Type of work: Matte Painting

For this iconic scene, I was provided with a photograph of the Grand Budapest Hotel's impressive miniature model - a nine-foot-tall and fourteen-foot-long construction that required digital enhancement to achieve photorealistic quality while preserving Wes Anderson's distinctive visual aesthetic. The rocky hillside supporting the hotel and the funicular railway system were constructed as separate miniature models, with the hill built at a deliberately different scale to optimise its cinematic impact.

My primary responsibility involved painting each individual window, adding architectural depth and interior details to create the illusion of inhabited rooms within the structure. Furthermore, I enhanced various elements throughout the model and carefully placed the background environment to achieve a pleasing composition.

This hybrid approach, combining traditional miniature craftsmanship with digital painting techniques, proved essential in realising the film's distinctive storybook-like visual character. The success of this integration contributed to the production's recognition, earning Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects and ultimately winning the Oscar for Best Production Design.