How did Game Night make shots that made the scene look like a model set?

Question

In the movie Game Night they had several transitionary shots of the town the movie was set in that seemed to be an explicit made to make the town look like a detailed model toy set. This goes with the 'game' theme of the movie (and is confirmed by an after credits scene).How do did they actually make these shots give the illusion of a model toy set? I noticed they played with the focus that appeared to make some items stand out more, but I don't understand it fully. Was it some CGI or was it fully camera magic? Since this is a new movie still in theaters I unfortunately can't find any video examples of this.

Answer 1

You can get this effect by using a tilt-shift lens. There are methods to recreate this effect in editing using a gradient to blur the foreground and background out of focus, but it isn't as cost efficient in film as just using the tilt-shift lens. The downside to these lenses, at least for new/upcoming photographers and filmmakers, is the cost. For studios with a larger budget though, it is cheaper to buy or rent the lens than to pay for the extra work in post-production.