http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScullyBox

This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Paul McGann "[I am] five feet nine. Quite little, really. From a squat tribe, you see. My brothers (and sister) are all taller than me, as are most of the actresses I'm required to smooch. At such times they usually stand me on a box. Sort of keeps your feet on the ground, paradoxically."

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If an actor looks too short next to a costar, the easiest thing to do is to have them stand on something to make them taller.

Named for a special box from the production of The X-Files. Standing at 5'2" (1.57 m), Gillian Anderson was much shorter than David Duchovny, who was 6'0" (1.83 m). Consequently, to keep Scully and Mulder on roughly the same plane while shooting them together, they developed a special box for her to stand on (also referred on set as "Gilly-Board" after the actress). Unlike the traditional movie apple box or trench, a Scully Box can be stacked up, or laid out in a runway. It's very versatile and used to accommodate large height differences between cast members.

The term "apple box" is prevalent in the industry for an actor-heightening wooden box of a given dimension, typically: 12" × 8" × 20" or 30 × 20 × 50cm. A Scully Box is an 'apple' and a half and is constructed of aluminum covered with outdoor carpeting for sound-deadening and traction.

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If the camera is lowered and angled upward to create the illusion of height, it's a Hitler Cam shot. Compare Cheated Angle.

Examples:

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An advert for Springfield Armory had the tagline Some shooters can't see eye-to-eye with two famous competition pistol shooters glaring at each other, the shorter one standing on an ammunition crate so he could look the other in the eye. Of course the one thing they did see eye-to-eye on was that they both liked Springfield Armory pistols.

Anime & Manga

In Lucky Star's opening, Konata's skirt is shown on the same level as the other girls, but she is significantly shorter than them, which leads to the obvious conclusion.

Invoked in Episode 15 of the Ace Attorney anime; Pearl has to jump onto a box in order to see over the Defense Stand.

Played for Laughs in Chapter 36/Episode 8 of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun. Nozaki is so bad at perspective that, when forced to draw his own backgrounds, every scene has at least one character who seems to be hovering in mid-air. He solves this by drawing a box under their feet — every single time. When Hori (the assistant who normally draws the backgrounds) complains, Nozaki tries to justify it In-Universe with a panel where the manga's female lead declares that carrying boxes everywhere is the current fad, prompting Hori to shout "That's not the issue here!"

Comic Books

Rorschach invokes this in Watchmen. When the police arrest him, they find he wears platform shoes to make himself taller.

On the cover of the The Lone Gunmen comic book a publicity shot of the cast is used which due to lack of cropping, the Scully Box used to make Byers and Frohike the same height as the rest is very obvious.

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Film  Animation

In Brave, when Bear Elinor is standing, she is more than twice Merida's height. To fit both characters into the same shot, the animators sometimes sunk Bear Elinor into the floor a bit.

is standing, she is more than twice Merida's height. To fit both characters into the same shot, the animators sometimes sunk into the floor a bit. In one scene in ParaNorman, Norman's father is made taller than his son in this way in order to emphasize the disconnect between the two. The box is steadily replaced with smaller and smaller boxes as Norman walks away.

In Toy Story, since Woody is actually much taller than Buzz, in scenes when they had to talk with each other but their feet wouldn't be in the frame, the animators would actually have Woody's legs clipping into the ground. They called it "Trenching", named for when trenches were dug for the much taller female co-stars of actor Alan Ladd (5'6") to make him appear at the same height as them.

Film  Live-Action

Live-Action TV

Music

When Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake embarked on a tour together, they did a photoshoot for Rolling Stone to promote the tour where they were eye level. However, because Justin is 5'11 1/2" and Christina is just barely over 5 feet tall, he had to bend down while she had to stand on a step ladder in order for them to be at eye level with the camera.

During the 2005 Academy Awards, Prince gave Best Original song to Jorge Drexler for his contribution to The Motorcycle Diaries. Poor Drexler had to hunch so he could use the microphone set for the 5'2" star.

so he could use the microphone set for the 5'2" star. For the band photo featured on the back cover of Black Sabbath's 1980 album "Heaven and Hell", 5'3" singer Ronnie James Dio stood on a ledge to appear the same height as his bandmates.

In most of Nirvana's music videos, TV appearances and band photos, 6'7" bassist Crist Novoselic was either crouching, slouching, positioned far away from/behind his bandmates, or shot from specific camera angles, so he would not tower over 5'9" Kurt Cobain and 6'0" Dave Grohl.

A similar technique can be seen in many Red Hot Chili Peppers band photos, where 6'3" drummer Chad Smith is positioned in a way so he would not tower over his bandmates, 5'6" Flea, 5'7" John Frusciante, and 5'8" Anthony Kiedis.

Stevie Nicks (5'1") adopted the habit of wearing 6" platform heels to avoid looking really short next to her Fleetwood Mac bandmates, especially 6'6" Mick Fleetwood.

