because green screens are for suckers

#FordvFerrari #videoessay #christianbale

Director James Mangold and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael make some great films together. And they do it without green screen and with a very important filmmaking philosophy... so let's talk about it.

Written & Edited by Danny Boyd

[CinemaStix]

What are some great movies shot practically or on location that probably didn’t have to be?

[SackSmasher]

It's insane how much cgi is used now that doing a scene on location is ambitious

[Light-Rock]

I've no issue with green screens, blue screens, the volume or what have you. What I dislike is when there's seemingly no attempt to hide the fact that they're using these artifices.

[firstlast]

*Christian Bale, said in an interview* that shooting “Thor : Love and Thunder” was in his words “Monotonous” as he turned up for work and was basically told all day,
“Go to stage 4” which was a green screen platform, then told,
“Go to the next stage” which apparently kept happening - being passed from stage to stage all day.. with green screens that all looked the same.. he even didn’t stay in character as Gorr - because he couldn’t find himself able to stay in character off screen between takes…

*The MCU* managed to whittle down an acting legend.

[xavierl.]

I worked on this film as part of the production crew during the racing scenes. The amount of work that the art department, camera department and stunt department invested into making these scenes was unlike anything else I had experienced. One of the camera men was even taken to the hospital while capturing one of the stunts. We really worked our butts off for this one.

[Jacox]

The amount of knowledge you have on specific films like this is insane and it makes these videos so interesting

[isaiahvoss]

I remember being in the theater watching the Le Mans race of Ford V Ferrari and it was insane to hear but for some reason I was almost asleep that night when I saw it with my dad. It was so loud that it felt like an actual race on screen with every corner and turned planed as well as each pass and crash. Great movie. James Mangold did a great job on Walk The Line, but when he did Logan it was a masterpiece and it felt like he understood Logan from the Old Man Logan comics as well as Hugh Jackman as Wolverine after all these years. It was a dark but emotional ending to the Wolverine character. Hopefully his Indiana Jones 5 will be great.

[hosswindu]

I love this movie. When I first watched it I thought "Finally. A modern movie which captures how I feel about cars and racing."
It's a brilliant film, from start to finish.

[Nny]

Top Gun Maverick is a great example of no green screen done right.

[TheComedian]

This is why I got into filmmaking. This insatiable desire to capture the beauty life offers in a snapshot we can hold on to - not just in footage but in emotion and colour - and how challenging a task like that truly is.

At the end of it, whatever footage you do have, you have to sit back and be rewarded not just by what you captured, but the notion of, “wow, and we get to see and experience this with our own eyes everyday.”

[Slask]

digital and green screen made life easier for filmmakers. but don’t always make the scenes better, or more beautiful.

[autopilots]

personally i think ford vs ferrari is one of my favorite films ever made. 2 of my favorite actors, my favorite hobby, and the movie not once feels cheesy or forced when it comes to the cars. they did everything right.

[stonepasta]

I couldn't believe when I found out that the birth scene in Children of Men was mostly cg. When you don't notice effects, practical or cg, it's movie magic.

[methos]

What's interesting is that green screen vs practical fight is really the continuation over a long struggle between the artist's desire for authentic perfection and the businessman's desire for controlled repeatability. What's even more interesting is how some directors start off wanting to be an artist but eventually get seduced by the control of sets and CGI.

[C.C.Cope]

It’s important to remember just because there is no greenscreen does not mean post tolls aren’t utilized. In this perfect lap scene all those wonderful elliptical (anamorphic) bokeh balls? Those were added in post. The scene was shot anamorphic with T series panavision lenses at t2.8 but Phedon during a Q&A said they added the bokeh in post. (Or more likely enhanced what bokeh was already present.)

[brianoblivion]

Scorsese used green screen all through Wolf of Wall Street. Fincher used blue screen constantly for Mindhunter (even in simple domestic settings). I love your reverence for the beauty of natural settings and lighting but the tool itself is an asset that doesn’t have to equal lesser quality.

[dogboy]

I found a lot of parallels between what you say and flying. So much planning, so much study. Yet you can't pause, time-out, or relive the same moment to do it better. Everything we do is us trying to make time critical decisions with imperfect information.

[justinbeamon]

The "Sand Screens" in Dune were a perfect example of innovation in an age of green screens. It captured the lighting and essence of the scene but achieved the impossible that cgi can provide while remaining organic in presentation.

[mortalens]

just when i think there’s no one left on youtube making high quality, emotional, and beautiful content, i discover this channel

[themuaddib]

Racing and filmmaking are perfect metaphors for each other. A race is just like a shot — prepare all you want, but in the end, you have to adapt to the situation in front of your face as it comes to you. There’s a reason three of the best films about filmmaking are car movies: “Ford v. Ferrari, ” “Tucker, ” and “Speed Racer.”