About 2 weeks ago Shane Seley of Wide Awake Films had asked about getting some artillery to use on their current project featuring the Battle of Gettysburg for the Civil War Preservation Trust. A great deal of it is filmed against a green screen and will be animated. Through the blending of CGI and other film tricks of the trade, one cannon becomes an entire battery, a few soldiers becomes a regiment, etc. It is amazing what can be done with a minimum of cast and resources.

After consulting with Kirk Hale for guidance concerning terms and conditions for Farris' Battery, Wide Awake accepted readily. They wanted to use their own cast with the cannon as a static prop, while mock hand to hand fighting was depicted around it. Before that scene though they wanted some firing with shots of a crew in action. The loading was done by Gary Burton, while Kirk and I tried to school the actors on the fly what they should do and not do. We fired seven shots before they were satisfied with the action. I was fortunate to be put into the gunner’s position for this segment.

Green screen shoot with Wide Awake Films

The next scenes had us move the cannon into position in front of the green screen. These had a lot of mock hand to hand combat with Confederate Infantry overrunning a Federal Battery. Darkness had fallen and studio lights provided illumination for the action. Kirk had told Shane that every implement on the cannon would have been used as a potential weapon had it been overran. So it wasn't long till the trail spike was wielded as a hefty club. Fortunately great care was taken to make it look real, but done in a safe manner.

The weather smiled on us that evening, as rain was all around us but never shut down the filming. I think Farris' Battery made a good impression and it is my hope that we will be their “go to” group should there be a need for artillery in future Wide Awake projects.

Author: Forest Peterson