How Fake Crowds Are Made For Movies And TV | Movies Insider

Using completely real crowds in Hollywood productions can be a huge logistical challenge. That's why movies and TV shows have found many ways to make crowds look bigger than they are. Older movies like "Ben-Hur" used matte paintings, while movies like "Glory Road'' have used inflatable extras. Today, duplication and CGI are the most frequently used techniques. On the Apple TV series "Ted Lasso," Barnstorm VFX had the daunting challenge of filling a 26,000-seat stadium using a mix of real and fake people. As Barnstorm VFX supervisor Lawson Deming told us, it's the mix of the two that best convinces the viewer.
Thanks to Barnstorm VFX for speaking with us and providing footage from "Ted Lasso" and "Insecure." Check out more of its work here:
www.barnstormvfx.com
vimeo.com/barnstormvfx
Check out more of Molecule VFX's work here:
www.moleculevfx.com/portfolio/
/ moleculevfx
And check out more from The Inflatable Crowd here:
/ theinflatablecrowd
/ theinflatablecrowd
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How Fake Crowds Are Made For Movies And TV | Movies Insider

[@katarinavidovic8890]

I'm always so surprised by how many odd jobs there are in the film industry. Imagine telling your family "I clap in front of a green screen so that someone could then place me in a fake stadium" lmao. But honestly, this is a very cool video Insider.

[@yoatemybeans4164]

first comment ig

[@MarkFilipAnthony]

Look at a the screen, pick out anything you see. Anything at all. Then realise that was somebody's job to make sure that it is there. And most likely not one person, but several people. David F sandberg, director of shazam! Has a great youtube channel breaking down the super frustrating process one has to go through during a film production

[@sussus7270]

@@yoatemybeans4164 you didnt give me permission to reply but im going to anyways

[@RMSLusitania]

@@yoatemybeans4164 ok and?

[@PotaraP]

@@yoatemybeans4164 powertrip

[@DaFuqBoom]

They swing their hands like its some sort of a gladiator fight they're witnessing.

[@shivnagammabidri1154]

😊

[@muhammadziyahudamatari5132]

"Is not about who's win or lose It's about who's the last and survive!"

[@Yamaa]

Hmmm

[@firstnamelastname6205]

E

[@Rjrdre]

😂

[@trinaq]

I had no idea that they were able to green screen an entire crowd in. I'm enlightened with how expertly the creative effects team accomplished this, so well, that you couldn't tell the difference!

[@sarthaks5]

Yup special effects crew deserve more credit!

[@ME_Toons]

Ikr

[@notayetti555]

This type of things come from a rather LONG time ago. In fact, If I remember correctly, one of the first movies to include such a huge crowd created via CGI, controlled by an AI to give them "personality" was back when the Lord of the Rings came out. You should check the BTS. It is crazy.

[@popoi6427]

I remember that north korea video how to Photoshop xD

[@dyfx9788]

@@sarthaks5 visual effects*

[@ritaayt]

Before I was small, I thought that they would hire hundreds and thousands of real people for when there’s an extremely huge audience for a drama series 😂

[@Minish4rk360]

Same

[@yellomonke5080]

Some did

[@flamingoseatshrimps1361]

Wait... before you were small?

[@ritaayt]

@@flamingoseatshrimps1361 when I was a child

[@shohj6600]

@@flamingoseatshrimps1361 ikr

[@olekaarvaag9405]

The best fake crowd ever is in the pod racing scene in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. They were literally just q-tips being blown with a hairdryer to create some movement.

[@abdmin3268]

Its really cool how the prequels background were actually miniature instead of cgi because computer can only handle little cgi at the time

[@JJSR_99]

Mesa agree!!

[@superman60201]

Same with the actors

[@danurkresnamurti3598]

is this same technique for movie rise of planet the apes? who created crowd primate?

