Certified Animal Action Overview

No Animals Were Harmed™ was on set to oversee every moment involving animals, ensuring their comfort, safety and natural behavior throughout filming. From the deer in the forest to the ravens, farm animals and even a delicate butterfly, each animal was calmly brought to set by professional trainers and guided gently through scenes using cues and safe distances. The animals were never placed in harm’s way and were supported by handlers just out of view, allowing performances to unfold naturally without stress. Between takes, animals rested in their trailers or carriers, and once filming wrapped, they were promptly returned to their secure environments.

In the scene where a man hunts a deer in the forest before zombies appear, prior to filming the deer was brought to the set in its trailer. The trainer then led the deer to the set and placed her on her mark while being held by line. The handler walked away from the deer just before action cue. On action, the actor playing the hunter walked towards the deer as the handler cued the deer to walk towards her behind the tree. The deer was at a safe distance from the action on the set while being held by trainers.

In an establishing shot where we see a raven feasting on a dead body in a camp, trainers brought three ravens in separate cages. Then they placed pieces of turkey on the face of the silicon dead body. On action, they filmed the bird peck at the fake dead face while the trainers stood behind the cameraman a few feet away. After the last take, the bird was wrapped and placed back into the carrying cage.

In the scene where the actors lead a group of prisoners back to their village and we see sheep, cows and chickens in the background, including outside the window during the kitchen scene, trainers brought the sheep in a trailer and placed them in a pen. The chickens were placed in the grassy area in front of the house. The goats were walked on lead ropes from their trailer and placed in a pen on the left side of the dirt road. They filmed the scenes with the animals acting naturally. All animals were brought back to their trailers after filming.

In a cutaway shot where we see a butterfly on a skull, trainers brought several butterflies inside a container then carried them to a tent near the set where they waited until called. The crew built a netting cover over the table top which covered the cameraman plus the set. The handler carried the butterflies into the netted set and on action removed a butterfly to place on the skull. They filmed the butterfly on the skull performing natural behaviours.