Tool's Maynard James Keenan is 5'7", putting him the same slightly below average range as Tom Cruise, yet is matched with taller than normal band members Danny Carey (6'5"), Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor (both 6'). Coincidentally, he's often on a stage platform and/or hunched over to make it difficult to determine his height.

Politics

President George H. W. Bush made it a personal rule never to be photographed standing next to Ronald Reagan while he was Reagan's Vice President because the 6'2" Bush didn't want to overshadow his boss (Reagan was 6'0").

Michael Dukakis, Bush's challenger in 1988, wasn't abnormally short (5'8") but the height difference with Bush, combined with a broader physique compared to Bush's, made him seem short, and Dukakis's sensitivity on the subject came to light when a Boston Herald photographer snuck behind the podium and took a picture of the governor standing on a box inside the lectern during a campaign speech. Parodied in the SNL debate in which Dukakis, played by Jon Lovitz, adjusted his position behind the lectern using a noisy motorized lift.

During a debate when Robert Reich was running for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 (against the 6'2" Mitt Romney), a camera pan showed he was standing on one of these behind the podium. Understandable, since Reich is 4'10" due to a bone condition. He's made fun of this in interviews, notably during one with the famously tall Conan O'Brien.

John Kerry, former longtime Massachusetts senator and former Secretary of State, frequently has this device used by people he's posing with, since at 6'4" he towers over practically everyone. This is especially notable whenever he has to stand next to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick ◊ and is a good head and then some taller.



It's also thought that this is one reason former President George W. Bush was frequently drawn as a midget in political cartoons, since while the real Bush is actually 5'11" — not small by any means — he wound up looking short next to the outrageously tall Kerry (same with Al Gore, who's 6'2"). There was apparently some behind-the-scenes handwringing by the Bush staff about this (previously, though likely coincidentally given the fairly small sample size, the taller major-party candidate had always been the winner of the presidential election) that resulted in negotiations with his competitor's counterparts about the best way to film them to prevent this, not that it worked.

and is a good head and then some taller. It's also thought that this is one reason former President George W. Bush was frequently drawn as a midget in political cartoons, since while the real Bush is actually 5'11" — not small by any means — he wound up looking short next to the outrageously tall Kerry (same with Al Gore, who's 6'2"). There was apparently some behind-the-scenes handwringing by the Bush staff about this (previously, though likely coincidentally given the fairly small sample size, the taller major-party candidate had always been the winner of the presidential election) that resulted in negotiations with his competitor's counterparts about the best way to film them to prevent this, not that it worked. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy used lifts in his shoes to appear taller. During an event where speeches were given by Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, several pictures were taken from the side, revealing the... vertically challenged French president had stood on a box, presumably because he wouldn't have reached the microphone — set up for the 6'1" Obama — otherwise. Sarkozy, who is 5'5" note That's an inch shorter than the actual historical Napoleon, folks! , even needs one of these when pictured with his own wife, an ex-supermodel.

, even needs one of these when pictured with his own wife, an ex-supermodel. In a Swedish election debate in 2014, the state TV channel had Social Democratic leader Stefan Löfven stand on a box when debating incumbent (and taller) Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. The box drew attention among the viewers. In the election, Löfven defeated Reinfeldt.

A box is frequently used when interviewing Dutch minister of finance Wopke Hoekstra... for the interviewers. ◊

According to The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, Emperor Augustus was shorter than the average Roman male and compensated by wearing elevated sandals. However, he made this a secret by hiding his sandals under his robe. This makes Augustus the first recorded "lifts-wearing" politician in history.

Pro Wrestling

The WWF's André the Giant frequently employed a crate during backstage interviews; he was already incredibly tall and large, but this served to make him truly tower over the interviewer. Sadly, the condition that caused his large size ultimately led to his early death.

When he came into the WWF in the 1990s, Jorge "Giant" Gonzales was 7'7" tall. Despite this, he wore lifts in his boots so the WWF could bill him as being "nearly 8 feet tall".

Kane stands at about an impressive 6'6", but because he was supposed to be bigger than his kayfabe brother The Undertaker, who is about 6'8" (billed at 6'10"), he wore lifts in his boots to be closer to his billed height of 7 feet.

Inversion: interviewers like the 6'2" Mike Rome and 6' Tom Phillips often have to widen their stance so they don't appear taller than the wrestler they're interviewing. It's especially notable when interviewing the under 6' Finn Balor or Chris Jericho

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

Jeremy Hawke in The Critic is apparently very, very short (18" shorter than he appears), and disguises it with heels. When one heel breaks, he starts running very askew.

An in-universe example in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Rondo in New York" when action Hollywood star tours the theater to promote his latest film. The actor is really short and has a crew placing apple boxes as he walks by the crowd looking down on them, much to Michelangelo's disappointment.

A similar trick was done in Total Drama. Since Sierra is just shy of One Head Taller than her crush Cody, the animators had to cheat whenever she employed a Marshmallow Hell and kept Cody's feet a few inches above the ground.

Real Life