[@rowni]

I was gonna say this! 😂

[@AwesomeBoysJPTV]

4:48 Filming tiles for an Hour and a Half just for 1 second of screen time?! Now That's Dedication

[@vb8428]

You can imagine the amount of work put into some 1 second shots in films like Mad Max and older cgi films

[@ovn_tamil]

Now imagine creating drawings every single frame which will take a few months or even years for a 5 minute clip! That's animation!

[@davidswanson5669]

Maybe now you can appreciate that movies spend $30M-$300M to painstakingly help make a story come to life and that it doesn’t all just go to making rich celebrities richer.

[@vb8428]

@@davidswanson5669 🙄

[@VaricYT]

As an editor, You'll be numb to the fact that you'll spend countless hours and thinking just for a few minutes of the project. It's about the satisfaction when your projects turns out to be what you exactly wanted or even more than what you expected. It's great

[@SharapovaFan]

Why do I imagine the extras talking gibberish like in The Sims while watching this?

[@kk_cats6072]

Ugh, schaloob.

[@achillesroblox]

lol same

[@malpurposes]

@@kk_cats6072 fika gablesha:/

[@kk_cats6072]

@@malpurposes shahudi wahihi

[@toledo6036]

​@@kk_cats6072 mi miyao, mi mi miyao a tao. hei

[@ForteExpresso]

😂 In India, there are already so many people that they simply use the crowd from Dharavi for shooting.

[@Nugcon]

Here in North Korea, we just force them to attend and threaten their family

[@eltfhj69yt99]

@@Nugcon u have internet access

[@tobi19005]

@@Nugcon epic method

[@thinleyrigzin.]

@@Nugcon u have done a treason u will be not spare

[@PatrickJoshua]

In my country, there are movies shot in malls where people are literally watching the actors and are seen in the final shot, probably because they have no budget to hire extras or to rent the place exclusively.

[@lexluthor3890]

This video was a lot cooler than I expected it to be.

[@alexwilson1762]

As someone who’s worked as an extra on set for a Disney movie, I can totally confirm the crowd tiling! Those shots are the most complicated and the extras are always moved around so you don’t get duplication. It’s so cool to see the other techniques they use tho!

[@katboi3666]

Oh wow what movie did you work in? And might I ask how they hired you, if you saw an application somewhere and applied then?

[@gvasquez1035]

Also curious how you got this gig!

[@gueomduduto]

@@katboi3666 agencies duh.. just search casting agencies around your town..

[@watsupcaz]

Wow I’m starstruck

[@mutiyangpilingbabae9207]

Salute to those people working in CGI that's a lot of effort. I was so amazed.

[@alphaduck2926]

@Rata Gurney It’s not as hard at it seems, because most of the crew knows what they are doing. The problem is having the right movie director and good actors. The film will also probably need to have a good budget to work on so that’s that.

[@salcan8930]

@Rata Gurney its super easy . . you know the raging wild fires for example.. i bet a lot of that stuff is green screened ~.~

[@tessat338]

They used crowd tiling in "Forrest Gump" for the scene at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. We filmed at the actual Lincoln Memorial but spent two days moving in blocks around the Reflecting Pool. Since we were waving protest signs, the director and assistant directors made sure that no one dropped one to the side, where it would disappear out of the shot. At the beginning of the filming, the crew was worried about the ducks swimming in the pool, which would have messed up the image and been expensive to remove. The extras suggested luring the ducks away with bread, so a couple of production assistants were tasked with getting bread from craft services and luring all the ducks out of the water. The area of the lawn where they were collected was later covered by a tile of the crowd. I was about 50 of that crowd of 40,000 people.

[@ThaFinn]

I saw a part of this movie, and was wondering. "Why is that crowd cheering so violently for so long while nothing particularly incredible is happening?" Like the audience doesn't even interact with one another. Now I know I can thank Covid.

[@rincinerate3984]

It's more the choice of the producers and director because they decide what gets cut and how the film is cut. Tiling has been a thing for decades, so it's not new at all. But them choosing to have their spectators making that action has nothing to do with Covid.

[@TamilEelam1]

Basically the crowd of Fifa games in movies🤣😂

[@luyombojonathan7715]

True

[@briansegura7219]

E..A..SPORTS WE’RE EVERYWHERE!!!

