Of all the shoots that I’ve been on throughout this movie, none have given me the feeling of satisfaction that last weekend’s did. There have been a handful of shoots where everything came together and looked incredible behind the camera, but nothing quite like all the pieces of the final battle.

I went into this weekend nervous and worried that we just wouldn’t be able to pull the battle off. When I showed up late on Friday night and there were less than 30 people on site, I definitely was a little more worried. Luckily, more people showed up Saturday morning to help out. Seeing everyone lined up in costume, looking like a legit army, gave me a lot more confidence. After the first “Action!” call of the day, I had the feeling that this was going to be another one of those special shoots where it all came together just right.

My first action of the day was setting up the camera about 40 yards in front of a huge line of archers, who proceeded to shoot arrows straight at me. None hit me or the camera, but you won’t catch me on the receiving end of a few volleys of arrows again. Even though none of the arrows had tips, it still was very unnerving watching all these arrows fly through the air at you. I’m pretty sure that was the point I was confident that Bjorn’s quest for epic would be realized.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, with people pulling double duty as both good and bad guys to help swell the ranks of the armies. We had a few charges, some clashing of swords and shields, and soldiers getting killed left and right. It was quite a day, one that I won’t forget for a long time.

Many, many thanks go out to everyone who sacrificed one or both days of their weekend to come help out with the movie. We definitely could not have achieved what we did without all of your help. A special thanks goes out to the Seattle Knights, who went above and beyond the call of duty by training everyone how to use their weapons. If we didn’t have professionals available, I’m sure we would have ended up with far more injuries than we did.

We filmed Kael’s death yesterday. He died tragically while trying to stop Captain Krais from reporting of the rebel camp. The coward Krais stabbed him in the back while he was dispatching the entire Kilean scouting party single handedly. He was unable to be revived despite the best efforts of Andreas and Johan. He died in their arms. Later they laid him to rest on a warrior’s pyre and sent his spirit off. The flames lit up the small glen. Thankfully the neighbors didn’t call the police or fire department.

This weekend the crew and I went over to Victor Montana and the Bitteroot Mountains to film the enemy camp. The eight and a half hour drive was definitely worth it when we set up the Kilean camp Friday and looked up all around the valley and the natural beauty of the mountains. A fact that was only enhanced as a white tail doe danced and ran past our set. And of course we were there for the first snow of the season, which made for a spectacular set, but a very long hike in. By the end of the shoot no one had anything that wasn’t wet. Ah, the price of film.

Yesterday we went down to Mt. Rainier to shoot a couple castle scenes and the Reinforcement scene. We found a spot by a water fall where a stone Rampart had been set up next to and it was just beautiful! The spectators were very nice as well when we asked them to give us a few moments with the area. They were all pretty interested too, I can’t tell how many of them asked for pictures with our guardsmen. Then we went over to a shoot where Reinforcements are sent from the Capital to help Andreas and the refugees. We set up where a stone bridge covers a Canyon with the mountains in the background, and crossed the bridge. Even though we had sixteen people (thanks to all those who came) it still wasn’t enough to be an army. So we crossed everyone in front of the camera and then had them hunch down and cross behind and go again. It worked and looked great, so we spent the rest of the time enjoying the view from Mt. Rainier’s shadow.

Last Saturday the Crew and I went out to Quincy Washington to film the scene where the Kilean army marches over the Southern Plains to attack the Country of Midea. The location was amazing and we couldn’t have asked for a better day weather wise. We got up at 6:30am on the Webber Farm (they were gracious enough to let us crash on their floor and use their fields, THANKS!) and began to work with the volunteers to prepare the Army. I won’t tell you how we did it but needless to say we had to use ingenuity again(luck and panic). Then we shot along the bluffs of the Columbia river (it’s a long way down). We got home at 1:30am on Sunday which made for a long day (19hrs) but the footage we got was worth it!