FIRST MAN | VFX Featurette | DNEG

Watch the multitude of VFX techniques that were used to create the realism for Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong biopic 'First Man'.
First Man is a production in which we redefine shooting 'in camera’. Those words generally imply everything is shot practically, which we creatively did. The team had to create a gentle balance using a diverse mixture of visual effects, special effects, archival footage and scaled models to help create the 1960’s documentary style film that was the Director's vision. Enjoy!

[@astraltraveler257]

exquisite art direction, cinematography, dialogue, minimalist acting, score, shot composition, use of black, editing, etc. etc. etc. not enough praise for this work of art.

[@josephpole]

Very clever balance of VFX & special effects. The X-15 sequence left me stunned & the cleaned archival footage was a brilliant approach. Amazing work DNEG!

[@johnprudent3216]

I love when films integrate their VFX into actual background footage. There’s just something about it that helps sell it more as opposed to generating everything in the computer. Singer me wrong, that method can give beautiful results in the right hands. But I feel there’s something more physical and clever about it especially when special effects are added to the mix also. I also love that a lot of the action sequences were from Neil’s (Gosling) POV. That was a great artistic decision.

[@bendoon7010]

In this day of films using tons of CGI and green screen it’s great to see some good old fashioned in camera effects...bloody well done on the Oscar.

[@AlexandrePRODHOMME]

I mean there is still a ton of CGI. If you observe the wipes at 1:28, you can see the shuttle in front is fully swapped for a CGI one, or at 2:52 during the wipes that part of the rocket/exhaust is re-done in CGI.... But agreed, an intelligent approach, which is often championed by the VFX dept anyway. Play strength of each departments! However, the opposite isn't true and everyone seems to love bringing VFX down as of late

[@goldgamercommenting2990]

@@AlexandrePRODHOMMEfor the Saturn V they could of just used stock footage from other Saturn launches

[@beyondthecutworldwide1]

@@goldgamercommenting2990could be, but it is not. The center image is the real scan of the archive film, surrounding is definetly a CG take over.

[@AAvfx]

Looks so real, like the real deal!

[@sagesolomon8070]

@SnowBirds Indeed.

[@homers5699]

Because they use Practical special effects

[@astroevada]

@SnowBirds Song lyrics ain't evidence for conspiracy. They were joking about Moon landing conspiracies.

[@rodrigogomes4577]

Congratulations on the Oscar, you deserve it. 👏👏🥇

[@nejdnrjrh3221]

Rodrigo Gomes nope watch the definition of “ visual effect “

[@swapnilmasurekar5431]

Infinity had better visual effects

[@THELANKANCOMRADE]

SWAPNIL MASUREKAR Nope

[@dariussalepetru9951]

Good luck FIRST MAN WON bravoooooooooooo

[@UnXpectedBO2MW2GTA5Modsandmore]

I love these raw 15/70 IMAX footage. Wish I could see it in such large format. One day..

[@TweetBomb]

Next year for Nolan's Oppenheimer

[@СергейБирюков-ъ2д]

And the Oscar Goes To .... First Man - Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm!

[@wildmarks]

I like that matte paintings seem to be coming back in the form giant LED screens

[@SwithinFeely]

its a projection

[@blusafe1]

@@SwithinFeely Wouldn't look the same. The resolution would be far too low.

[@SwithinFeely]

interstellar and christopher nolan was really revolutional for visual effects and it shows

[@maazkalim]

No ! It's the very same studio, with very same head-creatives involved so.. ...Duh?

[@antoineminjoz8318]

Great work! Perfect blend of different techniques

[@davidswanson5669]

2:28 I would love to get rich and buy that miniature model some day. It’s so pretty.

[@thomaslohr2864]

No comment on how they actually strapped a set, the crew and actors into a zero G plane and did parabolic flights for days on end for Apollo 13 film?

[@daffidavit]

Yeah, that was also a genius way to simulate zero gravity, by actually doing it.

[@maazkalim]

Nope, because that would be ing off-topic!

[@homers5699]

There are 2 sci fi films that will stand the test off time and be rememberd in 100 years 2001and First man.

[@dariussalepetru6770]

Perfect job congrats First Man to win Visual Effects at the Oscars well deserved sorry Infinity War

[@AndresArosemena]

Excellent work as always!

[@tvguide4khv]

Это просто прекрасно!

[@varalakshmi5984]

U done a great job in 2.0 especially climax..😘😍😘😍

[@harshchoudhary9623]

wha?!?!?

[@Purbow]

Oscar!!

[@UTKARSHKSINGH-nx7vi]

Inspirational work😍

[@raz3582]

CGI artists from Nasa have inspired these guys ^^

[@eliaspeter7689]

@@raz3582 Bruh. Do you know ANYTHING about VFX or space engineering?

[@flippert0]

That's basically the 'Mandalorian' approach, no?

[@maazkalim]

Not quite, no.

