In The Man from Snowy River, the movie's most famous scene portrays Jim Craig chasing down the mob of brumbies to retrieve the prize colt for his boss.
At about 1:55 into this clip, we are shown the mob of horses from the ground. There are other movies that I have seen shots like this as well involving running horses.
How are scenes like this filmed? It appears that the horses are running directly over the camera. Is there a name for this particular film technique?
Whatever you call it, a worm's-eye angle is very useful for dynamic action (especially in combination with a wide-angle lens). Shooting the buffalo hunt in Dances with Wolves, for example, the cinematographer created worm's-eye shots by burying a camera in a pit and having the great beasts thunder directly over it.
With advances in miniaturisation and digital cameras, it is now possible to just bury a very small high resolution "lipstick" camera and forgo the requirement to dig a pit to hold the previously very large camera (and operator).
The same is true often when you see a motor vehicle pass over your viewpoint.
