Top Gun Without FX! Hollywood Camera Tricks from the Original Movie

CGI and digital effects weren't really an option for the 1986 movie Top Gun because... well, to be honest, digital effects at the time just weren't advanced enough to create believable CG planes.
And even 10 years after Top Gun was released, CG planes were still... well
Yeah........

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So in order to get shots of real planes in dogfights, the filmmakers had to enlist (sorry about the pun) the help of the U.S Navy.
And surprisingly the Navy did actually agree to help out!
They allowed them to put cameras on F14s and a "MIG-28" (which was actually a Northrop F5 painted black) and film them landing and taking off from the Aircraft Carrier,
they allowed them to film scenes actually on the USS enterprise,
and they even allowed them to fire a missile! a missile...
Just one.
That is why, in the movie, this missile, this missile. This missile, annnddd This missile.... are all the same one, that was just flopped and reframed to make them look like different missiles.

Even though they had real footage of a missile being shot, the effects team still had to produce shots of the MIG 28 shooting a missile and of different planes being shot down and falling through the air in different ways.

They started this by building a variety of different size models of both the F-14 and the MIG 28, ranging from 50cm long up to 2.75 meters long.
Next, they had to find an area where they could shoot these models and blow them up, and this, brought its own set of problems:

Obviously, the most realistic place to shoot model planes is outside, this meant that they needed to find an area with a wide expanse of sky and nothing on the horizon, this area also had to be paved or graveled so that there was no risk of causing a wildfire with their pyrotechnics, and they also needed an area where they could be sure to have relatively clear skies, most of the time.
They eventually found an area of land that was under development on a hilltop in Oakland, California, and this became the base where they shot all of the special effects shots.

In order to create tension in the dogfight scenes, Top Gun's aerial photography was shot to look like a documentary this meant the planes weren't always entirely in the frame and there was also a lot of camera movement and vibration.

In order to replicate this, the effects team used cameramen whom all had experience in filming documentaries.
However, when filming explosions on miniature models, effects teams normally increase the camera's frame rate up to 120fps or even 300fps because this gives the explosion more scale and weight but, unfortunately, it also eliminates any camera movement or vibration that the cameraman applies.

To remedy this the effects team attached a drill to their camera rig and in the drill they put a bolt attached off-center to a circle of wood. Now, by increasing the drill's speed the team could control the amount of vibration that appeared on their explosion shots.
For the internal cockpit scenes, they removed the radar from the F14s and replaced them with cameras, however, after various test flights they found that the g-forces involved in the dogfight maneuvers were just too brutal and the actors had trouble just keeping their heads in frame, let alone say their lines convincingly.
so the filmmakers decided to film the internal cockpit scenes on a set in an airplane hanger in Burbank.

Contrary to the original film, in the 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, the filmmakers started the process with the previous knowledge of exactly how brutal it was inside these aircraft and so they adapted the screenplay around what would be physically possible for the actors to portray whilst undergoing those extreme g-forces.

Even though in this day and age they could have reproduced these shots fairly convincingly on a green screen set and using CGI.
In order to capture the way the actor's faces reacted to the g-forces, and the facial micro-expressions caused by the adrenalin and fear they experienced whilst flying, they preferred to do them practically.

For the original Top Gun, the Effects team bought an old F14 fuselage from the Navy and set it up on a gimble, they also had the camera on its own gimbal that allowed them to rotate it 360 degrees.
Then they build a 25ft ring up over the cockpit upon which they mounted a 10k light, this was their key light...

[JasonB]

The Navy would have been crazy to say no to helping the production team. They were handed the greatest advertisement and marketing they could ever ask for.

[kawh]

Wow, I can see why Tom Cruise wanted to practical for the follow up. We are all thankful he and his creative team put the work in that they did. TGM was the most fun I've had in the theater in a long time.

[tl]

Part of Top Gun: Maverick's success is using less CGI for the aerial sequences to give you the feeling of what's it like to be inside the cockpit of those F-18 fighter jets. Props to Tom Cruise and his creative team for making the best sequel in decades.

[kassi]

Fun Fact seasoned Jet Fighter Pilots barely make weird faces when pulling Gs because they are used to it. A lot of criticism from real pilots is they looked like actors in the backseat of a fighter jet (which is true). Infact the person that did the best job was Monica Barbaro, because she barely reacted when they were pulling Gs which is realistic to a seasoned pilot.

[Blitzozs]

"how do we create camera shake at high fps?"

"how about a drill in a brick duck taped to the table?"

[chrisjohnston]

Ummm, the pilot who shot the background footage was a legendary stunt pilot named Art Scholl, NOT "Art School"!
He died working on Top Gun, which is Dedicated to him.

[AirborneRenegade]

It's not at all surprising that they did it. It boosted recruitment numbers by showing off some of what the Navy had to offer. You ask me it was genius.

[Randomvideos-zipe]

I guess that's why cruise decided to do the sequel now, because the costs going into producing the first one was hugely overloaded and he wanted the right time for technology to advance so much that they don't need to do any of the extra stuff, which is now.

[thomastarwater]

Another fun fact: the special effects (miniature models mostly) were supervised by Gary Gutierrez who also handled the effects for THE RIGHT STUFF (1983). Beats me how those two movies didn’t even snare an Academy Award nomination in the Best Visual Effects category.

[vindixius]

that segway into the sponsorship was unholy
and im now subbing for it

[AtomicSteel]

That was the cleanest sponsor plug I've ever seen.

[DoubleDeckerAnton]

Both films are classics. Cant wait for the blue ray box set.

[Terry]

Thank you for making this! The production team is very clear !

[jessepadilla]

Fantastic vid! you earned my sub. The creativity in film boggles the mind.

[paulhatzig]

Just FYI when the Army or the Navy agree to help with a movie, not only they get free advertisment but they get to choose how they are portrayed, altering the scripts etc.

[abandonedaccount]

that was the most seamless sponsor segment ever, didn't even realize until the end!

[madwarrior]

Well I guess if you a real fighter jet pilot, your gonna look at it differently and scrutinize the details… they made it as realistic as they could for actors, , it is a movie for entertainment, not a documentary…

[amanezca]

Holy christ this makes the original even better

[cag.soultions]

Man I wish there was more movies like this

[broca]

That Segway to the sponsor was super smooth! 👌🏾