Diorama: Settings, Snapshots, and Storytelling

Or, How to define “What is a diorama?”

By Jamie Stokes

Editor’s Note: Jamie is a miniaturist mate from Australia, and this and the next article are posts from his blog, JNS Miniature Moments.(Visit it here.) Sometimes, we can take really basic questions such as the ones he poses for granted, assuming we know the answers. But it’s always good to hear them well-articulated, and I believe we can all learn from his perspective.

Recently within the modelling community, there has been some discussion about dioramas and storytelling. Discussing this with a few peers, and reading a few articles, and listening to some podcasts on this subject, here’s my interpretation on dioramas at their highest form, and the levels building up to that highest form.

The range of a diorama moves from Setting (just an indication of the environment) to a Snapshot (a point in time, sometimes a photo recreated in scale miniature, or a depiction of an event), through to Storytelling, where an event is depicted and (sometimes) creates an emotional or intellectual response in the viewer. In the following, I hope to explain some way of how I’d gauge a presented diorama, and how well it would depict some form of narrative. Then I’ll touch upon Storytelling and Narrative as part of a conclusion piece. 

Base layer: Setting

This is usually a vehicle with a person or persons (not always though) to give scale and a bit of context. It’s one step up from a “Vehicle on a Plinth” (tank on a plank—a finished tank on a varnished wooden base), and it gives a nice display. A setting just gives an idea of terrain, an area of the world where the vehicle may have been in service: a European setting, Asian jungle or blistering desert, or maybe even snow and ice setting. Or Mars, or on the Moon….

Above: A vehicle on a plain base vs. one in a simple setting. Photos from the AMPS Chicagoland Web site.

This is the foundation setting where the modeler has moved from just the vehicle to some form of context around the vehicle, and usually expanding the expression of the vehicle having had some kind of interaction with the environment. It’s not just vehicles, just the overwhelming majority of dioramas seem to be a vehicle is selected, built, and then the diorama is built outwards from there. Sometimes there are a cluster of figures, sometimes marching, sometimes standing around, almost always one figure is pointing off the edge of the diorama base. Which means we are now moving towards…

Second Layer: Snapshot

This where we have a setting, plus a person, or people (usually, but not always) and a moment in time.

 Left: SDKFZ13 by Michael Bradshaw; Right: Canadian Armoured MG Carrier by Ian Keizers

The examples have figures, and the vehicles show signs of interacting with the environment; splashes, tracks in grass, some wear and tear if they have been in use for some time. It has a bit more life, there’s no emotional response at this level, just an intellectual curiosity. We can observe the increase of modelling skills, as now groundwork, vehicle, and people modelling skills are required, which are related but separate skill sets within modelling. (Driving a motorbike and driving a car both require road skills, right of way knowledge, and licensing, however the physical skills and application are related and have some overlap, but each has some unique requirements that need learning.)

Third Layer: Storytelling

This is where the skills of posing (or reposing, modifying or sculpting) figures, and placing them in a setting where there is a sense of emotion come together with the previous layers of skills.

Not all dioramas have an element of storytelling that generates a real kind of emotion, I’ll touch upon that next step. However, I’ve found some dioramas that really do have the elements of storytelling built in from the planning stage. I’ve selected one as an example.

Here is a Diorama), “They Didn’t Know It Was Us,” depicting the 761st “Black Panthers” Independent Tank Battalion, a Sherman tank with its crew watching the march past of surrendered Germans, and their white guards, being surprised at the African Americans who just defeated them. (This was at a time when America had segregation laws.) Martin Drayton, creator of the diorama, was inspired by the history of the unit, and the contrast of the time of segregation and the units fighting record.

Peter W. Usher’s “Mind the Gap” (above) has movement from left to right, and as the viewer’s eye travels (same as we read books) the heads on the Germans move from downcast to turned left with (I think) expressions of dismay or surprise. The railway station has commander figure pausing, assessing the view just looked at through the binoculars, and the tank crew is elevated above the foot soldiers, giving them a raised position and contextually logical reason to be there. The emotion moves from low down defeated, to elevated victorious, my thinking like a stage director. I regard it as a delayed action piece, it takes a few moments to really grasp the story, but that rewards a viewer who gives the piece a second glance.

Diorama: Storytelling/Emotional Response

There are two dioramas that evoke a strong emotional response, one for its sensitive handling around a very emotionally charged historical event, the other a horror of war that many soldiers have faced: a wounded comrade beyond help. These dioramas capture a moment in time, and something dioramists really strive to depict: An emotional response.

Listening to Rick Lawlor on Sprue Cutters Union Episode 54, he speaks of having an idea first, letting it stew for a long time, then after a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. had enough other information to fully realise and create the diorama, along with the release of the necessary vehicle (as a kit), a German railway wagon. I’m going to show the dioramas, and then move towards the conclusion.

Rick’s piece has one main figure in focus, wounded by a sniper, and caught between cover (the gap) between two trains in a shunting yard. The group on the left is trying to arrange cover fire without being the snipers next victim. The group on the right is holding one soldier back, because they know that another soldier leaving cover will be the next victim.

In “Burden of Sorrow” by Rick Lawlor, a Prisoner in one of the extermination camps in WW2 clears up shoes and spilled luggage from an empty railway wagon. Again, it tells a snapshot of part of a story, however it’s easy for any viewer to understand the bigger story that is unseen and untold, but part of cultural knowledge.

 Dioramas: Conclusions

There are many dioramas, and they exist on a spectrum that I have attempted to describe. Far from rigid definitions of what is/ is not a diorama, this is how I’d approach assessing what makes for successful storytelling, and the layers of skills needed to build upon to depict the story in the mind’s eye of the creator, and depicting that idea in a physically realised way, within the hobby of scale modelling.