[@MrBen367]

Not at all, FIFA put less than 10% of this effort in. Any given angle you can see the same model doing the same animation at the same time, it's poor at best. These guys did an awesome job on Ted Lasso so don't insult them by comparing them to EA garbage 😂

[@larrywest2406]

FIFA doesn't even try man. There's even memes of how plastic some of the fans are coz they have different jerseys in every game😂

[@TamilEelam1]

@@MrBen367 True, I was just joking.

[@MrGleeiscool]

Glee fans look in the background of competitions they have dummies in the audience to make it feel like all the people are there and literally I’m laughing so hard

[@Anzy.99]

yes hahaha

[@SystemCrashXD]

I laughed so hard when the CG dude went: "OMG, THATS A SOCCER BALL IN A GOAL! IM SO FRICKING EXITED!" Me: mhm, yup. Not like your fake of anything, yup. Mhm

[@nicholasparks500]

I actually know that CG dude. His name is Chris and he is really good at what he does.

[@SystemCrashXD]

@@nicholasparks500 he did a good job!

[@200odd300]

@@nicholasparks500 ask him why he said that

[@JRTIntervencion]

@@200odd300 it's probably easier to record set moves and to imagine an scene if you're narrating it Also it seeemed fun

[@noesunyoutuber7680]

@@JRTIntervencion It's probably much easier to make a motion capture person look like they're yelling if the person doing the capture is yelling something. Just doing things is still the best way to make them look real.

[@unknownunknown5822]

I thought they just put up a flyer in a high school hall way and offered everyone who joined a Snicker's bar and a 5$ bill.

[@mubx4323]

$5 bill for every participant will be too much in the end to pay for

[@pinkorange4980]

@@mubx4323 Arent most of the time theyre volunteers?

[@jameskoplin]

@@pinkorange4980 Bingo: normally extras are volunteers, working just for the thrill of being in a movie.

[@VintageFlight70]

Some film productions actually do that, most commonly before cgi exists

[@Connorallbee]

@@jameskoplin They paid the extras for this and most other productions in the UK. It would be illegal not to in most cases. It usually pays £120 for a 12 hour day, but then there’s overtime and travel allowances etc. I didn’t work on Ted Lasso, but my agent sent me around 5 casting calls to be crowd. On another movie there must have been 250 students for most days on a 5 week shoot. Basically they spend a loooot of money and most of the time we don’t volunteer because it’s exhausting and they’re making enough money to pay us. ~*The More You Know*~

[@JDelta87]

Very interesting to see how far technology has come for this to be possible. Crowds are one of those things that I’ve always wondered if they were real or fake in movies.

[@Momo-cd5pw]

As a background actor I was apart of a film that used 300 extras. 3 day filming 18hours the last day. Each day we lost extras and we could only fill up one section of the stadium. So they had us rotate to each section. Then the 2nd day I saw they had put cardboard people in every seat...EVERY SEAT! It was a different shot so we were lower now. Just still a cool experience!

[@manasdhanpawde496]

which movie was it??

[@rincinerate3984]

Crowd shots suck to film as BG, but 18 hours makes it worth it since you're in golden hour and get your day rate for each hour past 16. Unless you're outside Hawaii or California and either have no union or a terrible union rate, then it's not worth it. If it was Georgia, their rate is based on 12 hours, so you don't even get OT until you've worked at least 12 hours. And then some places have no union protection at all, so you aren't going to get OT at all.

[@ttw-mb5zn]

7:42 Give him a raise for his efforts 😂😂😂

[@stephiskhan]

I love that he gave himself a speaking role 😂

[@milzambasith1250]

2:58 "We knew that we weren't gonna see people from behind" Proceed to see people from behind

[@abdullahemad9457]

Lmao so true

[@hopper6094]

Lol

[@CamJames]

they explained that immediately after

[@rhythmandblues_alibi]

Scrolling to find someone else who noticed this 😅

[@kamrafilms9127]

“Oh my god that’s a soccer ball in a goal! I’m so frickin excited” 🤣🤣

[@roryqpotter8242]

The fact that they were never inside a REAL stadium is INSANE! I had no idea!!

