Higley, Sarah L. "A Taste for Shrinking: Movie Miniatures and the Unreal City." Camera Obscura. 2001. 20 Nov. 2008 <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2298/journals/camera_obscura/v016/16.2higley.html>.

This article by Sara Higley describes the optical techniques used by filmmakers that allowed them to give the daunting impression of an overbearing metropolis.  Going through movies from different generations and genres, Higley offers insight into how these techniques were applied and in what ways they added to the film’s message.  Separated by the specific technique, such as miniature cities or dark auras, with a movie that represents the described technique, the article connects many important aspects of movies that rely on the daunting affects that cities instill.
    The section that is devoted to Metropolis offers an interesting insight into the way in which the city that adds so much to the film was designed.  Lang used a miniature version of the metropolis to allow the feeling of helplessness to overtake the viewer.  As it is the intent of Lang to make an individual who may walk in this futuristic city, the towering buildings that outlay the city, this miniaturized city allowed Lang to create these overwhelming towers without the need to actually build life-size models of them.  Higley also mentions the use of shades of gray that Lang uses in this metropolis, which convey the idea of the questionable morality of those who live in these monstrosities.  It is the architecture of the buildings and their coloring in the film that conveys these ideas of the “evil” rulers of the city and the lower “pure” worker motives.  Additionally, Higley touches upon the different shapes that are used to construct the city.  Much in the same way as Jacobsen and Sudendorf mention how the lack of uniformity emits a confusion and daunting feeling, Higley reaffirms this by mentioning the multitude of geometric figures that make up the buildings of this horrifying world.