The positioning of characters within an image creates, by its skewing of scale, certain desired effects in viewers. Through alteration of scale, the creator of the image may incite a specific emotional response in the viewer. This use of scale has been used largely by filmmakers in this century. The director may create an image, using scale in order to elicit response from the viewer. The clearest example of this use of scale is in Orson Welles' masterpiece of film technique, Citizen Kane.
The well-known 
hallway shot near the end of the film allows the viewer to understand, through the use of scale, the emotional state of Kane himself. The viewer feels the loneliness inherent in the visual image, an effect created by the use of scale. Kane is reduced to an insignificant figure, contrary to his percieved role of power. The visual shrinking of Kane produces a sense of isolation in the viewer, creating an empathetic link to the character.
Scale may be altered in order to create a variety of other emotions, for example, tension and anxiety. As shown in this still from Peter Jackson's 
Dead Alive, the exaggeration of scale creates the overwhelmingly disconcerting mood Jackson is trying to create. Thus scale, when pushed to ridiculous extremes, can be used to create devastating emotional effects in the viewer.
Click here to return to Scale Home Page.