Crowded event scenes in movies.

[agent817]

This is something that I have always wondered. You see movies that have scenes that take place at a sporting event or anything similar. I actually wonder if a lot of the time the sequences are shot at a legit event but only the scenes that were shot involving actual characters were done separately. For example, the opening scene in No Holds Barred, I really wonder if that bit was done at a taping before the actual card started. I had heard that in Fighting With My Family, that the match with Paige and AJ (Actually Zelina Vega) was done AFTER that particular episode of Raw. By that, I mean that the show had ended, but the crowd had stayed for the match that was shot, and I heard that Florence Pugh's stand-in was Tessa Blanchard. I mean I can't imagine that hundreds of people would be hired extras for those scenes.

What's the deal?

[SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts]

It's mostly camera tricks and special effects. Most of the time it's just partially filling a stadium with extras and shooting around them, then they fill the stadium with CGI. Previously, they would black out the upper levels and just keep cameras on the court. You don't really need as many extras as you think to make it look like it's full when the scene isn't shot wide with full view of everyone.

I know for several 70s films they did shoot during games, those were Night Moves and Hickey & Boggs. Sometimes concert scenes in movies are shot during actual concerts.

Edit*

Forgot to mention The Wrestler shot its ring scenes during actual ROH and CZW events. It probably made more sense in that production since the actual wrestling scenes were staged in smaller venues anyway and never going to be a big stadium. Wrestling with my Family director Stephen Merchant might have wanted genuine wrestling fans in those scenes.

[Bo Rida]

I think Green Street was done as you said, they got permission to film legit crowds during a match and then the actors did their part separately. There were stories West Ham weren't happy with the end product and regretted giving permission.

The wrestler used real crowds and had trouble trying to get them to react the way they wanted.

Some bigger films probably use hundreds or even thousands of extras up close and CGI the rest. Not sure, just judging by James Bond using that many extras for a street parade.

[Cela]

It depends. For some shows, they have a few dozen extras and move them around or cycle them in different parts of the venue.

For street scenes, there's a lot of Matrix simulation going on, with people walking by multiple times, but staggered and with camera cuts to hide focusing on repeats.

And sometimes, there are dummies next to real people. One of the infamous stories on Blades of Glory was there was a scene where people were supposed to throw roses onto the ice, and an extra threw a dummy instead.

[arrogantmodel]

Yeah, my buddy and I tried to get into Heinz Field for The Dark Knight Rises, but it was July, and you were supposed to dress like it was cold.

I saw on stuff like Sudden Death with JCVD, they had cutouts, and Gladiator just used balloons because they moved and looked like people from a distance and out of focus in the Coliseum scenes.

Forrest Gump just filmed one group of people and multiplied them for the Washington D.C. scene at the National Mall.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

I was an extra for the soccer movie The Damned United.

They had maybe 100 extras in the crowd for close shots, with us putting on different clothes for each different scene. Like, one scene I was wearing a flat cap and thick glassesm another I was in an anorak with a different hat on. Another, I had a tweed jacket and no hat etc. It was filmed at Chesterfield's ground, which doubled for different grounds across the country with the extras moving into different stands depending on the stadium we were in.

Then for the wider stadium shots, they had us 100 extras, some blow up dummy type things in the crowd and I guess special effected it from there.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I would also guess that there's a bunch of stock footage available that filmmakers could use as well, for the long-shot that establishes 'the size if the crowd' before they focus in on the action.

[Gummydavidson]

Creed filmed scenes of the crowd during half time at Goodison Park for the final fight then just superimposed it into the movie.