SCENE STEALER

IN “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” director Shekhar Kapur wanted a single scene to symbolize the pale queen’s triumphant transformation during the chaos of war. His vision: “Smoke, embers and fire everywhere, and a white horse jumping overboard,” says Moving Picture Co. visual effects supervisor Richard Stammers. Kapur ordered the effects crew to conjure what became “Elizabeth’s” signature shot, a terrified stallion leaping overboard after British fire ships set Spanish galleons ablaze. “[Kapur] called this shot ‘Purity in Hell,’ ” Stammers says. The evocative shot took a month from concept to final composite. As Stammers says: “We told as much as we could afford to tell.”

-- Ron Magid