A diorama, like a movie setting, needs a setting, a degree of realism or plausibility, and some characters interacting. If there is a powerful emotional element that the viewer can relate to, as depicted by the people in the diorama, then the diorama is at that intersection of multi skilled modelling and emotional draw; an outline of a story, where the viewer can interpret the story as they will, within the same setting. If one of the elements isn’t completed with a high level of craftsmanship, that will detract from the creators’ efforts, as it creates a disconnect between all the layers that are built up.

The two stories “Burden of Sorrow” and “Mind the Gap” give both a key moment of high emotion, all the elements of setting, snapshot and story, and they have been completed with high craftsmanship, coming together in a seamless way. The common element of the story is people interacting: There is a either loss, or pending loss, or a situation that has serious consequences. However, is how each viewer adds context to the images, and creates some kind of story or description for the piece.

Is the Prisoner cleaning up a random selection? Will the soldier break free and dash towards his comrade? Those stories and thumbnail sketches of a story are common within the framework, but individual to each viewer.

What about the Dioramas you and I want to create? If you are looking at creating dioramas, get started, get feedback often, and you’ll get better with every effort so long as you reflect on where you can improve with what you’ve learned. Tell those stories, your stories. They are worthwhile telling.

Box Dioramas: Setting the scene, controlling the lighting, colour effects, setting the moment, and the box... 

Building upon my previous post of trying to define what is a diorama, if we look at the subject of Box Dioramas, I still regard the composition (setting, snapshot, storytelling, and emotional response) still existing within the design elements. But now it’s about the setting, the viewing angle, the lighting, the reveal, the actual box, and the technical skills to bringing that all together. In a simple description: Stage setting, except it’s in a scale far smaller than 1:1.

Box Dioramas can be quite simple, and I’m reminded (and hope you are too) of the most basic diorama we’ve all ever done… the open-sided cardboard box. Below is a butterfly diorama from Richard Morgan of Utah. Richard’s daughter made a diorama for a school project; there wasn’t a local butterfly museum nearby, so she made her own. My own dioramas from a similar age that I can remember were a WWI scene with unpainted 1/72 plastic soldiers (Germans in grey, British in khaki,) and another diorama depicting satellites, with a crude cardboard cutout of a satellite hanging from some sewing thread over a vaguely earth coloured bit of cardboard. (Hey, I was like 8 or 9 at the time, and materials were all pretty limited.)

Generally speaking, Box Dioramas have controlled lighting (natural or powered); they frame the point of view (whereas open dioramas need to give consideration to the 360-degree view), and some kind of character depicting an action or a moment. So, onto examples of the diorama spectrum, from setting to emotional response.

“Midday Rest” by Ingvild Eiring

SETTING: Ingvild here has depicted a common setting with a whimsical touch, the family enjoying some quiet time after lunch. The whimsy is the characters are all mice! However, it’s just a quiet little scene, and I think it is more relatable because the main characters aren’t people. Technically, it’s framed well, it looks like quite a natural setting with the flow of the family just sitting around having a quiet time. It would be too easy to see this as either a rustic cabin life, or as a holiday cabin in the woods, possibly somewhere scenic during nice, warm weather. I think the real skill is using the mice to make a scene more recognisable, rather than passed over if people had been used.

“Eventful Visit to the Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza just after dawn – Late 1978”by Michael Berger

 SNAPSHOT: There’s no emotional tension in Michael’s diorama, nor should there be. It is a moment in time, depicting a moment where Napoleon takes some time to be tourist while on his Egyptian campaign. It’s a setting, based on a historical writing from the time. It’s part of the depiction of Napoleon, his entourage, and some elements of his 200 strong military escort, and taking in the sights. It’s composed well, and hints at the military escort, because more than what is currently depicted there would start to flood the setting, and the setting would be lost amongst the flood of figures.

“He swims amongst us” by Nick Infield

STORYTELLING: Here is what I regard as storytelling, rather than a snapshot. At first glance, it would be a snapshot: Here’s a frozen moment in time; at second look though, here is how a crew films a classic movie: Actor in a rubber monster suit, while film crew juggle with filming the scene, and doing all the focus, framing, tracking of the shot, while wearing scuba gear underwater. For the thinking viewer, there’s no air bubbles coming from “the Creature,” so either there is a closed air supply or the actor is holding their breath. At third look, we have the story of capturing a movie scene depicted within a setting rendered in scale.

Box #3 by Barry Biediger 

EMOTIONAL RESPONSE: Here is a quiet piece: A young lady waiting under a lamp, waiting for a ride. I regard this as an emotional response, because it is an ambiguous setting, and any intellectual work would lead an interested observer to putting some kind of story around this setting. For me, I can hear crickets and feel the warmth of a summer night and not a breeze to do much cooling. From there, is she waiting for a pickup to go home? Or leaving home? Returning or traveling reluctantly? Is that bump in the belly an early stage of pregnancy? The body language is pensive, rather than tired or optimistic. That is what creates the emotion of “waiting” and as she is lacking a watch, time spent waiting will truly drag, with no way to measure it.

CONTROLLING THE LIGHTING AND VIEW POINT: One visible control is lighting; either the ability to focus the lighting, or to emphasize mood with lighting. Strong contrasting light can really set a mood: fire at night is the most common depiction, and I’ll offer a WW2 bombing story by Jim DeRogatis. This is a triple light effect; the blue of the moon, the red of the fire from the city, and the yellow from the cockpit dashboard (yes, in real combat, the dashboard lights would be dimmed or off completely, an artistic decision was made, which I can agree with; it captures the focus point and helps reveal the story). Plus, there is a second Lancaster bomber in the background, with cockpit with yellow light, adding to the setting and helping with the effect of perspective and distance.