this is "nightline." >> tonight, what sparked that classroom confrontation caught on camera? fueling outrage. and the investigation into the officer who seems to use excessive force on a student. new details about his past as first-hand accounts from inside the room reveal how and why oh, my god. >> and what is it about new zealand? from avatar to "lord of the rings", a new moviemaker empire is on the rise here. we're heading down under to see where the magic starts long

and a scary look inside the science of fear. they volunteered to be buried alive on live tv, but is there actually a good reason for bringing your nightmares to life? >> yeah, you can say that. >> but first, the "nightline" 5. beyond natural grain free pet food is committed to truth on the label. when we say we all need is the first ingredient, it is always number one. we leave out poultry byproduct meal, corn, wheat, and soy. and we own where our dry food is made, 100%. can other brands say all that? for grain-free nutrition you can trust, does your food go beyond? learn more at beyondpetfood.com. >>

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good evening. tonight public outrage echoing over a shocking confrontation students. a school officer violently arresting a high schoolgirl. turns out it's not the first time he's found himself answering questions about using excessive force. now justice department investigators piecing together all that led up to this terrifying event. the violent classroom confrontation caught on several cameras. tonight, all angles being investigated by federal authorities. it all began during a morning algebra class at spring valley high school in columbia, south carolina. >> this is someone that is physically in pain because of what she endured and the world watched what she endured as she literally flew across the classroom. >> reporter: authorities say a 16-year-old female student was being disruptive in class. either texting or chewing gum and was repeatedly asked to leave. a school resource officer is called to the classroom. he walks over to the student,

and tells her to get up. >> i treat you fair last time. >> i don't know you. >> you don't know me? you gonna come with me or i'm going to make you. >> he said get up, get up, get up, three times. >> reporter: that's when the situation escalates. classmates witnessing the entire encounter as he slams her on to the ground. >> give me your hands. >> trying to jack her out of the desk. when she wasn't coming he flipped the desk out and flung her out of the desk and flung her across the class. she went rolling into a table in the front of the classroom. >> reporter: sophomore tony robinson was in the class and shot this video. he says he did it out of panic. >> terrified. terrified. my first instinct was to get my phone out, that way -- because i didn't really feel like the i were to tell it, you know, people were going to really

so i just grabbed my phone, you know, got my camera out shot the record. >> reporter: classmate niya ken my said she stepped in only to be arrested herself. >> got her out of the classroom. he came back and said you want some of this, too. he said you're going to jail, too. he put me in handcuffs. i walked out. i didn't try to resist or anything. he just put me in handcuffs. >> reporter: the school resource officer identified as 34-year-old ben fields, a deputy sheriff and football coach at the high school. >> her arm was in a cast. she's god a band-aid on her forehead from rug burn. neck and back are both in pain. this is a child treated by a monster in a way i've never seen before. >> reporter: todd rutherford is the lawyer now representing the young student in the video. >> they call him officer slam in the school because he's known for slamming kids. sure enough, that's what he did. >> reporter: today school officials are outraged. >> what we all watched on that shamefully shocking video is

reprehensible, unforgivable, and inconsistent with everything that this district stands for. >> reporter: the sheriff's department says they're reviewing all videos from the classroom, including another angle they say showing the student striking the officer with her fist. >> i think the public demands and expecting and should get a very quick answer on this. and that's what we're going to do. >> reporter: officer fields has been suspended without pay. and tonight the fbi is being called in to investigate whether or not this is a civil rights violation. >> that allowing cameras in more people's hands show the brew brutality that especially african-americans are having at the hands of law enforcement. >> reporter: questions now circling around officer fields' past. last year fields received an honor for being an exceptional role model. but in 2007 he was sued by this man, carlos martin and his now ex-wife for what martin claims was excessive force after a routine encounter. >> he got upset because i called him dude.

he am, slams me down to the ground. starts beating on me, macing me. making all of these racial slurs or gestures or whatever else. he's talking about how he's glad johnnie cochran is dead, welcome to the south. i'm nothing but another notch on his belt. >> reporter: martin lost his lawsuit against officer fields but he believes the two incidents show a pattern of behavior. >> she's only 16 years old. you know, i almost kind of feel responsible because if that situation never happened to me he would have never been at that school. >> reporter: since yesterday the #assaultatspringvalleyhigh spread like wildfire on twitter. users tweeting, she didn't deserve that. and how are students supposed to learn in an environment where they can be battered on any given day? presidential hopeful hillary clinton getting into the fray, there is no excuse for violence inside a school. the assault at spring valley high should be unacceptable. schools should be safe places.

