20 Things You Somehow Missed In Gladiator
17. A Key Visual Effect During The Opening Battle Was The Result Of Fatigue And Poor Time Management
In the middle of the battle scene between the Germanic tribes and the Romans, a blur effect starts to show itself, adding to the action and drama of the fighting. The scene, however, wasn't written that way and was the result of a series of mistakes.
The director of photography underestimated the amount of light he had remaining for a day's shooting and didn't allot enough time to film everything. After twenty days in the woods, cast and crew were ready to be done with this phase of shooting, so, to avoid another day of being on location, the director shot the remaining scenes as is.
In post production, the low-light frames were copied and pasted, filling in gaps but creating the blur effect. Something that many critics commented on as a great film-making tool came about completely by accident.