VOTD: The Problem Solving of Filmmaking Explained by ‘Shazam’ Director David F. Sandberg

Problem Solving of Filmmaking with Shazam

Making movies is hard. That’s especially true if you’re working on some of the biggest movies of the year, seen by millions of people, and held under the intense scrutiny of a passionate fanbase. Case in point, director David F. Sandberg shows that whle his DC Comics movie Shazam! was mostly well-received, it didn’t come without an interesting array of challenges that perfectly illustrate just how hard it is to make a movie. Watch as David F. Sandberg explains in his video essay, The Problem Solving of Filmmaking below.

The Problem Solving of Filmmaking

Almost as a way of getting ahead of the likes of Cinema Sins, David F. Sandberg explains two potentially perplexing observations that fans might find when watching the movie on home video. Each of them presents two challenges that needed to be addressed. One arose while shooting the film and contemplating the scenes that would follow one particular sequence while another was an issue that needed to be addressed in post-production.

First up, Sandberg takes a look at a scene in a shopping mall where Shazam (Zachary Levi) has trouble trying to fly. He points out that they were so focused on pulling off the shot with a blue-colored crew and contraption, as well as painting them out pixel-by-pixel and frame-by-frame in post-production, that they missed several of the crew members appearing in the right side of the frame. So they ended up digitally adding some shopping bags and mop buckets to make them appear like customers and janitors.

Next, Sandberg takes a dive into a s turn of events in the movie that might not make sense upon deeper inspection. However, as you’ll learn, the manner in which this chain of events unfolds is due to a variety of issues that popped up while filming. It’s not always as simple as the crew making a mistake that seems like it should have been easy to avoid.

It just goes to show you that some of the perceived flubs that happen in movies are a result of a crew of people doing their best to pull off the miracle that is making a movie. It’s even more miraculous when that movie turns out to be good.

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