tweeting, welcome to the school-to-prison pipeline. >> it's an incident that never should have happened. >> reporter: curtis, a school resource officer for 25 years, says their job is to de-escalate tensions in the classroom. >> i've never had it come to a point wherive had to arrest a student for disciplinary measure such as what we saw yesterday. >> reporter: 43% of the nation's high schools employed school resource officers in the 2013-2014 schoolary. year. qualifications as beat cop but specially trained to work inside school environments. >> you want to have an officer that understands adolescent behaviors, understands mental health issues with young people, understands how to deal with parents and the uniqueness of being on a campus setting. >> reporter: officer fields could not be reached for comment tonight and sheriff lott says he will likely decide tomorrow if he will be fired. he could also face potential criminal charges or a civil suit

>> this kind of officer is expected to know how to deal with students. and as a result, it could make it even easier for a student and her family to sue. >> reporter: as of tonight, fields is also being investigated by the justice department civil rights division. but legal analysts say, a biased case carries a higher burden of proof. >> even if this officer was absolutely wrong to do what he did, it's only going to be a civil rights violation if he targeted this student because of her race. >> reporter: regardless of what happens in court, the girl's family says this kind of behavior should never happen in a classroom. >> there were 10, 12 other things he could have done rather than flipping her chair back and tossing her across the room. that's one thing that should never have happened. up next, from "lord of the rings" to "avatar." is there anything these movie

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think of these epic movies, the cinematic events really that transport you inside someone's imagination. well, that magic begins far from the red carpet in, of all places, new zealand. the unlikely pin nickle of movie technology and art. tonight movie insiders brings sarah hanes inside their spectacular, fantastical world. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the majestic landscapes in "avatar" made from far from hollywood as you can imagine. new zealand is where much of the epic movie happenings are happening these days. mountains of middle earth in

"lord of the rings." we traveled there to meet the people responsible for this hollywood down under, from design and makeup to visual effects, even helicopter pilots. >> we have these back in the deal. >> we've been very fortunate. taylor. >> reporter: back in 2002 richard taylor was a relative unknown when he won his first of two academy awards for the first "lord of the rings" film, one for makeup and one for visual effects. >> i have the ears of a fox. >> my journey is being made whole by the love of my partner tanya roger and the wonderful genius of the small group of young new zealanders. >> reporter: that small group, a workshop, taylor's company back in new zealand, helped create the makeup, visual effects, and costume design on the "lord of the rings" films. how would you describe what a

>> we do design, miniatures, prosthetic, costumes, and vehicles. >> reporter: despite his success winning three more oscars, taylor is still energized and ready for a new challenge as we enter the workshop in welllington. >> up above us is a one to one scale. this train is from the second "zorro" movie. the client wanted to see an explosion like no explosion he had ever seen so the explosion was so big the last piece of debris took 14 minutes after the explosion. >> reporter: he's just as excited by movie memorabilia. >> this is the armor that we built for "the king of rohan." detail the inside of the armor. >> reporter: as by the tools of his trade. >> this is a sandblaster, sandblast all the weapons. he is making some sort of crash dummy. >> reporter: there was a time you thought about make it in the business it automatically meant hollywood. how did it tern to new zealand halfway around the globe.

heart of the industry, you have to be at the heart of aspiration. it's not about hardware, it's about heartware. five-minute radius from where i'm standing now is all the infrastructure to make a movie as large as any blockbuster feature film in the world. >> reporter: this little town has helped make some of the biggest movies ever. sleepy, residential town in new zealand and right beyond these doors are weta digital, one of the leading digital effect stud yeses in the world and we're about to see where the magic happens. come on. magic that has helped create five of the top 20 grossing films of all time. matt aiken is the visual effects supervisor here. >> "lord of the rings" was really the project that put us on the map. when it hit the screen and second "lord of the rings" film, it was a moment for us. until that point, we weren't sure that we were going to be able to achieve what peter was

