Editing The Seventh Seal (section)

==Production==
===Development===
[[File:Sjunde inseglet 1957.jpg|thumbnail|Filming of ''The Seventh Seal'' at [[Filmstaden]]]]
[[Ingmar Bergman]] originally wrote the play ''Trämålning'' (''Wood Painting'') in 1953 / 1954 for the acting students of [[Malmö City Theatre]]. Its first public performance, which he directed, was on radio in 1954. He also directed it on stage in Malmö the next spring, and in the autumn it was staged in Stockholm, directed by [[Bengt Ekerot]], who would later play the character Death in the film version.<ref name=svenskfilmografi>[http://www.sfi.se/sv/svensk-film/Filmdatabasen/?itemid=4522&type=MOVIE&iv=Comments Det sjunde inseglet – Pressreaktion & Kommentar Svensk Filmografi] (in Swedish). [[Swedish Film Institute]]. Retrieved on 17 August 2009.</ref>

In his autobiography, ''The Magic Lantern'', Bergman wrote that "''Wood Painting'' gradually became ''The Seventh Seal'', an uneven film which lies close to my heart, because it was made under difficult circumstances in a surge of vitality and delight."<ref>Ingmar Bergman (1988). ''The Magic Lantern''. Penguin Books. London. p. 274.</ref> The script for ''The Seventh Seal'' was commenced while Bergman was in the [[Karolinska Hospital]] in Stockholm recovering from a stomach complaint.{{sfn|Bragg|1998|p=27}} It was at first rejected<ref>Ingmar Bergman (1990). ''Images: My Life in Film''. Arcade Publishing, Inc. New-York. p. 234.</ref> by [[Carl-Anders Dymling]], head of [[Svensk Filmindustri]] and Bergman was given the go-ahead for the project from Carl-Anders Dymling only after the success at Cannes of ''[[Smiles of a Summer Night]]''.{{sfn|Bragg|1998|p=48}} Bergman rewrote the script five times and was given a schedule of only thirty-five days and a budget of $150,000.{{sfn|Bragg|1998|p=49}} It was to be the seventeenth film he had directed.{{sfn|Bragg|1998|p=46}}

===Filming===
All scenes except two were shot in or around the [[Filmstaden]] studios in Solna. The exceptions were the famous opening scene with Death and the Knight playing chess by the sea, and the ending with the [[Danse Macabre|dance of death]], which were both shot at [[Hovs Hallar]], a rocky, precipitous beach area in north-western Scania.<ref name=f2f>[http://www.ingmarbergman.se/page.asp?guid=0A7C85BA-E1D8-410F-B9E0-95A5DC3CC844 Ingmar Bergman Face to Face – Shooting the film The Seventh Seal] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823185840/http://www.ingmarbergman.se/page.asp?guid=0A7C85BA-E1D8-410F-B9E0-95A5DC3CC844 |date=23 August 2010}}</ref>

In the ''Magic Lantern'' autobiography Bergman writes of the film's iconic penultimate shot: "The image of the Dance of Death beneath the dark cloud was achieved at hectic speed because most of the actors had finished for the day. Assistants, electricians, and a make-up man and about two summer visitors, who never knew what it was all about, had to dress up in the costumes of those condemned to death. A camera with no sound was set up and the picture shot before the cloud dissolved."<ref>Ingmar Bergman (1988). ''The Magic Lantern''. Penguin Books. London. pp. 274–275.</ref>