‘Miniature’ film about Lincolnshire seaside resort created by Stamford man Rich Beach
A filmmaker who portrays the ‘world in miniature’ has produced a second short film about Lincolnshire.
Rich Beach’s ‘Toy Town Stamford’ was shared thousands of times after it was released last year.
Now his film ‘Grimsby and Cleethorpes in Miniature’ is online, created as a quirky tourism video for North East Lincolnshire Council.
The film begins with people paddling in the sea by Cleethorpes Pier, taking a miniature train ride, walking along the coastal path, and paddle boarding in the sunshine on the Humber estuary.
Waltham Windmill, St Peter’s Church in Cleethorpes and the Grimsby Dock Tower all make an appearance, along with golfers putting on a ‘miniature’ green, shoppers visiting local businesses, and sunbathers on the beach.
Rich, who lives in Stamford, said: “After making the Little Town of Stamford film, I wanted to make more of these miniature style films, so I emailed councils and tourist boards around the country.
“I didn’t hear anything back until nine months later, when Discover North East Lincolnshire got in touch requesting a film to promote their tourist area.
"But it was the end of summer, and the weather man had announced the end of the good weather just the day before.”
Despite this, Rich booked a caravan at the Havens holiday park in Cleethorpes and arrived the next day to spend five days gathering the shots from a list of landmarks.
While morning filming was thwarted by mist rolling in off the sea, Rich was able to make good use of the afternoons, and his last day of filming was perfectly clear, meaning he could finish all the shots he needed.
"It was a joy to work on, to be honest, as I was essentially on holiday,” said Rich.
“I’m not the type to sit on a beach and do nothing, so this is probably what I would be doing anyway, if I was on holiday.
“I really enjoyed Cleethorpes, and most of what you see in the video is within a relatively small area, so getting around and seeing it all was simple. Grimsby is the other location in the film, but the landmarks were limited and not as easy to film.”
Rich used a lightweight drone and the same time-lapse technique he employed for his film of Stamford. But this time he added some new camera movements, such as where he tracked the miniature trains along the promenade.
Still images were taken every second, and when applied to a normal 24 frames per second video project, they became moving images, at 24 times normal speed.
Rich said: “This sped-up action adds to the toy town feel, as does the ‘tilt-shift’ effect applied to the image, which reduces the focus to a narrow band in the centre of the image.
“This tricks the brain into thinking what you’re looking at is small. If we look at small things very close up, everything around the subject becomes out of focus. This is why our brain is tricked by the effect.
“Adding heavy saturation to the image also boosts the effect, making subjects more toy-like.”
Rich has many ideas for new projects, and among them is to produce a ‘miniature’ video for the UK’s smallest county, Rutland.
“Hopefully, Rutland County Council is reading this,” he added. “Ready when you are!”.
