Elizabeth

Last week I watched a DVD of the film Elizabeth (1998) made by Working Title and directed by Shekhar Kapur. He also made Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Both films won richly deserved Academy Awards. There was supposed to be a third film which sadly was never made.

Here are the Working Title web pages for Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Opening Sequence
In the Directors commentary on the Elizabeth DVD Shekhar Kapur says that the opening sequence of 3 protestants being burnt at the stake is "done with real people in there" and "everybody asked if there were any special effects" ..."There were none".

I thought the filmed sequence was very effective and tried to find out how that shot was done.

Update August 2015
I asked on the Facebook P.E.G Practical Effects Group and then on the Directors own website. Here is his reply.

"There was some smoke added initially, but as the fire built it was real and the people inside the fire were in covered in fireproof suits .. All the camera wires caught fire though as it was on the top of the flames .."