[@shutupidiot16yearsago79]

I didn't search this up but i always wondered how,thanks KZbin 😌

[@user-11528]

why is this on my recommendation?

[@kksuroor]

I wouldn't have noticed any of it if I hadn't seen this... Amazing job

[@j.lindback]

Agree. People who hate on CGI don't realize that 90% of the CGI they see they'll never notice.

[@nayeale5]

I was in a crowd for a movie and we did several takes of the same scene but we were all moved around for each one. They then put all those takes together and they made it look like we were a big crowd. It was fun 😅

[@rT1WdisPtX]

The part when they filmed the 1-second shot which took an hour and half to record was incredibly mind blowing

[@rincinerate3984]

That's very short. A five second crowd pan can take two days to film if you're using real human actors.

[@SOAPMEUP]

Ye.... definitely looking at the crowds in movies from now on 🥴😂

[@nshon7]

Love the video and the show! Having said that 7:40 is peak American take on football. 'OMG that's a soccer ball in the goal'. 🤪

[@shmookins]

I figured the crowd would be superimposed or even CG, but I had no idea the stadium itself was CG. I love it when CG is so good don't even know you are watching CG.

[@ruaamohammedabdallah9386]

When I was a kid I liked watching horror movies. So instead of banning them, my parents used to make me watch this type of videos so I get that it's not real. I didn't break the habit 🙂🙂

[@marmolejomartinezjoseemili9043]

They we're probably just trying to mame You less scared, the reason parents ban horror movies is cause they áre scary after and not only while watching it, so they probably we're just making dure You wouldnt have nightmares and knew it was fake instead of trying to stop You from watching it

[@ruaamohammedabdallah9386]

@@marmolejomartinezjoseemili9043 Yeah. Specially since I used to watch it behind their back. Not that they didn't know.

[@Superboy7456]

omg how much attention to details, it's amazing!

[@nina.marice]

this movies insider series really makes me want to be part of a movie team

[@HistoryHouse45]

My childhood doubt finally cleared

[@naturistfred]

If you had told me Ted Lasso was filmed pre-pandemic I would have believed you. Never even occurred to me that you could CGI an entire stadium. This was impressive.

[@BlenderStudy]

The best 8 minutes spent today..!! Thank you for the update, Insider..!!

[@sleeplesshead602]

In film industry, you could be anything. Me, as storyboard artist, have hard time to explain my job to my family. The most response I got is "you just drawing and got money?" 🤣

[@Harry-rh9qc]

That's cool! Is your job easy for you or is there like a harder part? How much $ do you earn? Sorry for the questions, you're welcome not to answer them 😁

[@sleeplesshead602]

@@Harry-rh9qc it's fun and challenging at the same time. Not gonna say it's easy job because most of it, the storyboarder has to be creative to figure out the shot or visualize from the director's treatment like the size of the shot. It's fast paced work, gotta be quick but also need to be accurate 😂 so far, I get enough paid since I've been doing it quiet long (4 years). At least, I could survive after all the chaotic 2020. 🤗

[@007Julie]

@@sleeplesshead602 you have such a cool job, thank you for sharing a little insight of it with us. God bless.

[@badlydrawn7476]

"So you just draw" :D yeah. For some reason nobody ever says 'so you just decide what punishment a criminal gets and they pay you money?'

[@sleeplesshead602]

@@007Julie you are welcome 🤗 God bless you, too.

[@daetmarian]

Salute to the behind the scenes people!

[@KilmerMedia]

This is fantastic. I work with people who deliver this kind of VFX work for a living, and exactly how it gets made behind-the-scenes has been a bit of a mystery. Thanks for the thorough explainer, @Insider!