[@だり-r2o]

すご、SFってこうやって撮ってるのか、、

[@armandxgarc1055]

Merecido su Óscar a efectos visuales...🍻😎👏

[@NSS7]

MCU fans so mad that Infinity War lose to this movie. They think movies with more effects should win not movies with fewer but better effects.

[@raulduarteiii]

This film used so many techniques to achieve beautifully rendered effects like 2049, also done by DNEG. This deserved that Oscar!

[@adrianstjarnfaldt395]

I'm a avengers fan I can agree this movie deserv it duo the new technology they used But the visual effects come so far that makeing few min of cgi is nothing anymore is peice of cake and this movie got max 20min of visual effects and that's nothing it's easy to make. but makeing a fully rendered realistic movieing person that is the next step of cgi and Infinity war delivered it They delivered Thanos and hade a screentime of 40min that is impressiv also so I think Thanos deserved it the emotion capture in Infinity war did deserv it also just as mutch as First man. Bonus info they spent almost 1 year on Thanos cgi model (made by the company Digital domain)

[@wheeler6768]

@@adrianstjarnfaldt395 respectfully disagree, the key difference between First Man's visual effects and Infinity War's visual effects is that most audiences couldn't even tell which scenes in First Man were real or not. That's the difference between good cgi and great cgi, making a digital element seamlessly blend in with real footage. Infinity War looked cool, but it rarely looked convincingly real. Infinity War had more cgi, but First Man had better quality cgi And I would argue that Rocket Raccoon's cgi is far more impressive than Thanos'. They had to create an anthropomorphic animal covered in fur be capable of emoting and accurately capturing Bradley Cooper's performance. Making Rocket would've been more challenging than making Thanos and Rocket still looked better than Thanos did

[@xavieryu3821]

is this considered practical effects?

[@maazkalim]

Yes, it does.

[@MyUsernameIsAlsoBort]

Not gonna lie, I wish there was narration of someone from the VFX team explaining the work they did rather than the music. Yes, I know we can see what they did in the video, but there's always some extra insight.

[@maazkalim]

Whatcha talking'bout? Out of the whole soundtrack-album, like almost all commercial films.. ...This motif is on ing 🔥🔥🔥! Great taste in music-supervision, as the uszche. Anyhoo.. You genuinely want one with the running commentary?

[@Itssdahi]

@@maazkalim you literally bleeping the word fucking? Tf why? You are in KZbin bro no need to bleep and all this shit ""

[@maazkalim]

Bwahahahahah! "Bro"... You sound like somebody new to this platform, "@@Itssdahi". *Thing is:* The strategically-deployed 'algos' of this platform are far more unpredictably censorious than any possible censor across the globe, State-sanctioned or otherwise - could possibly be.

[@heatherfeather7199]

@@maazkalim Heck yeah I’d love a fx commentary- I want to learn, baby!!!

[@cindaflame]

amazing...

[@flippert0]

Still using models at some places. Good!

[@flatearthbanjo]

Just like Stanley Kubrick did in 1969. It was all camera trick, they never went and can't go to the moon.

[@sr.little2128]

yes, we have the same equipments that they used 60 years ago

[@flatearthbanjo]

@@sr.little2128 Same tricks, old machines. Stunts, CGI, camera tricks where being made since the 1910s.

[@sr.little2128]

@@flatearthbanjo font: roboto sans

[@bradkoerner1]

DNEG: Who supplied the LED screen? What was the pixel pitch?

[@SwithinFeely]

its a projection

[@Eagle2b15]

@@SwithinFeely Its an assembled LED screen, not a projection. You can tell in the beginning when they are setting up and connecting the mods, as well as when they begin doing tests you see the color bars.

[@oscargadefrimann]

Also, if it was a projection on a black curtain, then the light wouldn’t be bright enough.

[@maazkalim]

Sounds like a troll, they've been copy-pasting the very same across threads - "@@Eagle2b15".

[@maazkalim]

What do you mean who “supplied”? You meant “supplied” as in the vendors, as used generally in for *non-audiovisual* equipments? Or.. You genuinely meant as a ‘gift’?

[@rjrand8326]

Looks great, except you could not get the Lunar dust to kick up off of boots and rover wheels like is does on the moon in 1/6 of earthes gravity. Can't fake that look on earth and that is how you know our 1969 moon landing really happened. We went to the moon in 69, no doubt about it.

