how 'first man' director damien chazelle and his visual effects team took moviegoers to the moon - led screen

Every movie he madefrom his low-
Budget 2009 director debut "Guy and Madeline on park benches" for his 2014 breakthrough in 2016 popular musical "La Land, director Damien Chazel took a step forward in terms of scale and technical difficulty.
But in telling the story of Neil Armstrong's mission to the moon with his latest film, first man, Chazel knew he needed to take a big step.
The 33-year-old Chazelle never really handled the visuals in any important way, at first, he is not sure how he will complete a challenging mission like copying Armstrong's 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon. (
Needless to say, the reported production budget is $70 million and there is actually no option. )
But Chazelle, who wants to create a heartfelt, real experience for the audience, knows he wants to avoid digital effects as much as possible and instead adopt a more analog approach.
"Some of them have something to do with the style of the movie, but I think a lot of them are because I'm particularly disgusted with the very high-profile CG, especially on the subject," chazelle said.
"Part of the point of the story we are telling is, by today's standards, how much these people are able to accomplish with some basic technology.
It feels like we should be able to tell this story with a rather old story. school methods.
"Of course, it's easier said than done.
In the pursuit of authenticity, Chazelle and his visual effects team finally adopted cutting
Edge technology and old
In Armstrong's time, the old-fashioned film-making technology will not be out of date.
Create one of the most famous events in human history.
Standard method of shooting space-
The travel sequence in "First Man" will be film actor Ryan Gosling, who plays Armstrong and he and his partner shoot on the green screen and then digitally add their surroundings
Earth's atmosphere, stars, moon and so on. —later in post-production.
But before the shooting started, Chazelle and his team decided on a way to basically turn things around.
And his team, director of visual effects Paul Lambert, won an Oscar for his work in "Blade Warrior 2049" constitute a huge 35-foot-tall, 65-foot-
They can project the digital images they created for the film for about 90 minutes on a wide LED screen.
The replica of the spacecraft will then be mounted on the Wanxiang frame and move in sync with the lens on the screen, allowing the camera to capture the astronaut's surroundings in real time.
"It helps the cast and crew understand exactly what's going on --
Ryan is performing what he can see, not just a green screen, "said Lambert.
"Because we did a lot.
Ups on the faces of the actors in the capsule, from time to time you will see reflections in their eyes and their vision of CG content on the screen.
"From the early days of the process, Chazelle and his team worked hard to track the NASA archive clips they could find to get a visual reference for the Gemini and Apollo missions described in the film.
After nearly a year of digging, about 200 cans of 70-were found on the hunt-
The mm lens at the Marshall Space Center in Alabama has not appeared for decades because the device to watch it no longer exists.
"We basically took a magnifying glass on the Lightbox and looked at the frame, right away like 'Wow, this is something really awesome, '" says visual effect producer Kevin Ailan '. ".
"We thought, 'If we can make this work for this movie, it will be more real.
"Lambert, Ellam and their team have digitally processed and cleaned up some of NASA's footage --
Including the engine ignition and the wide lens of the Saturn rocket leaving the launch pad (
It's actually a mission from Apollo 14)—
Finally, some of these footage went into the finished movie.
Other external shots involving the spacecraft, such as the phase of the Saturn V rocket fall, are achieved by establishing models of different scales according to specific needs, and then enhanced by digital effects.
When the real Apollo 11 landed on the Moon (spoiler alert! )
Chazel knew that it marked the climax of the film --
Just like Armstrong's mission, although the risk to life and limbs is small --
There is no room for error.
"This is the most famous part of our film, and from its recording, it's the easiest to get," Chazelle said . ".
"We want the whole movie to be accurate and true, but with the moon landing you'll have a higher bar because it's so iconic.
You can't really get to know too much about history there.
"After a long search, Chazelle and his team settled in the waken quarry in southern Atlanta.
There, production designer Nathan Crawley and his team carved about five acres of landscape to replicate the peaceful sea of the moon for the first time in Amsterdam and Aldrin.
"The surface of the quarry has this gray palette that matches the moon very well," Chazelle said . ".
Shooting outside the quarry, not on the stage, involves risk-the snow fell on the set on the first day, asking for a one-week delay in the schedule.
But that's the only way filmmakers think they can re-shoot accurately.
Create huge scale and extreme lighting conditions on the surface of the moon.
Chazelle and film photographer Linus Sandgren need to come up with a way to accurately simulate the effect of sunlight hitting the surface of the moon.
Normal movie lights don't make light strong enough, so Sandgren has about 15-foot-long, 200,000-watt lamp —
The brightness of the most powerful movie lamp usually used is doubled
Specially built and placed about 500 feet above the set.
"Unfortunately, due to the cold temperatures, it exploded after about an hour of work," Lambert said . ". (
Fortunately, there is a backup. )
"This is highly experimental.
But when that 200,000-
The Watt bulb was working and I felt like my lips were cracked.
I was sunburned because it was so bad.
"We tried to set it up as realistic as possible," Sandgren said . " He won an Oscar for his cooperation with Chazelle in "La Land.
"We put the lights in the same position as the sun when the real moon landed.
We turn the ship so that the ladder is in the shadow as if it were on the real moon landing.
The whole idea is just to make it as authentic as possible.
The "First Person" eventually involved 619 digital effect lenses --
Just a fraction of the nearly 3,000 used in CG
A heavy space movie like Guardians of the Galaxy.
"But for the entire visual effects team, the emphasis on digital visual effects --
Chazelle has been holding on from the very beginning.
"It all has to feel real and visceral, which is very exciting for people with visual effects," Elam said . " His credits include "Battleship" and "Interstellar crossing ".
We did a lot of comedy.
The movies and ridiculous things that are able to do such things are so fresh air and exciting.
Also for the approval of Ryan goslinier Armstrong's sons is Damian Chazel and "who brought the" first man "to the big screen for a huge leap" La land" neil Armstrong, starring Ryan Gosling in the spotlight, "thrilling, action and confusion. "
Rottenberg @ latimes.