This infamous Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace has a reputation for ditching practical effects in favor of green screening everything, but there were still lots of models and props used. Remember the gigantic stands in the podrace crowd scene in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Episode I)? If you look at it, you would think that it was all created on a computer. However, the stands are actually part of a miniature set designed by model maker Michael Lynch. The truly mind-blowing part is that to create the appearance of a crowd, Lynch used 450,000 painted Q-Tips and blowing fans underneath the models to simulate movement. So it may be a hated movie, but Lynch’s work is still an impressive technical feat. Here’s some behind the scene photos and a tumblr thread about it:

Source: Ultrafacts