In “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
In this sequence from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” we see how a tribe functions in an idyllic village before threats emerge. The scene follows Noa (Owen Teague), Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) as they return from the ritual of collecting an eagle egg that they will nurture.
Narrating the sequence, the director Wes Ball said, “The goal was really just to set up a world that was wonderful, that was ultimately going to be forever changed.”
The scene was shot on location in Australia with the principal actors in performance capture gear. Ball said that they shot the sequence twice, once with the actors, and then a second time without the performers. He said he chose the best performance to be digitally dropped into the scene. He also had other performers do their movements on a stage and put them in as background in the scene as well.
“It’s an interesting process where I can take all of these different little elements and layer them all together,” he said.
Read the “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” review.
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