[@djcfb2889]

In 10 years, making movies won't even require actors anymore

[@mayuboeb]

An entire movie without actors? That's impossible. Every character has to be animated then

[@TheMR-777]

We have our Animated movies

[@theonlyron]

You could do full animation with no voice acting

[@TheMR-777]

@@mayuboeb Then Leverage the Power of AI :)

[@UltimateAlgorithm]

@@TheMR-777 animated movies and games are motion captured.

[@grimreaper9049]

When u reach the comments fast af but now there's no funny stuff to read :(((

[@SystemCrashXD]

True ;-;

[@Tech-cy9yo]

exactly! :(

[@tiramiisu0]

:(

[@ohno486]

Then make one

[@breyer1236]

I was an extra for a couple movies in high school. We had to bring a couple sets of clothes for a volleyball game for the different team colors and they moved us around and had us switch colors based on where the shot was.

[@ananananabop]

This is really cool! Loved how clear and concise the explanations were.

[@theboyz4571]

Thank You for showing us this part of production, i have always wondered about this.

[@eeska4959]

I remember watching the show with my parents and they wondered how they filmed the crowd during COVID. For some reason, I didn’t even bother to question it like I don’t know what was I thinking “oh they must’ve time traveled duh”

[@teruphoto]

2:59 2 seconds later, we see them from behind 😅

[@vansmena]

Pretty sure those were real tho

[@akaaoi]

You mean the one scene they highlighted as being filmed "actually on set"?

[@varshithakm8672]

Wow! It's incredible the amount of work that goes into film making. I'd never really thought about it....

[@imeldafani]

WOWWW Insider really tells us every little detail of back-stage processes behind amazing movies!!!

[@imeldafani]

no wonder why your channel name is Insider 🤣🤣

[@rizokahn]

That's really impressive, but now I can't unsee it.

[@crusherven]

Yeah, I feel like now that it was pointed out, I could *really* tell the difference between that big real crowd in Ghandi, and the CGI one in Lasso.

[@evangelinemira4490]

Wow,they deserve a trophy...for all that work-

[@user-dj6sk2uo8g]

Thank you very much for this informative video. I always wondered what tricks are used for producing realistic crowds.

[@fish-froggs2662]

_"oH my gOD thats a SOCCER BALL in a GOAL IM SO FRICKING EXCITED_ _Y ES"_

[@sydneybourne706]

As someone who has done crowd acting during the pandemic before, I can say this is accurate

[@mirzahaseebahmad8406]

Yo, I thought this was uploaded years ago but it's just been 2 hours

[@mollyhunter6239]

I was thinking about this the entire time I was watching Ted Lasso! Very cool

[@KingofGamingAndTrains456]

This is basically the crowds from Wii sports in movies 😂

[@DonaldDork]

OMG! That’s a soccer ball in a goal. I’m so freaking excited. Yes!

[@mansoorhaque3306]

This is impressive stuff.

[@moonclayground]

That's a lot of hardwork😊😊very informative 😊

[@eechenglee1369]

"oh my god it's a soccer ball in a goal! I'm so excited!" is my new way to describe soccer lmaoo

[@sadnew3271]

That's how man city football team upload highlights 😂

[@khs_fan]

i wonder all the time if its city but at the same time i dont really care actually 🤣😂🤣😂

[@sadnew3271]

@@khs_fan 3:55 that's city's jersey

[@everytomday]

I noticed this while watching. Still pretty impressive. Plus it's my favorite show right now!

[@gershonford3513]

As always great content

[@MatrixLover07]

"The seal clapping for food" I personally like to call them the GTA hands lol

[@avon6020]

With the power of editing you can have a whole army

[@dkxly1843]

I've been wondering about this my whole life. now it is finally answered.

[@alexromero531]

so excited for ted lasso s2

[@JohnOhkumaThiel]

By the way, whenever you see people dancing in a scene, unless it’s a music video or the like, there’s actually no music playing. Usually we will play whatever tune is going in the scene just before the Director calls action so the actors can get the tempo and feel of the tune approximately right, but if you really watch, no one is really on the beat.

