From a production or technical point of veiw, how could they have made Laura Baile (as Julia Adams) being shot by the arrow so realistic? I have paused it and watched it frame-by-frame, and is is very well done for its day.
shareI don't know how they did it, but I agree it was an impressive special effect. I actually gasped out loud the last time I saw due to it's realism.
shareI'm with you two. Impressive the way they showed it. The only thing I think I noticed is that the scene where she gets the arrow it is about 4 inches lower than it is when the show the guy cutting the shaft of the arrow off with a knife.
Speaking of knives, I thought it was interesting to see thrown knives that instead of tumbling blade over handle until they hit the target, the knives in the night time "red wing orioles" confrontation with the Indians, the thrown knife looked like it was on a wire strung from thrower to victim.
This movie is older than me, my expectations for special effects were more than satisfied. I like this movie and if they pushed the envelope a little with special effects, well that's how things evolve over time.
Regards,
Dave
"you're seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren't you?" Terrence Mann
I'm not sure how they did it in this movie, however, in the old Akira Kurasawa films I watch, they would place blocks of wood under their clothes, and have sharp shooters come in and actually shoot at the performers hitting the blocks. Don't know if thats how they did it in this one.
Sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.- Cool hand Luke.
I was told that when you see someone shot with an arrow or hit with a knife you're watching reality in reverse. They already have the object in them and a wire pulls it out, they reverse the sequence in editing.
In 'Bend Of The River' I noticed in a frame by frame that smoke in the background was going up during the shot so either it was a processed shot (film playing behind the actress during her scene) or she was hit by a sharpshooter.
In the Blu-ray edition you can see a thin black wire heading off from the back of the arrow to the top right of the frame.
As the commenter above suggests, It's probably a studio shot with the campfire scene projected behind her in reverse, then the whole shot is reversed. The effect is very well done. The tip of the arrow goes into a fold of her dress so you can't see the hole before the arrow "hits", and the actress's performance really sells it.
Stop-start the camera is one way of doing it.
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