the effect is called tilt shift and is pretty common in photography effects more than film. By adding one section in focus the mind is tricked into thinking that you are looking at an image where the camera is too close to focus on the entire image hence the “model village” feel. Heres a few nice examples and by the way it isnt hard to do yourself in a photoshop type program. http://www.wbsgallery.org.uk/wbsGallery_main/main.php/v/wbs_subjects/sub_Photography/techniques/TiltShift/1162121598_2ed7e2fac0.jpg.html
some nice ones on here (particularly the beach one) that some schoolkids done and theres even a picture of the tilt shift lense that he’s used