create a living, breathing performance. but since then we've worked with peter on a number of his shows "king kong" all of the way through the "hobbit" trilogy. we just wrapped up with that. worked with other filmmakers. james cameron on "avatar" and "planet of the apes." >> reporter: they have mathematicians to help them brick it to life and developed artificial intelligence software for huge battle scene for the bat of the five armies. >> crowd scenes for armies. 200,000 soldiers on a battlefield. and have them not just kind of look like they're just kind of trotting along doing something stupid but to have them behaving like a fully organized army so we can do sequences for films like the "lord of the rings" battle sequences and the "battle of the five armies." the average digital soldier is

worm. intelligent. environment. >> we're hearing what you do, you clearly do a large chunk of this sitting in some of the movies, you guys are kind of unsung her public. >> yeah, i suppose, for a lot of us, that suits us. i love the fact that we're now integral to modern filmmaking. >> reporter: the technical wizardry isn't just computers. this camera mount was designed in new zealand. as impressive as it looks, it's nothing without the right pilot which is where alfy spate comes in. 10-4, alfy. oh, my gosh. >> i could show you a little place up here we did a bit for "lord of the rings." >> i don't think i could miss it but just in case. >> there won't be any hobbits for you today. >> reporter: alfy is a man of few words but his portfolio speaks for itself. >> this is right where they did that scene here.

all the water comes around the corner in front of us. >> oh, my goodness. you've got the best office with a view. his cool demeanor has made him one of the most sought after pilots in the world. >> i don't know why they keep picking me but there's other people around that do it as well. >> maybe you're not too shabby either. >> reporter: and whether it's a nerve rattling fly-by or landing on what seems like the top of the world -- alphie, you're a chill guy -- nothing seems to phase this kiwi. >> it's a good view, isn't it? >> i'm not seeing a change in any of your reactions. there we go. that was like a party on your face. >> a party. party face. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm sarah hanes in queenstown, new zealand. up next, they endured the stuff of nightmares on "buried alive."

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you know, i'm quite sure there isn't enough money in the world you could pay me to be buried alove under any circumstances rrt let alone on live tv. >> reporter: but with halloween fast approaching some very braf souls actually signed up to do it. and as, a bc's david wright is about to find out, they may have been on to something. >> reporter: facing your worst fears in realtime. >> you overcoming your fears, brandon. >> yeah, you can say that. >> reporter: "fear, buried

a psychological experiment. >> my fear is actually fluffy puppies. can i get a box of fluffy puppies instead. >> reporter: all of it broadcast live on the a&e network partly owned by abc. >> they understand anything can happen, including the possibility of death. >> when you're in that dark and it's just you and your thoughts, you go completely crazy. >> reporter: to ratchet up the fright factor the show's producer turn to eli roth. >> i think you're going to have people who are going to start clawing until their fipg ngers blooed. >> reporter: of course that's why it was all about science, that's why you have larry, david in a lab coat there, and bright screens, to make this a little legit. fear socialist margi kerr insists conquering your inner demons is not just entertaining, it's healthy. >> you know you can definitely survive the inevitable zombie apock k

calypse apocalypse. >> a survey found many of the things you would expect we're afraid of, things like ghost, clowns, zombies. but at the very top of the list there's bugs and heights and public speaking. as it turns out, on this show, being buried alive was just for starters. surprise, surprise for the test subject, in came snakes and rat s s and creepy crawlers. the test subjects' family and friends watching in horror. >> ow. don't nip at me. stop trying to bite me. ow. >> we really are trying to overcome our fears right now. >> let me tell you something, i'm going to -- >> you're in here. you're doing it. >> i'm going give you a big hug. we're going to exchange facebook information. >> reporter: it all got to be too much for one of the three. >> get me out!

get me out now! >> reporter: can you blame him? i'm david wright for "nightline" in new york. >> get me out! thanks for watching abc news. tune in for "good morning america" tomorrow and we're online 24/7 and at a bcnews.com. good night, america. >> announcer: the following is a paid presentation for the premium-style aerobed with antimicrobial protection. in the past, when you've needed a temporary sleep solution for guests, parties, holiday get-togethers, or sleepovers for the kids, your options were limited. >> here's your bed. >> announcer: and nobody was comfortable in that hard,

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