To determine real-world information about objects moving in a scene, the camera capturing the scene is typically calibrated to the scene. Automatic scene calibration can be accomplished using people that are found moving about in the scene. During a calibration period, a video content analysis system processing video frames from a camera can identify blobs that are associated with people. Using an estimated height of a typical person, the video content analysis system can use the location of the person's head and feet to determine a mapping between the person's location in the 2-D video frame and the person's location in the 3-D real world. This mapping can be used to determine a cost for estimated extrinsic parameters for the camera. Using a hierarchical global estimation mechanism, the video content analysis system can determine the estimated extrinsic parameters with the lowest cost.