ULTIMATE WARFARE
MILITARY DOCU-SERIES • DISCOVERY
DIRECTOR
DOP
SCALE
CLIENT
YEAR
Series Directors
Series Cinematographers
Heavy Pyrotechnics
Arrow Media / Discovery
2012
OVERVIEW
This action-packed documentary series recreates the most famous battles of modern history. The production required staging realistic combat sequences, involving tanks, heavy weaponry, and pyrotechnics, to bring historical military strategies to life for a television audience.
CHALLENGES & APPROACH
Explosive Budgets & Safety Logistics.
Filming war zones requires a specific financial focus: managing the high costs of “expendables” (blank ammunition, explosives, smoke) and specialized armorers. Unlike a drama, the budget here literally goes up in smoke. My challenge was tracking these volatile costs daily to ensure the director had enough “firepower” for every take without blowing the episode’s tight budget.
THE RESULT
The series delivered cinema-quality battle scenes on a documentary schedule. We successfully balanced the high cost of safety and special effects with the efficiency required for serial television production.
