HOW TO SHOOT BATTLE SCENES WITH MULTI-CAMERA

Volodya VO

New member
I search for the information and the literature on - how to shoot correctly with multi-camera method (especially battle scenes).....

1. correct layout of cameras (arrangement - what to shoot - long-shot, close-up e.t.c.)

2. organization of shooting (sequence)

For example - battle scenes in Lord of the Rings - may be you know??

Thank you (and sorry for my bad English:)
 
I believe the general method of madness for capturing an epic battle scene is "MAXIMUM COVERAGE".

While I was an extra on Pearl Harbor I had the opportunity to experience the complexity of shooting battle scenes. Most of the scenes I participated in seemed pretty chaotic, with large groups of people scattered all over the place, and the unit directors appeared to be doing most of the work.

The camera set ups were difficult to locate, they were hidden much of the time. On any given take I could probably only locate 2 or three out of the 5 or 6 cameras that were rolling. In terms of coordinating everything, the unit directors were great, they knew exactly what to do, they were the hands of the director and choreographer, sending certain people through smoke and squibs, away from one camera to another, then they'd send another group off into a different direction where there was greater action, it was all very well orchestrated from that perspective. But, how we extras reacted to the gun fire and explosions was left entirely up to us, in order to capture the true chaos they wanted real reactions within the framework they provided.
There was one scene, where I was told before a take to run into a cloud of smoke and just keep going, and they didn’t tell me what to expect on the other side, next thing I know, as soon as I run out of the smoke, the two sailors I’m running by get their chests shot out with fake blood packets, it was crazy, scared the living sh!t out of me. I think even though unit directors bust their asses the hardest, they also get the biggest laughs out of those moments.

Anyhow, I’ve also read a series of interviews with the creators of Cold Mountain, who discussed the complexity of their battle scenes. I came away with a reaffirmed understanding from the interviews of how battle scenes in the general sense are quite chaotic, and there really isn't much that can be done to prevent the camera from capturing that sort of chaos, so it’s sort of best to just go with it, and make sure you have enough footage to use. In Cold Mountain, they used a series of cameras scattered about in the battle field, free to capture the action at the heart, then of course, other camera set ups to capture on a wider scope.

I believe a concern of the director and his team is to have some really good choreography among the camera men. Even with choreography among fighters, it's important that the camera men have a really good understanding of the events, and also have enough space laid out to maneuver, dolly, and track freely in case something else interesting develops. There will be key scenes that are pre-visualized and must be captured in a particular way, but with the exception of those, it would appear to be mostly run and gun, (no pun intended).

On a side note, if you’re lacking the amount of people needed, you can use a longer lens to zoom in and compress fighting sequences to fill out the frame, or you can also do what they did in LOTR, and just generate fighters, which from a distance will be virtually indistinguishable from actual people.
 

Network Sponsors

Back
Top