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Chaos is a difficult thing to film. What does chaos look like?
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Chaos is wild, loud, unpredictable. Chaos usually involves a lot of people and a lot of movement. Chaos is often violent and threatening. Chaos is disorganized, frantic, fast, and abrupt.
How can a filmmaker attempt to replicate authentic chaos? How should it be captured on camera? And, in what manner should it be cut? Different filmmakers answer these questions in different ways, some effective, and some less so.
In the hands of a bad filmmaker, chaos might end up as a result, without ever having been the goal. Accidental chaos looks like the frantic, jumbled editing of movies like Columbiana and the Taken sequels or the close-up shaky-cam of something like Alex Cross.
These movies utilize sloppy filming with overly shaky camera work and manic editing, all in an attempt to imbue a poorly made scene with artificial excitement. Unintentional chaos can leave the audience feeling confused and even cheated.
But what about when chaos is the goal? Let’s look at two action scenes that demonstrate a commanding grasp over presentation chaos. One from The Raid where our team of police is beset on all sides and hacks an escape route through the floor; and one from Hold the Dark where a small town’s entire police force is massacred by a machinegunner with the drop on them.
