War Horse (2011)

All grounds were inspected for hazards and sets were closed off and secured. Cast and crew members were introduced to the animals and instructed on their proper handling. Animals were trained for weeks and even months for the action seen in this film.

Throughout the film, chickens, geese, and sheep are seen milling about. This mild action was achieved using one or more of the following methods: the animals were allowed to graze at liberty; they were attached to lead ropes (held by actors or tied to posts); or they were in a confined area. Costumed trainers were in the scene during filming and trainers stood just off camera. When the goose “bites” a man’s pants, this was cued by hidden food and/or trainers’ cues.

Several horses were alternated for the roles of Joey and Top Thorn. All horseback riders were stunt riders or experienced actors who were skilled at riding, mounting and dismounting. All running/galloping scenes were well choreographed, and actors used caution while on and near animals. Whenever a horse (such as Joey before he is broken) appears to be wily or spooked, trainers used various cues to get the horses to rear, kick, prance or appear startled. Anytime actors appeared to shoot at or near animals, either the action was pantomimed (with no actual bullets) or powder blanks were used. Trainers and stunt riders used various cues to get the horses to rear or appear startled by gunfire. Swords were fake props, and stunt riders jumped horses over campsite props (tents/tables/boxes) along a predetermined pathway — the horses never actually jumped over or near fire (this was done by camera angles and editing tricks). The horses were specially trained “falling horses” and “lay down horses” that also fell on cue onto a soft landing area. Battle scenes involving large numbers of horses close together involved highly trained horses and riders performing extremely well-choreographed movements. The action was well rehearsed with the safety and welfare of the animals being top priority. When the horses rode through tall grassland/corn fields, production and trainers flattened the land to create “lanes” for the horses to run on. Whenever horses were seen dead, some fake horses were used and some live “lay down horses” were placed on their marks on the ground (or in the case of Top Thorn “collapsing” to his death, he was simply cued to lay down). When teams of horses pulled wagons or carriages, the drivers were experienced and teams of horses were familiar with each other and accustomed to the pulling action. Whenever animals are seen in the rain, a light shower of warm water was created using a rain machine — the animals were accustomed to being outside in rain (as part of “farm” life) and the takes were short.

Whenever horses were seen looking ragged, muddy, exhausted, etc., this involved well-trained animals being cued to walk slowly or drag their hooves, and the mud and moisture were non-toxic animal-friendly special effects make-up. Whenever horses were shown bending at the knees and falling to the ground, as if their legs were buckling out from under them, this involved either trained “kneeling” action (which the horses extensively trained for) or CGI. When horses pull a huge cannon, this was a lightweight fake prop that was actually pulled by a hydraulic rig, and trainers cued the slow movement of the horses (to make them appear to struggle).

For the scene in which Joey is first born, covered in afterbirth and first learning to walk, this was filmed in separate shots. A costumed trainer lay down next to the adult horse that had been placed on its side, and stroked its neck to get it to stay down. A special non-toxic “slime” mixture/make-up was placed on the colt. Trainers then laid the colt behind the adult horse at a safe enough distance to not accidentally get kicked. Trainers used commands, training tools, and even hands to guide the colt up and get it to walk with his “mother” — these horses knew each other well and had spent weeks rehearsing the action, just as the older horses who played them slightly older did, and therefore much of the action was natural.

When Joey is “whipped” and then struggles to plow the field, this involved two horses playing the role of Joey and being filmed in separate shots. The ground was pre-plowed before horses were brought to the field. The plow was a lightweight prop rigged to a pulley-system (to make sure the horse did not have to pull any weight up the slight incline of the field), which was controlled by a special effects expert. Trainers stood right next to the horses to cue the action, which, thanks to the pulley-rig, was easy “forward motion” plowing action for the horses. The actor’s stunt double performed part of the scene involving the actor guiding the plow handles. The actor never actually whipped the horse — this action was pantomimed/exaggerated using a prop whip. The horse was then cued to run off (as if startled), pulling the lightweight plow rig behind him (with the help of the pulley), all while the actor’s stunt double held on to the rig, as if the horse was dragging him behind the plow.

When Joey is seen running alongside a car, the well-rehearsed horseback rider guided the horse along the predetermined pathway while the other actor drove the car along a parallel path, using extreme caution.

Toward the end of the film, there is an incredibly intense scene in which Joey frantically runs up onto a huge tank, then leaps over a trench and misses, falling into the trench below. He then gets up and frenetically runs straight through a barbed wire fence, dragging it behind him, struggling and bloody, until flipping over and flopping/flailing on the ground, covered in barbed wire and wincing/whinnying. With labored breathing, he lies on the ground entwined in wire until two men come over and slowly cut the wire. This scene was filmed in separate shots and involved extensive rehearsal, choreography, training, and editing. This was an incredibly well-rehearsed stunt prefaced by intense preparations. When Joey first runs up and over the tank, one trainer released the horse while another trainer cued it to run up a secured ramp onto the prop tank’s roof and then down a few feet to the padded ground below. For the jumping over a trench and falling into the pit below, this involved separate shots of two different horses: one ran from point A to point B across the flat part of the “trench” set, and right when that horse ran past the camera mark, the second horse was cued to run from the widest part of the bottom of the trench up a custom-built, wide “stairs-like” ramp and over the other side of the trench; finally, one of the horses was cued to lay down in the trench bottom and then get right back up. This was all edited together to look like one motion. For the running through barbed wire, these were fake “wire lines” made of a lightweight line and completely soft rubber “barbs” that would be enhanced in post-production. The horse was cued to run from point A to point B, through two sets of fake wires, and thanks to significant rehearsal on this action, the horse was unfazed by the “wires” breaking (actually, this was a specially-rigged “breakaway” wire that easily popped apart every few feet). The horse never pulled/dragged any wire behind him — this was added in post-production. All smoke and explosions seen as the horse ran were a combination of visual effects and controlled special effects. For some of this scene, a stunt rider wearing a special green-screen suit (so he could be removed in post-production) rode the horse to guide its speed and direction. Near the end of this scene, when the horse was shown covered in barbed wire, this was a combination of a special body harness made of fake “wire” and individual strands of this same prop wire. When the horse lied in the mud completely entangled in the wire, whinnying and struggling to get up, an animatronic horse was used. The live horse was brought back in for the last part of this scene, in which the actors playing the soldiers pretended to “carefully cut the wire” with wire cutters — these were prop cutters, and the rubber wires were breakaway wires rigged to release easily when the actors “cut” them. Special non-toxic makeup made the horse now appear bloody and cut/scraped.

For the rats briefly seen in the trenches, a trainer placed the trained domestic rats along a walkway at the bottom of the enclosed trench set and allowed them to walk around at liberty before retrieving them immediately after this short scene.

Production provided documentation for the dead horse props seen in the film.