Cecil B. DeMille was making one of his great epic movies.
He had 6 cameras at various points to pick up the overall action
and 5 other cameras set up to film plot developments involving major characters. The large cast had begun rehearsing the scene at 6am
and they went through it four times. Now it was late afternoon.
The sun was setting & there was just enough light to get the shot done. DeMille looked over the panorama, saw that all was right,
& gave the command for action.
One hundred extras charged up the hill; another hundred came storming down the same to hill to do mock battle. In another location Roman centurions lashed and shouted at 200 slaves who labored to move a huge stone monument toward its resting place.
Meanwhile the principal characters acted out their reactions on the hill.
Their words were drowned out by the noise around them, but the dialogue was to be dubbed in later. It took 15 minutes to complete the scene.
When it was over, DeMille yelled, "Cut" and turned to his assistant, all smiles. "That was great" he said. "It was, C.B.," the assistant yelled back. "It was fantastic Everything went off perfectly"
Enormously pleased, DeMille turned to face the head of the camera crew to find out if all the cameras had picked up what they had been assigned to film.
He waved to the camera crew supervisor. From the top of the hill, the camera supervisor waved back, raised his megaphone, and called out, "Ready when you are C.B"