The changing scale is the hook
The wall should feel enormous before the runner reaches the top. At the foot, the guards and grandstand establish human scale; during the ascent, the camera tilts upward and the runner becomes a small figure on the wet concrete. That distance is part of the illusion, not a missing portrait close-up. A clear uploaded face still matters because the clip returns to it at the end. We use the selected reference to guide those size changes instead of asking one static portrait to fill every moment.

