How do filmmakers show animals being hurt in the movie, but not actually hurting them during the process? I've seen many war films where they used horses to fight battles. The scene where the horses were stabbed and killed looked so real.

Modern film-making techniques and equipment are so advanced that they can make scenes seem very realistic. Furthermore, professional animal handlers and vets may be on set to make sure the animals used in such movies stay unharmed.

The American Humane Association explains how it's done.

That was a nice link, Salome. I'm glad that the film industry takes good care of the animals involved in the films. Animals are good actors in their own right.

Thanks for the link, but I did not see the process of how the animals were not harmed in a very violent scene. The production crew may have used CGI to show that the animals were hurt, but were actually not real.

Yeah, they don't have every movie, but I think it gives a good overview of how they do certain stunts without causing harm. I actually found the site because I was curious how they did the stunts in Sleepwalkers. (Answer: Well-trained kitties and some fake ones.)

 

It's the same with horses, I think. There are stunt horses who have been trained to do things like fall on cue and the rest is practical effects plus CGI, probably. Like, here's a line from their review of True Grit: "After being cued to lay down, the trained horses were then replaced with stuffed prop horses to make it appear as if the horses were injured/killed."

Then I guess I have to give the praise to the director for filming a scene showing a horse, or any other animal, that is killed but not harmed in real life.

And here's a piece about something I was curious about--how they film the horses on GoT.

I mean, how do they show humans dying and being harmed in movies without actually hurting them? Or heck, how do they show space in movies like Interstellar without actually going to space?

 

Special effects and clever camera tricks you freakin potato, what the heck do you think? Why would it be any different whether you use an animal or a human? Animals may not understand what's going on like we do, but they can still be trained to emulate behaviors we're looking for. Add in special effects, swapping out for prop-animals, and you're all set.

I know the animals were not harmed during the filming. I'm only wondering how they made it looked real. There are behind-the-scenes videos with human actors, but I haven't actually seen videos on how they film animals.

I had no idea that there were stunt horses as well. Thank you @Salome G for the link; I enjoyed watching behind the scenes clip of the ''War Horse''.

I'm so glad moviemaking tech is at a point where if a scene shows animals getting hurt, the scene's computer generated. I saw a movie from the 70s where the characters went kangaroo hunting, and it was the real deal. I hated finding that out.

The beginning of the first John Wick would be very traumatic to watch without CGI and/or props. I will just leave it at that.

As a fellow dog lover, I have to agree. I think the dog with the best training on a television show was Eddie from Frasier.