There is no shortage of epic stories found in history, born out of conflict and human resilience.
The Woman Kingtakes a look at the all-female Agojie warriors from The Kingdom of Dahomey in 18th century Africa.
Shropshire says that scene was not originally scripted that way.
‘The Woman King’Sony
Some of the greatest historical epic movies are really character-driven, she says.
We wanted the audience to experience reality as shockingly as Paul Baumer did, he says.
We wanted to show the brutality of war as authentically and brutally as possible.
Viola Davis and cast inThe Woman KingSony
Not to make it sensational, but to make it real and tangible.
The most important thing was not to make the film heroic.
We wanted to show the war as it isinsane, brutal, random.
Otherwise it would have been too hard to bear.
Scenes of battle are contrasted with shots of nature to create moments of rest for the audience.
That makes the impact of the violence even greater.
For me this is the most intense scene in the film.
Thats why we played out the scene in real time, without shortening anything.
Emancipation
ForEmancipation, director Antoine Fuqua relied on longtime collaborator Conrad Buff to edit the historical epic.
Traditionally, the first pass for most editors is up to us to make the decisions, he says.
There isnt a roadmap, editorially.
It was more documentary-like in that regard, up to me to tell a story.
Normally in any action sequence, the sound is frequently useless and has to be recreated, he says.
The neat thing about it is that its not obvious work.
Its not likeTop Gunwhere you are actually seeing jets flying.
Our sound team was phenomenal in that regard.
Its such an intense film and Im quite happy that it was no more graphic than it was.
Its already so potent.
