Pushing to the Edge of Space with Jean de Meuron and VFX Los Angeles
As the head of marketing and publicity at Centropolis Entertainment, Jean de Meuron, after watching Roland Emmerich produce and direct blockbusters Midway and Moonfall, decided to follow his own epic vision and write, direct and produce an ambitious short film called Edge of Space. The ambitious 18-minute production captures the moment in 1963 when U.S. Air Force test pilots, flying the X-15, crossed the Krmn line and set in motion the eventual 1969 historic first human lunar landing. The film was an awards winner at the 2024 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and had a screening hosted by Emmerich vas well. Narratively speaking we were inspired by Chuck Yeager, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Shepard, and John Glenn, states de Meuron. Were a short film nowhere near the budget of these massive studios and NASA was like, We love that youre passionate about this. NASA provided access to an actual X-15 that could be scanned for the digital recreation.The cockpit was sealed off, which led to some camera trickery, he continues. Onset, I knew we couldnt have Chad Michael Collins step out of the opening canopy. I told Chad, Step on the ladder and step out. [The] Visual effects [team] was able to open the canopy, so it looked like he had disembarked. The discussions as to the idea of documentary versus fiction were numerous. In the cinematic arts, sometimes we cheat to get the desired emotional effect, notes de Meuron. Because that X-15 is maybe 30 feet long, at the height of 100,000 feet, you would never see it from the ground. But we found a way to make it look real with added contrails. Charlie [Charles Joslain, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor on the film, also the COO & Head of Creative at VFX Los Angeles] had a good point. We studied NASA archival footage voraciously. NASA gave us access to original footage. There were planes flying nearby an X-15 so we could study exactly the dissipation of the contrail, how a X-15 would drop or ignite, and then of course, we amplified that sometimes for cinematic value. A lot of the clouds that you see were simulated in Unreal Engine, VFX Supervisor Izzy Traub explains. Anytime either the B-52 bomber or X-15 are flying through a cloud or interacting with any of the environment, we would simulate that separately in Houdini. We used Houdini quite a bit for the interaction. Any of the contrails were done in Houdini. Contrails proved difficult to integrate into the footage. Everybody has looked up at the sky and weve all seen an airplane go 600 miles per hour, notes Joslain. Have fun doing that when its a rocket basically that is going Mach 5 or 6. Nobody knows exactly what that looks like. We had some historical grainy 1960s footage that was somewhat handheld; it was not great so we did a lot of physics work to understand what that contrail would look like, how would it dissipate in the air at this speed, and what would be the distance between the reactor versus the contrail actually forming. A deliberate choice was made to have cinematographer Daryl Hefti shoot the cockpit with long lenses. The field of view narrows with longer lenses, and we wanted to show the contained space where you feel almost claustrophobic, remarks de Meuron. Then when we go into space, I wanted to expand and go wider outside. Also, we changed the sound design. Outside was almost no sound; it was more music. Inside was the sound design. The challenge for Charlie was the interior of the cockpit was contained and shot mostly in closeups or extreme closeups. We were really on the face of Chad. You could see the reflections. A hybrid approach was adopted for the visor reflections. We deliberately made choices onset to be efficient and effective, states de Meuron. I did the whole scene shooting the astronaut with the visor down, then looked over to Charlie and asked, What do you think? He said, Lets shoot one scene with the visor up in case we have an issue. We would do the whole scene one more time with the visor up. Then of course with the brilliance of VFX Los Angeles, if I liked the performance with the visor down but we had a reflection, they were still able to remove the glass, replicate that, paint out and recreate the skin so I could maintain that performance.We have ambitious epic scale shots, de Meuron continues. I thought those were going to be the challenging ones. But the small nuances and the layers were the challenging ones, and that was eye opening. What you perceive is just a visor removal. But there were so many elements because we had different color tones and temperatures. Onset I would cue my gaffer [Orlando Hernandez] because we measured the color temperature. It was warmer in the atmosphere with the setting sun. The higher we went into space I would cue him so he could bake in more blue. The color temperature shifted on Chads face. We were also dealing with that narrative trick where we played with colors that had a warm hue versus a bluer tone. In space, we wanted to feel colder, so we changed the color temperature of the light as we filmed. This was something that Charlie and Izzy were able to blend in seamlessly and work around. The interior of cockpit was recreated by Myra Barrera (Production Designer) working from historical references. The exterior