 Welles had originally wanted the entire film to use high contrast cinematography , resembling engravings of the Middle Ages ; only the opening title sequence uses this technique . The film 's most famous sequence is the Battle of Shrewsbury ; only about 180 extras were available and Welles used editing techniques to give the appearance of armies of thousands . Welles filmed all of the battle scenes in long takes , but cut the shots into fragments to create the effect that he wanted . It took ten days to shoot the scenes and six weeks to edit what became a six @-@ minute sequence . In filming the sequence , Welles often used hand @-@ held cameras , wide @-@ angle lenses , slow motion and speed up shots , static shots , swish pans and constant rapid movement of the characters to create a kinetic and chaotic atmosphere . Anderegg has said that " in the end , both armies have become one huge , awkward , disintegrating war machine , a grotesque robot whose power source slowly begins to fail and finally comes to a frozen halt . Verbal rhetoric — language itself — seems , for the moment , both irrelevant and obscene . " 
