Roger Clarke in 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe'

The lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Andrew Adamson (2005)

Sometimes single scenes can be unbelievably complicated, shot not just in different sites, but different continents. One such was the first time we see the cave of Mr Tumnus in the first Narnia film. Shooting a wintry woodland cave inhabited by the magical faun played by a then little-known James McAvoy could have been a straightforward task – but oh no. Initially, the team found an actual cave in the Czech Republic. "The real situation was surveyed and digitally scanned," says cinematographer Don McAlpine. When the Czech cave was rebuilt in a New Zealand location thousands of miles away, McAlpine immediately spotted a problem – the ceiling was too low.

Luckily, since they weren't actually in a studio, but an equestrian centre, all there was beneath Tumnus's cave was a dirt floor. The production team got out their shovels and dug down for six metres. Soon, the ceiling was at the right height.

But another problem arose when they returned to the Czech Republic in January to film some wide shots outside the cave – there wasn't any snow. Nervously, they retired to a studio to film some minor scenes – still the snow didn't come. On the last day the crew drove up to the hotel and the location. That night it snowed so heavily it took the crew till midday to get to the cave. They got their shots.