" is around the size of a human instead of bigger than the ship.

The only real complicated part of this is focus. You need a camera lens that will focus on both long and short distances at the same time, or one or the other will end up blurry.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'' shows what appears to be Donkey Kong Island from the first game way in the background of K. Rool Keep. However, it turns out to be Klubba's Kiosk, which you can easily access ''right there''.

* The famous Space Jockey-set from the first ''Film/{{Alien}}'' movie was too much smaller than it appears, with the Jockey actually the size of a normal human. The gigantism was achieved through clever use of perspectives and child actors.

* Frequently used in ''Series/DoctorWho'' to make model spaceships or bases look full-size during location filming. A particularly [[SpecialEffectFailure awful]] example of a shot of this type is when the Brigadier summons a [[OffTheShelfFX model kit]] tank to fight the K-1 Robot in "Robot", represented by pushing it into frame with the robot in the far distance - unfortunately, it just lets us get a good look at the plasticy fake tank and the grass on the ground gives a really clear idea that the robot is further away than we're supposed to think it is.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': When the family looks for a new planet to settle on, their first choice looks remarkably Earth-like. When Rick starts to take the spaceship down for a landing, he suddenly bonks the ship into the planet, revealing that it's much closer and much smaller than it appeared.

'''Peter Griffin:''' I don't believe you. I think you are a God. And I will die for you or kill others.

** The famous opening scene from ''A New Hope'' uses this. The Rebel Blockade Runner model is ''bigger'' than the Star Destroyer. Though it's not quite the same thing -- the models were filmed separately and composited using BlueScreen.
** In ''Episode III'' Lucas used ''[[IncrediblyLamePun Force]]''d Perspective to make Darth Vader seem much taller than Palpatine.

* {{Music/OK Go}} used this throughout [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m86ae_e_ptU the video for "The Writing's on the Wall".]] It started with the text "The Writing's on the Wall" appearing the middle of the screen not by overlay, but by painting the letters on objects in front of the band and on the wall behind them. There were a set of boxes, some of which were real, and some of which were just painted on the ground; a conglomeration of random objects that looks like Tim when viewed from above; and a picture of the band except for Damian painted on the wall and floor, with Damian standing in the empty space. It ended with another sign saying "The Writing's on the Wall" on the back wall, and the pillars in the warehouse, making it nearly undecipherable until the camera moves into the correct position.

* Ride/DisneyThemeParks use this trick liberally. All of the parks have a Main Street leading to the central castle. The castles all look bigger than they really are because the buildings in Main Street are built on a progressively diminishing scale both horizontally and (as is the castle itself) vertically.

* In 1927 ''Film/Sunrise'' used Forced Perspective to make the city set appear larger.

* The paintings for Tiny-Huge Island in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' also make use of this. The one in front is of normal size, but the other two on the side appear to be, too... until you approach them.