directing Should I stick with simplicity? Or go for the high bar

[GOLDENMORAL CINEMAS]

Hey! So I’ve got a whole new roster of new scenes to film. New options to shoot while I’m in the ginormous mountains of NZ for my fantasy film. I’ve got 3 ideas that could be hugely succesful or make the film crash and burn.
The possible inclusion of two large scale battles and more fight scenes. The first is a land battle between two armies, and the 2nd is a naval battle off of a coast. The other fight scenes are chases in the woods and the destruction of a village. (The village of the main character).
In both these instances the battle is seen from afar angles and birds eye view angles strait down looking at the fight or to the side. With sound affects and all to make it really gruesome. (Don’t have the budget to go up close into the nitty gritty, but I will attempt going as close as I can to the battle without making it look fake. The more the distance, the real-er it will be.)
Here is a “test” shot of the naval battle I have done. It shows the opening shot and is a “test” mind you.
The real version will be in full 4K and the ships made to look more intact with the sea. If I go through with this.
Theres a significant chance however that these 2 large battles and more fights could make the film a flop, what if they look too fake? Is the scale off?
Because otherwise this film is a relatively small scale project, centered around the main character who is surviving across the fantasy land in search of other survivors. He has to battle his inner demons to stay motivated. It’s really small scale and personal centred around one character.
adding 2 huge battles into the midst and some other fights would mix it up, making it large scale and small scale at the same time. That could be good or bad. At this moment however I’m worried that budget constraints will limit the ability to do these scenes Properly.
After filming all the core scenes I will have barely any budget left for battle scenes, (without digging into my marketing budget).
Should I risk the marketing budget to attempt to make these 2 large battles, destruction of Arcaydes home scene and some chase scenes?
or Should I play this safe and keep the film nice and small scale.

 

[CelticRambler]

Should I play this safe and keep the film nice and small scale.

Keep it small. Your story is about one man - don't complicate it (and blow your budget) by trying to tell another (bigger, louder) one at the same time.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Keep it small. Your story is about one man - don't complicate it (and blow your budget) by trying to tell another (bigger, louder) one at the same time.

Agreed. You can always hint at the immensity around him without ever having to actually show it.

In both these instances the battle is seen from afar angles and birds eye view angles strait down looking at the fight or to the side. With sound affects and all to make it really gruesome.

But, in reality, from a distance you wouldn't be able to hear distinct sounds. Yes, I know, film making is not about reality, no matter how realistic we make it, but the sounds and visuals do need to be connected to each other (at least most of the time).*** Now, I know that "Saving Private Ryan" had a mega director, mega budget and mega stars, but the Omaha Beach scene is a tour-de-force in POV film making and sound design - the story of one mans experience in a huge, gruesome, desperate battle. It may be worth your while to watch it again.

As long as your audience knows how big the battles are going be, keeping your visuals "tight" won't be a problem as the sound design can be big; a huge, disciplined cacophony of sound around the protagonist.

I have no idea what your naval battle is all about related to your story, but perhaps distant smoke and flame over the horizon would be enough. Then your character(s) can stand on the shoreline agonizing over what is happening. Then the next day there could be some debris and a few corpses floating in on the tide to give clues as to the outcome.



*** A number of years ago I worked on a project where two protagonists were squaring off in a warehouse. The director wanted me to add industrial sounds to "make it sound more dangerous." Without any visual references it just came off as confusing.