[@dsimpson530]

If I remember correctly this happened in the gotham stadium scene from the dark knight rises at Heinz Field

[@chavl597]

This is mindblowing

[@YannickFilms]

Great video!💯🔥

[@PedroGonzalez-jz9xx]

Omg this is cool I never knew this

[@NikhilluminatiOfficial]

0:59 wow they could just use SO MANY people that I know :D

[@henriettagabrieldivine7062]

Stop 😂😂😂

[@NikhilluminatiOfficial]

@@henriettagabrieldivine7062 no can do 😂😂😂 xD

[@pranjalisharma7082]

I was wondering about this same thing for the Live Aid scene in Bohemian Rhapsody..Thanks for making this video

[@albertprawira5543]

wow. thanks for sharing this kind of video!

[@DeadlyTinyOrc]

It's almost like they didn't know about the FIFA crowds and guitar hero crowds, and crowds of zombies in literally any movie

[@meh3128]

Movie magic at its finest.

[@cucklord8106]

so glad I found this I always wondered this

[@vincem2759]

THIS is why I'm a multimedia designer. I can imagine the VFX workload these guys and gals have.

[@gendoll5006]

I wonder for the tiling crowd thing if they could just do one section then have the extras just change their shirt or top somehow wether it’s taking off or putting on a jacket or changing their shirt, then move to the next section and it’d look like a new crowd lol. It’d be quick I would think.

[@justsomerandomweeb4243]

They actually do that

[@megsie1424]

Me finish watching the full video Someone: So, how do they do it? Me: Computers and stuff.

[@stetsonstudios709]

Who knew there was this much work in making a movie!

[@RicardoAlex879]

Insightful, never knew this.

[@prathashriyan]

Eye-opener 😯

[@NghtHwkk]

"She was shot on a completely different continent" Oh...

[@rainirahmi7794]

thank you Insider

[@beyesavedjesuswillreturn6350]

Love what you do!

[@Bat-lol]

its crazy how it takes years to make movies and there only like an hour or more!!

[@manuelsousa]

*CHALLENGE:* Take a shot every time the narrator says “Ted Lasso”

[@nb08]

Amazing insights!!

[@jinpudding3442]

Now I can peacefully sleep at night. I've been wondering about this forever 😂

[@FantasKanal]

Now I know what always felt wrong about these scenes

[@PrimaDewi]

I wish this trick could be applied on your wedding party guys,

[@flitsertheo]

With the bride or groom being CGI only ...

[@PrimaDewi]

@@flitsertheo because it's 2022 where you can't having a party. Except you ready for the consequence ... your partner got positive before you make her positive.

[@candacegarcia921]

This is something i never think about but NEED to know the answer!

[@littleripper312]

I've did a lot of extraing for those crowd shots when I was younger.

[@davidcalo3084]

Damn and here I thought they just shot the show before the pandemic. Woow

[@Kariencksaunders]

Had me up until " There's a soccer ball in the goal!" 😒

[@Mohamedetp]

This is mind blowing

[@deepakjotsingh8581]

Broooo!!!!!..... Am getting this recommend during Man city vs palace match 🤯🤯

[@ajclements4627]

I’m probably the only one that still appreciates the time and work involved using real people for scenes like these.

[@MatRDR]

Yeah because with digital vfx you just click a button right? Absolutely no time and effort 🤡

[@dyfx9788]

@@MatRDR are you saying this sarcastically and if you are go and make a single animated scene not a whole movie just one scene of a digital object integrated in real footage and some green screen actors. And come back lets see if you are still a dick. And if you were being sarcastic then why tf are you being sarcastic in this situation lmao.

[@MatRDR]

@@dyfx9788 this was sarcasm. I'm an aspiring vfx artist. For me the comment was implying that somehow it required less effort to not use real people and just use compositing and cgi.

[@dyfx9788]

@@MatRDR same dude i also wanna do vfx

[@MatRDR]

@@dyfx9788 go for it! It's amazing what you can learn just on KZbin, I mostly am practicing blender and compositing rn!