in the desert, that is the real X-15, while the interior was shot at the studio with the same canopy that would open and close, plus the seat, stick, and panel with all of the gauges, states de Meuron, who favored low angle shots. You see Chads chair, little parts of the cockpit and technical stuff. Charlie and I recreated the cockpit of the X-15 as a digital asset, which allowed us to move around his point of view within the cockpit. The outside didnt have to be greenscreen because we recreated it from his point of view as well.The flying Huey helicopter and B-52 bomber were done digitally. No plane actually flew during the making of Edge of Space, reveals de Meuron. For the helicopters, we used drones, and it was deliberate. I had already edited and directed the shot in my head. Charlie and Izzy were part of the pre-production with storyboarding, so we added those 3D assets into the plates. When we were on the ground, we did some camera blocking tricks where we made the helicopter seemingly takeover. The rotating blades werent on the Huey helicopter, so we added them. One of the more complex shots was the landing of the X-15. That plane cant takeoff on its own, explains de Meuron. Its attached to a B-52 bomber and dropped because the wings are short and basically you have skies that slide on the lakebed. Youre dropped, ignite, and by time youre in outer space youve already used all of your fuel so Earth gravitational pull would bring you back and from there you would glide and land with hydraulics. Its a complex, scientifically brilliant machine. For that shot, Charlie and I studied what Edwards Air Force Base looked like in the 1960s. Which hangers were there? We looked at aerial shots of the time. Then you have to have a taxiway, runway, hangers, and people working at the hangers. It was figuring out the scale within the shot. How tall is a hanger in comparison to a person and X-15? What are the distances? It was a mathematical, almost 3D grid or layout where we figured out what would look realistic in terms of the distances covered. What is the B-52 in relation to a hanger in terms of the scope and size. We looked at so many details, from the hanger to different taxiways, and positioned them. We almost drew on the frames and said, Heres this. That is the distance from this in relation to that. Imperfections, such as camera shakes, were incorporated into the imagery. Onset, when we were in the cockpit, I deliberately used a handheld camera, states de Meuron. I would tell Daryl Hefti, Make it a bit shaky. So, you feel that velocity as that piece of metal burst into space. VFX Los Angeles added some additional shake. But then you also dont want to lose information. When we go into space suddenly, we wanted to replicate the weightlessness with the camera. Suddenly the camera blocking becomes steady and smooth. We added small tilts or pans.One dramatic choice was to show an exploding X-15 reflected in a pair of sunglasses worn by the protagonist of the story. From a narrative perspective and emotional point of view, I wanted the audience to see and feel the explosion at the same time our character does, explains de Meuron. Seeing the incident through the reflected sunglasses gives us as the viewer the opportunity to experience the protagonist's pain and shock, as we see his reaction and response to what we simultaneously see. From a technical aspect, this was about finding a balance between what feels authentic versus cinematic. We visually wanted to convey something realistic.In recognition that the space program was built with test pilots willing to sacrifice their lives, CG headstones were added to create a military burial ground on par with Arlington National Cemetery.We had to also add CG bushes in order to cleanup the road because we basically shot the funeral scene behind the diner, Traub reveals. For me, visual effects are an element to uplift and elevate the story, remarks de Meuron. Its an additive element. We shot as many plates as we could and were on location because I love that texture of a real location. Mostly we shot during magic hour because I wanted to have that Terrence Malick look with all available light. Visual effects become a blended photorealistic element where people came up to us and said, Wow. I couldnt tell what were visual effects and what werent.NASA was supportive of the films production. According to de Meuron, No money exchanged hands. This was just to support us up-and-coming filmmakers who are passionate about an era of scientific innovation and human perseverance when as a species, we were united with one common purpose. That was the message. We wanted to be uplifting and inspiring. People have responded and said, We love what youre doing. A big thank you to Roland Emmerich, who has been such a mentor over these years. Roland always loves young people and supports them. Im proud to say that we didnt use him as an executive producer. This was just us because we wanted to make this and show it to him. Roland was so impressed and loved it. Im proud of the outcome. Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer best known for composing in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for VFX Voice, Animation Magazine, and British Cinematographer.
English
Arabic
Spanish
Portuguese
Deutsch
Turkish
Dutch
Italiano
Russian
Romaian
Portuguese (Brazil)
Greek