When you want to give the feeling "humans are this small" by showing a person in front of a giant spaceship or structure. Especially good for an opening that introduces a world for the first time.
In Shot 1, put the explorer as a tiny dot on the desert and float a giant spaceship on the horizon. The giant object's size feels real only when a person serves as the measuring reference.
To recreate it: Write the size gap between person and object directly, as in 'dwarfed by a colossal spacecraft'.
In Shot 1, hazy morning backlight turns the explorer into a black outline. A small faceless figure seems to represent 'all of humanity'.
To recreate it: Include 'hazy backlight turning her into a silhouette' so the figure isn't drawn bright.
In Shot 2, look up from the ground beside the explorer's boot, tilting up slowly to follow the endless hull. As it rises until the hull fills the sky, the scale is felt in the body.
To recreate it: Write just the starting position and one movement, as in 'worm's-eye view, tilting up slowly'.
In Shots 2 and 4, beams of light slant down through drifting dust. The beams make the air visible, giving the space depth and weight.
To recreate it: Write light and dust together, as in 'volumetric light rays cutting through drifting dust', for the beams to show.
In Shot 4, start right behind the explorer and pull back into the sky to reveal hundreds of identical spaceships floating to the horizon. The twist that what looked like one ship is hundreds is the peak of the scale.
To recreate it: It tends to teleport to the reference image composition mid pull-back, so watch the 480p draft to the end and, if it fails, shorten it or replace it with a fixed wide shot.
Hold the first wide shot for nearly 4s so the audience slowly takes in the size, and save the final pull-back to the end as a slow reveal.
To recreate it: Decide the design start frame first and feed it to every shot as a reference, so the ship shape doesn't change from shot to shot.
Add black bars at the top and bottom for a wide 2.39:1 frame. The horizontally long frame shows the horizon and giant objects wider, adding a cinema feel.
To recreate it: Generate at 16:9, add the bars in editing, and keep important objects at the center of the frame so they aren't cropped top and bottom.
Cinematic multi-shot sequence, 15 seconds total. Shot 1 (3s): static extreme wide silhouette of a lone explorer in a dusty orange suit on a pale desert plain, a colossal dark spacecraft hovering above the horizon; Shot 2 (4s): worm's-eye view beside her boots, tilting up slowly along the endless curved hull until it fills the sky; Shot 3 (3s): slow push-in on her medium close-up as she lifts her visor, the vast hull reflected in the glass; Shot 4 (5s): one continuous aerial pull back from behind her, revealing hundreds of identical spacecraft floating to the horizon. Consistent explorer and desert, hazy backlight with volumetric god rays and drifting dust, 65mm large-format film detail, awe and overwhelming scale.
Only when a person is placed as small as a dot, as a reference to measure by, does the size of the giant object feel real. Light shafts in fog and a slow reveal give the space depth and weight.
Extreme wide shot of a lone explorer in a dusty orange suit standing on a pale desert plain, dwarfed by a colossal dark spacecraft hovering silently above the horizon. Static camera, hazy morning backlight turning her into a silhouette, large-format 65mm film detail, awe and insignificance.
Worm's-eye view beside the explorer's boots, tilting up slowly along the endless curved hull of the spacecraft until it fills the sky. Wide-angle lens, volumetric light rays cutting through drifting dust, deep focus, large-format film clarity, overwhelming scale.
Medium close-up of the explorer lifting her visor, eyes wide, the vast dark hull reflected in the glass. Slow push-in, soft diffused desert light, haze in the background, extremely fine film grain, silent wonder.
Starting close behind the explorer, the camera pulls back steadily in one continuous aerial move, revealing hundreds of identical spacecraft floating over the desert all the way to the horizon. Volumetric god rays, atmospheric haze, epic large-format film look, staggering scale.
Hold the first wide shot long, nearly 4 seconds, as an establishing shot, and make the size felt with a worm's-eye tilt along with a riser sound effect. Hide the final pull-back until the end and use it as a slow reveal, and widen the screen with letterbox bars at the top and bottom for a cinema feel.
So the giant object's shape doesn't change from shot to shot, first decide on a spaceship design start frame and feed it into every shot as a reference. A pulling-back shot works for the first few seconds, then sometimes teleports to the reference image's composition, so check all the way through in a 480p draft, and if it doesn't work, cut it short or substitute a locked wide shot. Generate 2.39:1 as 16:9, then add the letterbox in editing.