Top Gun Maverick Behind the Scenes — Aerial Cinematography Explained

Top Gun Maverick behind the scenes breakdown — An in-depth look at the cinematography of Top Gun Maverick, including how they pulled off such realistic and thrilling aerial cinematography.

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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro — Top Gun Maverick Behind the Scenes
01:10 - Chapter 1: The Top Gun Look
04:29 - Chapter 2: Claudio Miranda's Aerial Cinematography
08:59 - Chapter 3: On-Board Cameras
12:57 - Takeaways

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Special thanks to:

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TOP GUN MAVERICK BEHIND THE SCENES

It’s safe to say that Top Gun Maverick was one of the most successful summer blockbusters in recent memory. This was partly due to the fact that the aerial cinematography looked insanely real. That’s because it was. In this video, we’ll look at Top Gun Maverick behind the scenes and the ingenious ways they shot the aerial sequences.

Tony Scott’s original Top Gun showcased groundbreaking aerial cinematography in 1986. But they were limited by what they could shoot, especially from inside the cockpit. Fast forward 36 years, when director Joseph Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda developed an ingenious way to shoot all of the aerial sequences practically. This included a 6-camera system placed inside the cockpit. That’s right, they fit 6 Sony Venice cameras inside the cockpit with the actors.

In fact, there were three separate systems to shoot the intense aerial cinematography. Ground-to-air involved shooting planes from the ground. Air-to-air allowed other aircraft to capture footage of the jets. And as mentioned above, onboard cameras were also used with mounts inside and outside the aircraft. When combined in editing, each of these systems could capture and present the most dynamic and exhilarating aerial sequences.

With this look at Top Gun Maverick behind the scenes, we can see just how dedicated Kosinski, Miranda, and their entire crew was to present an authentic and immersive experience. These days, CGI, green screen, virtual production, and LED volume technology are becoming the new normal. But no matter how far that technology goes, there’s still nothing like the real thing.

#FilmTheory #VideoEssay #Filmmaking

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VIDEO EDITOR: BRANDON SCULLION
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♬ SONGS USED:

“Danger Zone” - Kenny Loggins
“Main Titles” - Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, and Hans Zimmer
“Reborn” - Bradford Nyght
“Darkstar” - Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, and Hans Zimmer
“I Aint Worried” - OneRepublic
“Dagger One is Hit/Time To Let Go” - Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, and Hans Zimmer
“Only Fire” - Makeup and Vanity Set
“You’re Where You Belong/Give Em Hell” - Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, and Hans Zimmer
“Tally Two/What’s The Plan/F-14” - Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, and Hans Zimmer
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” - The Who
“Stuck Behind A Train” - Makeup and Vanity Set
“No Idea Man” - Makeup and Vanity Set
“Quantum IV” - Makeup and Vanity Set
“Hold My Hand” - Lady Gaga

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[StudioBinder]

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro — Top Gun Maverick Behind the Scenes
01:10 - Chapter 1: The Top Gun Look
04:29 - Chapter 2: Claudio Miranda's Aerial Cinematography
08:59 - Chapter 3: On-Board Cameras
12:57 - Takeaways

[Osmone_Everony]

What is better than watching a movie? Watching how a movie is made. Well, maybe that's just me. 🤷🏻‍♂

[TheWrathfulSlayer]

The way this movie was shot completely pushed the boundaries in terms of practical effects and wonderful aerial sequences!!

[tombuck]

I finally saw both Top Guns this week and they’re incredible. Maverick took everything to the next level. Doing things for real, with as little CGI as possible, is a really special thing.

[ezy.doesit]

wow! This is Cinema at its max! Making this movie in the current state of the movie industry is such a great achievement! the actors did a fantastic job and the crew behind the scenes also deserve a lot the respect. thanks for breaking down the behind the scenes!

[rohtashmalhotra]

Watching this in IMAX 3D was one of the best movie experiences of my life.

[burbex]

Thumbs up who loves *STUDIO BINDER* and TOP GUN MAVERICK - two of my favorite things!!!

[gabelanz]

This movie was absolutely wonderful. I've seen it multiple times. America needs more movies like this

[thebaron]

This is the only film that I can ever remember being totally gutted that I didn't see at the cinema. An absolutely astounding film, well done Mr Cruise!

[NathanJamesLarsenMusic]

This is remarkable... I was so happy that this movie actually lived up to ALL expectations. That is something we are not seeing in modern movies anymore - most of these new movies just suck - no story, no real motivation, overdone CGI, etc. It was obvious the making of this was truly a labor of love

[hii]

Top Gun maverick is more than a movie in many respects. Movies like these not only are entertaining, but also go beyond the frontiers of conventional film making in terms of experimenting with technology. Movies like The revenant, most of the Christopher Nolan's movies are mostly with no green screens.

[godlab]

I've been waiting for this video since I saw the first 20 minutes of this masterpiece in the cinema. The Darkstar sequence left me speechless. Loved the video, guys.

[tturnquest]

Top Gun Maverick is an essential legacy sequel that’s better than the original. The cinematography is gorgeous and the action scenes are amazing.

And compared to Jurassic World Dominion, which was terrible, it’s a masterpiece.

[RK-jpxe]

This channel is fantastic. I've been watching many of the directors series videos and they are very informative. Thanks for explaining the depth of the aerial sequences on this one. They are truly amazing.

[adventurefuel]

I didn’t think they could equal Top Gun. I was wrong. Hats off to everyone involved, this truly took the audience to a different level.

[thedxrrkside]

Who does this voice-over? This guy should never die🔥

[zez_gval]

Movies like this give me hope that there's still directors and producers out there in Hollywood that really wants to work with practical stuff because they know the final result will always be better and will endure a lot more as technology keeps evolving. Movies from 10 years ago that we used to think the CGI was awesome, now it looks like crap on modern devices, while some movies from 30 years ago still look amazing.

[simonbaigrie]

I appreciated it being done for real so much! So many movies these days have rushed CGI that distracts you from the story. Hopefully the success of this movie will give directors licence to make more films like this!

[bedtegx]

Very impressive. Reproducing the original movie's style shows a lot of attention to detail -- even though the tinted skies can be distracting. What really impressed me in this movie is the geography of the shots. For example they would show a SAM chasing the plane and then from the cockpit view, you could see the missile in the correct position behind the jet. Even with multiple explosions going off every angle view meshed up perfectly. They gave the viewer multiple POVS of the same action. Really made the movie more enjoyable. Love the insert shots of the cockpits, too. The work shows.

[Timyeahhh]

I regret not seeing it in theaters
Update: it’s coming back to theaters!!