Why Oliver Wood Used Unexpected Cameras For The Big Budget Ben-Hur Remake – SlashGear

One of the movie’s most iconic scenes centers on a chariot race around Jerusalem’s circus maximus. The sequence is fast-paced, heavy on action, and filmed in an awkward location. It’s also something a director of photography has to absolutely nail if they’re going to put their stamp on a movie. Wood managed to capture the shots he was responsible for in a unique way, using cameras that are more common than you may believe.

Obviously things had advanced somewhat between 1959 and 2016, and so the chariot race scene in both movies differs. CGI is obviously used in the more recent version. It is usually included to save on costs and capture shots that would be incredibly difficult to film with conventional methods. But in the “Ben-Hur” remake it is minimally used, and mainly there to protect the horses. Those same horses, four of which were attached to each chariot, also helped out with the filming.

The horses pulling the chariots had GoPros attached to their heads, according to LA Business First, which offers a unique perspective of the action during the sequence. The movie’s director, Timur Bekmambetov, also used some modern spectacles to help make the ancient race more accessible for a 21st century audience, taking cues from NASCAR, Formula One, and street racing footage. As a result, other cameras were placed in the sand, which allowed for close up shots of the chariot wheels and horse’s hooves that would be difficult to capture otherwise.