[@josephpole]

Recreating the dust would be relatively simple with a particle system. It is very achievable with current post-production technology

[@josephpole]

RJ Rand apologies, I misread your first post. Thought you meant there was no dust in ‘First Man’

[@rjrand8326]

@@josephpole thanks......, a was refering to the was lunar dust ( dirt) reacts in 1/6 earths gravity like that on the moon. It is interesting to see how the dust flys off the wheels in an unusual " roatser tail" pattern that can only happen in the moons 1/6 gravity. Even if you play regular earths gravity film in slow motion of dust flying off wheels it will not look like it looks on the moon because the force of gravity. It is one of the ways to prove that the 1970s images of the moon landings were real, and not a hoax. Thats what I was referring too. The technologies we have now is amazing in that we can recreate historical events. Just like the " D-day" landing scenes in " Saving Privet Ryan" movie are so life like, the actual event did happen on June 6, 1944. The moon hoax belivers think that since we can now recreate on film the Apollo 11 landing, that it was done in 1969 to fool people. No, it really happened, just like D-day. That drives me nuts, because the technologies needed to do that did not exist in 1969, like is does in 2019. Most of them were not alive in 1969 and have no idea of what life was like back then. Young people grow up today with so much advanced technology today, that they can not imagine a world of 1969 and the limited technologies. The bottom line is, the moon landings where a very hard, expensive thing to try to do, but scientifically, it was possible and did happen. Goal was achieved and all those men and women who made it happen desive to honoured and not ridiculed by " moon hoaxers". That is my point.

[@asitsunami9363]

Почему сделали с экранами а не зелёный фон как обычно

[@rajkumarkogileshwaran8727]

2.0😘

[@harshchoudhary9623]

wtf are you saying?!

[@naoidfpaiourej3299]

2024

[@quevagregory15]

👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍

[@Ralfegan]

Se parece mucho a lo que hace la NASA en la vida real.

[@sr.little2128]

Stanley Kubrick era tan perfeccionista que en lugar de filmar en un set en la luna, fue a filmar en la luna.😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@thameemsthoughts4504]

Please upload 2.o and race 3 vfx breakdown .

[@jordanroberts1519]

So...it was all staged?

[@sagesolomon8070]

Duh, same as the ''real'' thing.

[@sr.little2128]

​@@sagesolomon8070 sure those guys from 1960 got all the equipments we've got now, hahaha!

[@sagesolomon8070]

@@sr.little2128 They had identical equipment, yes.

[@vVFlatEartherVv]

IF SPACE CAN BE FAKED HOW DO YOU PROVE IT ISN'T?

[@Ralhumaidi]

A lot of masking!!

[@foxhound5985]

It's funny, even with all those pratical and special effects, it still doesn't look as REAL as the real thing, which according to conspiracy theorists was faked...I don't understand it? How could we not fake it better now that we have CGI and more tools on our disposal?

[@fernanda_stromp5969]

Proses pembuatan film ya di buat reori konspirasi.. mana nih si kampret FE tadi yang bikin VT..

[@Fahmipandeg]

Iya anjing gua ketemu di tiktok kemarin wkwk😂

[@pavelpekun5424]

Landing dust trails are so weird and mismuch to real motion.

[@gabrielmartins7156]

I respectfully disagree with the oscars in the VFX case. Why did Infinity War lose to this? It had MUCH more shots, and more complicated processes and all of it looks perfect

[@oscargadefrimann]

Well, the thing is, Infinity War wasn’t creative in any way with their VFX. And, to be fair, it wasn’t the most impressive either. At least, compared to Blade Runner who won the year prior.

[@wheeler6768]

Quality > quantity Infinity War had more cgi, but in terms of consistent realism/convincing cgi, First Man was better More shots and complicated processes doesn't inherently mean that the cgi will be better. The Hobbit trilogy had tonnes of cgi shots and complicated processes but most people will agree that Gollum's cgi was the only cgi that was truly great in the series

[@vaibhavthombre386]

Because one word - "CHARACTER" !

[@sr.little2128]

**hulk's head in iron man giant armour**

[@Mastersan]

I don't want to sound rude, but Infinity War deserved more the award

[@eisteemencho1914]

1. Why? 2. Avengers 4 is coming

[@Mastersan]

@@eisteemencho1914 if you watch the VFX of Infinity War, it is way too better than First Man

[@francofx]

avengers is made 100% on computers, First Man is a mix of practical and special effects. wich is a lot better, complex and technicaly difficult.

[@joelmiller2601]

Franco Pozo ehhhhhhhh

[@Mastersan]

@@francofx it's not only about that, it's how the movie made the scenes more realistically y'know You know that Thanos, Vormir, Titan doesn't exist, but seeing on the screen, it seems real

[@h.p.lovecraftcthulhu4863]

Meh...

[@swapnilmasurekar5431]

I don't know why some people find visual effects in first man better than infinity war

[@THELANKANCOMRADE]

SWAPNIL MASUREKAR and that’s why people like you shouldn’t ever have any say in who gets the award

[@normancuadra7393]

Infinity war way better

[@swapnilmasurekar5431]

So true

[@swapnilmasurekar5431]

I don't know why some people find visual effects in first man better than infinity war

[@THELANKANCOMRADE]

Nope. We all know seeing a bunch of buildings explode or fancy pretty smoke effects can give you that impression 🤣

[@normancuadra7393]

THE AMERICAN PATRIOT ikr first man should’ve won but yeah

[@THELANKANCOMRADE]

Crispy Tenders First man did win. 🤦‍♂️