Shoot tight shots, move the 'crowd' around between shots and have them change clothes. Add some scars, different hair-styles, missing arms and legs, etc, if you want them to look more different :).

Alternatively, if the shots are locked off on a tripod you could potentially shoot the 'crowd' multiple times in different places and merge those shots together. That would be time-consuming though.

What program could I use if I wanted to create it so that the crowd appeared large but was simply the same actors in balaclavas copied many times?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

I'd use Fusion, but that's fairly expensive :). Programs like After Effects should allow you to do that, but I've never used it... hopefully someone else will know more about the cheaper end of the market.

Have characters wear a specific type of jacket so that additional folks in that jacket are not noticable. Then you can use each actor with and without the jacket. Same with sunglasses, ski masks, baseball caps (forward/backwards), and wigs.

Focus on the combatants so that the crowd is out of focus.

Frame some shots so that your camera is up high and you get the combatants and the crowds feet. Feet and legs all look pretty similar.

Frame other shots so that your camera is really low and you get the combatants and the heads of the crowd.

All of the above.

If you cut right things will move fast and people should not be paying much attention to the audience. If they are something is wrong.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

True: if you're only seeing parts of the crowd actors and you cut fast, no-one should notice if they move around.

yeah, i filmed a fight scene with only 4 extras but the camera was moving and cutting so fast it looked like i had about 15 or 20.

I would suggest really crowding the scene with props (i.e. boxes, crates, barrels, trash) and then fill in the gaps with your extras, it will look more full.

Once i had to film a fake cock fight and we were able to get real chickens, but not a real big crowd, one thing we did to cover this up was frequently shooting with the camera up high looking down at an angle so you could only see the feet of the audience. Another technique that sold it was completely cutting away from the fight to just the audience, f you can get like 10 people, cut to someone surrounded by other people and have the person scream and holler.

Shoot the 8 people you have on a green screen...take several different shots with different clothes, faces, make-up, etc. Then use a Chroma Key program to stack the different sets of 8 people to make a very large crowd. Easily achieved, this is something I use in several films.

"'It doesn't bother you, killing those people?' 'Well I wouldn't be very good at my job if it did.'"
-Casino Royale

Sorry to double post but I forgot this...a nice cheap Chroma Key program (as well as editing software) is Sony Vegas. It's about 80 bucks at Best Buy.

"'It doesn't bother you, killing those people?' 'Well I wouldn't be very good at my job if it did.'"
-Casino Royale

Hmm, I really don't think anyone cares about double-posting, so long as you're saying something useful, which you most definitely are.

So if I buy Song Vegas for ?80 then how much will an 8-man greenscreen be? And will I need anything else? Certain lights?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

Also, note that you can use the edit button rather than posting twice :).

Thanks...as for a green screen (in my experience), it shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish...a large bright green sheet with the eight people crowded around it...as for lights, just so long as they're bright, i don't think there are certain lights you HAVE to go with...but there are of course others who know much more about it than I. Just make sure the group of people and the screen itself are well lit so that A) you can see everyone in the group and B) the whole green screen is the same color so that the computer can blot it all out.

"'It doesn't bother you, killing those people?' 'Well I wouldn't be very good at my job if it did.'"
-Casino Royale

Well, then what if I use a program that can fuse a group of pictures together affectively and how much will these cost?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

Another thought is to have a moment or two in the fight where one character looks at the crowd (perhaps he's wounded, or deciding to kill the downed opponent). Bit artsy but I think it might look good and it would be easy enough to do.

Have film of one section of the crowd and slow it down speed wise until it stops totally. Do the same with the audio. Then go from one still shot of screaming crowd to another. One after another of screaming faces with spit flying and that sort of thing. You don't need these folks on set if you have more or less blurry or black background behind them. Then after you've shown a few of the bloodthirsty crowd you go back to the other fighter frozen in time as well and speed things back up to normal speed, crank up the sound at the same time and keep going.

Of course it all works better if examining the crowd causes the character to come to a decision on something. Perhaps spare the downed foe or something.

One other trick is to have a person or two pass in front of the camera from time to time. This is easily done with a still photo of the back of a crowd member (out of focus because it's so close) even a coat rack with jacket pushed into frame would do. This gives the appearance that the crowd is circling the combatants and not lined up just opposite the camera. It also gives you the chance to make interesting frame compositions by blacking out a portion of the frame in a natural way, leaving the characters in the remaining portion feeling trapped. This creates tension if done properly, say if one character is being pushed up against a wall at the same time.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA