animal stunt in "To Kill A Mockingbird"

[Tim O'Connor]

I was just watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" and when Gregory Peck shoots

the mad dog; the dog flies up as his legs go out from under him. I watched it

frame by frame as it looked like they might have done a version of the now

illegal wire trick that was used to trip horses in westerns but I didn't see any

clues. I suppose that they could have rotoscoped the wires out or something

but it looks pretty clean, although I'm no expert on VFX.

 

It certainly doesn't look like somebody off screen yelled at the dog to

roll over. He looks like he got shot because he flies into the air and drops.

How did they do it?

[Patrick Cooper]

Hmmm....unless the dog was a highly skilled (and acrobatic) actor.....!

[Leo Anthony Vale]

I suppose that they could have rotoscoped the wires out or something

but it looks pretty clean, although I'm no expert on VFX.

 

Using a single hair brush to ink over the wires on the mattes.

 

Oh! wait! No blue screen or density mattes?

 

Tranquilizer dart?

[Jason Maeda]

filmed in reverse?

 

jk :ph34r:

[Tim O'Connor]

filmed in reverse?

 

jk :ph34r:

 

I'll go back and check and see if I can tell. Good thinking.

[Joseph Nesbitt]

they were pretty good at hiding those wires though, check the paws and maybe you'll see something, even frame by frame, once they trip him it will hard to see the wire blur because of the massive motion blur of the dog and maybe even any dirt that was kicked up. I really don't know becuase I don't own a copy, and was the scene supposed to be at night because if they used fishing line that would be hard to pick off with the added darkness.

[Douglas Sunlin]

I can't recall having seen this, but dropping a horse would take a cable, but doing the same to a dog would require less of a rig, maybe fishing line.

[Duncan McDougall]

That was all acting by the dog - fantastic. Stunt dogs from that era were skilled professionals who could perform these astonishing feats in their sleep. Today, these dogs are overpaid prima donnas who show up to the set late and often intoxicated. A real shame.