“From the last plane, to the last bullet, to the last minute, to the last man, WE FIGHT, WE FIGHT, WE FIGHT!”
This is the battle cry from “Red Tails,” a film about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots of World War II, executive produced by George Lucas.
The story chronicles bravery on and off the ground. The pilots had to endure racial segregation at home while fighting Nazis over the skies of Europe.
And that warfare is hyper-realistic thanks to the visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic. As Lucas told The Daily, “This is one the first aerial combat movies to use digital technology and show you what it’s like to really be in combat.”
Shots of actors inside full-scale models of P-51 Mustangs were filmed on the ground against green-screen. As the cameras rolled, crews rocking the cockpits back and forth on gimbals provided flight motion. Tracking markers were used later to digitally paint in windows and reflections.
Lucas turned to ILM, along with partners Pixomondo, Radical 3D, Halon Entertainment and Rising Sun Pictures, to create the aerial sequences and also achieve war-time authenticity for the planes.
Dogfights were firstly pre-visualized at Skywalker Ranch, where Lucas and director Anthony Hemingway fleshed out rough plane animation.
“They blocked out a majority of the action very roughly so that the timing and the beats could be very accurate and George could cut with it,” explained visual effects supervisor Craig Hammack.
“We [tried] to keep everything very accurate to the period — the planes, how they look, the wear and tear, putting the actual custom logos and paint on them,” said ILM animation supervisor Paul Kavanagh.
The attention to detail was so great that artists even took into account the physics of light distortion that occurs at the corners of cockpit windows due to dirt and scratching.
For background, ground terrain, sky views and other aircraft were inserted digitally, as well as “wispy” clouds rushing by to help create a sense of movement.
Among many memorable moments that pulled all these elements together is a harrowing encounter with one of the world’s first fighter jets, the German Messerschmitt 262.
According to Craig Hammack, the addition of extra details such as muzzle flashes, explosions, smoke and even shells ejecting out of the planes added to the rich feel of the film.
“It’s just a layering of texture that ... gives you this visceral feeling that there’s stuff going on everywhere.”
> MORE 'RED TAILS' VIDEO
This is the battle cry from “Red Tails,” a film about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots of World War II, executive produced by George Lucas.
The story chronicles bravery on and off the ground. The pilots had to endure racial segregation at home while fighting Nazis over the skies of Europe.
And that warfare is hyper-realistic thanks to the visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic. As Lucas told The Daily, “This is one the first aerial combat movies to use digital technology and show you what it’s like to really be in combat.”
Shots of actors inside full-scale models of P-51 Mustangs were filmed on the ground against green-screen. As the cameras rolled, crews rocking the cockpits back and forth on gimbals provided flight motion. Tracking markers were used later to digitally paint in windows and reflections.
Lucas turned to ILM, along with partners Pixomondo, Radical 3D, Halon Entertainment and Rising Sun Pictures, to create the aerial sequences and also achieve war-time authenticity for the planes.
Dogfights were firstly pre-visualized at Skywalker Ranch, where Lucas and director Anthony Hemingway fleshed out rough plane animation.
“They blocked out a majority of the action very roughly so that the timing and the beats could be very accurate and George could cut with it,” explained visual effects supervisor Craig Hammack.
“We [tried] to keep everything very accurate to the period — the planes, how they look, the wear and tear, putting the actual custom logos and paint on them,” said ILM animation supervisor Paul Kavanagh.
The attention to detail was so great that artists even took into account the physics of light distortion that occurs at the corners of cockpit windows due to dirt and scratching.
For background, ground terrain, sky views and other aircraft were inserted digitally, as well as “wispy” clouds rushing by to help create a sense of movement.
Among many memorable moments that pulled all these elements together is a harrowing encounter with one of the world’s first fighter jets, the German Messerschmitt 262.
According to Craig Hammack, the addition of extra details such as muzzle flashes, explosions, smoke and even shells ejecting out of the planes added to the rich feel of the film.
“It’s just a layering of texture that ... gives you this visceral feeling that there’s stuff going on everywhere.”
> MORE 'RED TAILS' VIDEO
