The Church of the Assumption is on fire: real fire or computer-generated images? How was the fire restored?

Notre-Dame brule, directed by Jean-Jacques Ano, hourly restores the incredible reality of the events of April 15, 2019.

That day the temple suffered the greatest disaster in its history. To save the monument, women and men will risk their lives with incredible and heroic salvation.

To make this story as realistic as possible, Jean-Jacques Ano and his team did a monumental job.

With the ambition of a spectacular fresco, the burning of the Church of the Assumption puts the famous building in the lead role. Thus, Jean-Jacques Ano was able to shoot several scenes inside, but above all it was necessary to have an identical reconstruction of part of the temple in the studio.

The filmmaker said the building remained inaccessible due to the presence of lead everywhere and the danger of it collapsing. “But still we had to drown the building in smoke, cover the ground with ashes and dust, throw tons of burnt rays, flood the sidewalk”He explains in the press kit.

The team restored everything identically. He then set fire to hundreds of nozzles.

We built the studio on a scale of 1, with a large portion of the boat, spiral staircases, outer passages and the frame of the northern transept, and the interior of the colossal bell tower of the last stage bells. In short, all these emblematic places of Notre Dame, which were at the heart of the disaster and which must have been shown before and during the fire.Trusts Jean-Jacques Ano.

The most difficult shooting sequence

One of the most difficult scenes for the director to shoot was the breaking of the arch under the weight of an inclined spear. “This is a really dangerous moment because we still have an area, I do not know how many hundreds of square meters are on fire. And it absorbs all the oxygen on the shooting range.”Emphasizes the filmmaker.

You can see this sequence in the video above, in which Jean-Jacques Ano discusses the difficulties that come with shooting this kind of dangerous and very expensive scene.

“Anyone who stays on the set is almost obliged to have a space suit. These are scenes that we rehearsed a lot and went very well. Obviously we had to do this one on the set.

For L’Ours’s father, such restraint is magical: “At the moment of action, giving the start signal to all the special effects, this decor, which looked very simple, against the background of a calm sky, will turn into a giant flame of rage. Suddenly magic and power emerge. Set “he says.

The director emphasizes that this was a complete reconstruction, as this moment was not recorded by a surveillance camera that did not exist in Notre Dame. “Even the firefighters, who were under-staffed in the audiovisual service that day, do not have a picture of this crucial scene.”Reveals it.

In fact, the basement fell from a height of 40 meters and poured 500 tons of fire beams, mortars and stones on the paving of the temple. “This sequence lasts about 1 minute on 30 screens, but it took us weeks to prepare!”

To prevent this crucial picture from happening again, Jean-Jacques Ano was photographed by dozens of cameras simultaneously, from different angles, some in the middle of a fire, protected by what are called crash boxes, the metal is ultra resistant to impact and heat. .

“None of these cameras were missing! On the other hand, the force of the fire partially caused the studio ceiling to burn: Fortunately, we were well insured.”– Says the film director.

Build scenes

Jean-Jacques Anna and her team need to find the right location to set the shooting range and studio shooting locations. They needed large enough sets for 25 or 30 foot tall sets, most of which would also burn completely!

“We absolutely wanted to shoot in France, but the fact is that none of the studios has the infrastructure needed for this project. We were offered two choices: La cité du Cinéma in Saint-Denis and Bry-sur-Marne. “Saint-Denis, we shot indoors and in Bryce, ‘in the back lot,’ as they say, in a huge outdoor space.”Recalls the director.

The film crew also needed workshops for carpentry, ironwork, sculpture, plaster casting, and so on. Anna managed to get the minimum living space for her film in terms of infrastructure. At the Cité du Cinéma he was able to draw on the experience of technical teams accustomed to this kind of production.

“I also took advantage of Jean Rabase’s unusual know-how, a special production designer. Jean worked on several films by Jean-Pierre Zune, as well as Bernardo Bertolucci and Roman Polanski. Our first discussions were fascinating and productive. “It had to be shot in the right place. Where Notre Dame was conceived, sculpted, built. So in France.”Hammers film director.

To oversee the construction of the kits, Jean-Jacques Anne’s team set up production offices at the Cité du Cinéma, on a one-floor surface. Drawings, models, 3D models, the filmmaker asked to reproduce several reduced versions of the Virgin Mary or her bell tower, such as construction games from cardboard or wood.

Long-term work

Each facility needed several weeks of work as they were built according to the original plans. This allowed the director to imagine very early on the axes of his cameras, the location of his cast, the fiery segments, or the route of the safety devices, such as water or even the exit in all of this, to save.

“And then, all this meticulous preparatory work saved us precious time when I was shooting in real temples or on the set. It also allowed me to build just what I needed. At the same time, our technicians developed special fireproof cameras that can withstand fire scenes.”He explains.

The director also filmed at a location, particularly in Sensei, the world’s first Gothic cathedral, the true founding matrix of the Notre Dame de Paris. The group also photographed a statue of Saint-Denis built of the same limestone.

The buildings of Amiens and Bourgeoisie were also used for filming. “I wanted to be able to place my cameras in axes, which are very similar to Notre Dame cameras, and then be able to connect them to my kits identically reconstructed in the studio.”Specifies Annaud.

Passionate artists

Throughout the exquisite pre-production work, the director enthusiastically walked from one workshop to another to see the joy, the pride of these passionate craftsmen. Cabinet makers, plaster makers, metalworkers, glaziers, artists, etc.

“All of them are real goldsmiths, who often do not have the opportunity to build Gothic columns, basements. Several times I led my decoration teams to visit real cathedrals to be inspired by for example the walls and statues.

We also conducted tests to find the right path from lead melting roofs to the ground or fire helmets due to the heat of the fire. I felt with this collective enthusiasm “– Says the director.