Pre Production
- Mark Sexton was hired to create 3500 storyboards
- Directed by George Miller
- Original Mad Max also directed by George Miller
- They started off by planning to shoot in 3D but ended up filming in 2D
- As they were preparing to shoot the film there was still no script but this was not a problem as the movie's feel completely relied on the action rather than dialogue.
- Liam Fountain auditioned for the role of Max but lost it to Tom Hardy
- Liam Fountain previously played Max in a short film set between the first and second movies
- The storyboards were finished before the script and showed exactly how everything was meant to happen which is unusual
- Fiona Crawford was appointed as the producer
- The Iraq war stopped filming in Namibia starting in 2003.
- Filming was delayed twice
- Producers Warner Bros panicked just before they started filming as there was no script, however the director was not happy with the quality
- The stars such as Tom Hardy signed up to be in the film in 2009
- The film was meant to be filmed in Australia but it rained which is never good when you are trying to film in a desert trying to create a world that is in a drought
- The film was originally going to be shot in 3D
Production
- The camera used most often was the Alexa Plus
- Smaller cameras were tested such as the Canon 5D but were obviously not up to the same quality as the big cameras, they were still used for a start because they were perfect for people to hold while in the cars however the edge arm was introduced when it got too expensive to edit camera men out of the cars.
- The cameras had to be waterproof and dust proof because of the desert.
- The initial approach to shooting Mad Max: Fury Road was based on a single camera philosophy - the idea that somewhere on the set is a single perfect spot for the camera to record that scene.
- Margaret Sixel was the film editor.
- Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy did not get on and ended up ignoring each other on set
- Theron shaved her head for the role of Furiosa and had to wear a wig while filming A Million Ways to Die in The West
- Weather was a huge pain while shooting the film multiple delays were due to this
- 80% of the effects in the film are real such as the car stunts and crashes
- Mel Gibson (who played Max Max in the older films) was going to be a drifter but it ended up never happening
- The shoot took 6 months
- 150 vehicles were used
- 6 cameras were used
- The cars were brought together by the production designer Colin Gibson and his team
- The special effects supervisors Andy Williams and Dan Oliver made sure the stunts looked even better
- The stunt co-ordinator Guy Norris had his hands full with how many stunts there were in the movie
- The film was shot in Namibia and Australia
- Filming concluded on 17th December 2012
- In November 2013 they had to go back and reshoot some scenes
- The crew filmed in Namibia for 4 months
Post Production
- 480 hours of video were handed to the editor and the final movie was only 2 hours long
- The movie consists of 2700 individual shots
- All important things were usually kept in center frame
- George Miller was very strict about where the cross hares went and demanded it be on the important thing in a scene.
- The movie employed the “Eye Trace” editing technique that lets you guide the viewers eye and make them look where you want. By using motion in frame and/or positioning critical points of focus in successive shots to fall on a natural or comfortable area of the screen.
- Hundreds of visual effects artists led by Andrew Jackson took on the mammoth task
- Finally more than 2000 visual effect shots were created
- Colourist Eric Whipp added in new detailed skies and made the whole film more gritty
- Visual effects company Lloura took on most of the effects
- Method Studious and BlackGinger were companies that also took on a smaller part of the work load
- A lot was spent on TV adverts, $7.5 million was spent on 957 national airings across 42 networks led by MTV and Comedy Central.
