MAKING OF YAMATO – SABATON ⚡ PART II

Rise and rule the waves of thunder

The scenes on the bow of the Yamato were filmed on an outdoor platform. This allowed us to capture natural lighting in the best possible way, and to drench the musicians with water effects exactly to the extent we had planned. And we had planned a lot of water…

We carefully checked the weather conditions beforehand, and although heated tents were prepared, everyone was sure they wouldn’t be needed — the forecast promised an Indian summer. But on the day of the shoot, someone up there seemed to decide: “You want a shipwreck story? Well, let’s do it the real way!” ; ) The weather turned absolutely awful. It started raining on top of the constant water effects we were already using to soak Sabaton quite generously.

One of the most epic moments is when the musicians, standing on the bow, perform the final chords of the song during the ship’s destruction. For this scene I suggested building an alternative tilted version of the ship’s platform, so we could convey the moment in the most powerful way possible. Thanks to the production designer Ivan Cirovic and his team, we found a way to construct it — and Sabaton looks absolutely incredible in this sequence, in my opinion!🔥⚡

In the final part of the video, I decided to use parallel editing with these shots to extend the moment and deepen its emotional impact: the Yamato is going under, and the musicians, against all odds, continue performing until the very end.
Sabaton performed so powerfully in that moment that I still can’t quite believe we pulled it off — cold, rain, smoke, and massive torrents of water splashing down on them, while they kept performing, acting out the shipwreck as they went down with the ship.
All in all, it was unforgettable. But as you can imagine, the water challenge didn’t end there…;)

Backstage photo by: Ben Alexis
Backstage video by:  Sabaton