When you need a single shot that shows, without dialogue, that heroes who fought separately are standing in one place for the first time and are 'a team now'. Use it for team intros, new product lineups, and season-opening videos for sports teams.
When the camera circles the heroes standing in a ring, one face passes at a time, and characters who appeared separately are bound together as 'on the same side'. It is the signature shot of the Battle of New York in The Avengers.
To recreate it: A full 360 degrees in one clip tends to collapse the view from behind, so split it into two half-turn clips and join them.
Gather several heroes in one frame to compare their size and ability differences at a glance.
To recreate it: Finish the group start frame image first, and start the video from that image.
McGarvey chose 1.85:1, uncommon for a wide-screen blockbuster, to fit characters of different heights together vertically.
To recreate it: Generate the group shot at 1.85:1 or 16:9, which leave room above and below, so the head of the tall character isn't cut off.
Looking up from the ground, the heroes stand with the sky behind them and look bigger and sturdier.
To recreate it: Write only one viewpoint: 'low angle from street level'.
Cut between heroes who were fighting in different places, then gather them in one place at the end, and the thrill of 'they're finally together' grows.
To recreate it: Keep the individual shots before the joining short, 2 seconds or less, and the gathered shot long.
Layer the heroes in front with the ruined street and the enemy in the sky behind to show scale. New York in The Avengers had little actual on-location shooting. It was shot on Cleveland streets and sets, then composited with a Manhattan that ILM rebuilt from photos.
To recreate it: Make the background start frame separately so the same street appears in every shot.
If you stretch out the landing where they join, or the moment everyone strikes a pose, the pose gets etched into the audience's memory.
To recreate it: Generate only the landing shot in slow motion and keep the orbit shot at normal speed.
Cinematic multi-shot sequence, 15 seconds total. Shot 1 (3s): the camera tracks with a heroine in sleek silver armor as she lands on a cracked city street amid smoke. Shot 2 (2s): static low-angle slow motion shot of a hulking stone-skinned hero slamming down beside her. Shot 3 (6s): the camera arcs around six costumed heroes standing back to back in a tight circle in a ruined intersection as enemy flyers swarm overhead. Shot 4 (4s): crane up from a low group shot to reveal a vast alien armada pouring from a glowing portal above the skyscrapers. Consistent six heroes and costumes, backlit smoke, sparks, punchy blockbuster color.
The climax of a team-up film is the shot that gathers the separately introduced heroes into one frame for the first time. In the Battle of New York in The Avengers (2012), there is a scene where the camera circles six heroes standing back to back in a ring. One face passes after another, and the whole team is introduced in a single shot. The cinematographer Seamus McGarvey chose an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, rare for a blockbuster, to fit characters of very different heights like the Hulk, Captain America, and Black Widow into one frame.
Medium shot of a heroine in sleek silver armor landing hard on a cracked city street amid smoke and debris, rising from a crouch with glowing gauntlets. The camera tracks with her, overcast sky, drifting sparks, punchy blockbuster color.
Low-angle shot of a hulking hero with cracked gray stone skin dropping from above and slamming into the street beside the silver-armored heroine, asphalt splitting outward. Static camera, slow motion, dust and sparks, backlit smoke, punchy blockbuster color.
Six distinct costumed heroes stand back to back in a tight circle in the middle of a ruined city intersection, raising weapons and fists as enemy flyers swarm overhead. The camera arcs around them at chest height, backlit smoke, drifting sparks, punchy blockbuster color.
Low-angle group shot of the six heroes from street level as the camera cranes up past them to reveal a vast alien armada pouring out of a glowing portal above the skyscrapers. Crane up, backlit sky, smoke, punchy blockbuster color, epic stakes.
Join the individual joining shots (Shots 1 and 2) short, and from the second hero's landing motion, go to the group orbit shot with a match cut on action. During the orbit shot, bring the music theme up loud and hit the downbeat each time a face passes, in beat sync. Finish by showing the scale of the enemy on the last crane up.
When six people are in one frame, AI easily mixes up faces and costumes. So make a sheet for each character first, complete the group start frame of the six standing in a circle as an image, and for the video only ask for the orbit from that image. Don't include symbols that recall actual movie heroes (a particular shield, hammer, or logo), and tell the characters apart by color and material. The number of characters often grows or shrinks during an orbit, so include 'exactly six heroes' and count the heads first in a 480p draft.