VIDEO: Windmill footage is stepping stone to Spielberg

The mill features in a short, and quite spooky, film made by aerial filmographer Roger Allen.

While it’s iconic status makes it worthy of committing to video alone, the short film was made in preparation for filming a feature-length documentary about Spielberg’s first film, Duel.

Roger said: “I filmed it with a drone camera. First I took 120 still images of the windmill and, using a programme called Photoscan, I created a 3D model.

“I then merged it with video footage to make the short film, which I wanted to make spooky.”

Roger, who is based in Central London, found the windmill after searching for UK landmarks on Google.

He said his plan was to just try out the technique, called photogrammetry, which he will use to film part of the documentary.

Spielberg made Duel in 1971, which has since become a cult classic.

It is a tense thriller in which a terrified motorist is menaced by the mostly-unseen driver of a tanker through the deserted highways of California.

Spielberg built on this to make Jaws - where the murderous fish is barely seen until the end, tapping into the viewers primal fear of the unknown.

Roger said: “The documentary will be called The Devil on Wheels, after the Spanish title for the film Duel, which I am making with a friend.

“We will film in California using the drone to show how Spielberg made the whole film in just 13 days.”

He added: “Jaws is basically Duel in the ocean.”

The pair will also meet people from across the globe who are obsessed by Duel and find out why it is such an important movie, before interviewing Spielberg himself.