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[Music]

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so now I thought we would take a look at

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a sequence uh again with the sound off

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um and this one I I know something about

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this is the launch sequence from Apollo

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13 and uh let's look at it again with no

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sound and of course the sound and music

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played such an important role in it and

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I'll talk a little bit about that as

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well but let's just go through the

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scenes and I'll give you a little idea

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about how they were broken down and

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executed what was required here we are

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in the suit room I really wanted to make

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it look like Gladiators getting ready

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for combat the important idea for me

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with the launch sequence was to give a

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kind of an importance to it and to

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connect the key characters who were

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going to be involved with the crisis

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emotionally I wanted to set them up

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within the context of uh a triumphant

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successful uh moment in the space

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program the launch I wanted the audience

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to feel uh the respect the fear that

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everyone involved had with a launch and

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so this early part of this sequence is

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all about tension uh the music is is is

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quiet it's somber there's a nobility

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there's a kind of again this feeling of

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respect for um what these these men are

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willing to face this is a a set with a

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blue screen behind it and a a model this

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was before CG we didn't have very much

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CGI in this one this is also a big giant

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model with a matted in uh little figures

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of uh of our guys beginning to walk

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across we went through hours and hours

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of archival footage everything that we

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could find and in some cases I I

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emulated shots but we actually didn't

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use archival shots there are a number of

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shots like this one which was done on a

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Sound Stage all we built was just the

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the walkway um we didn't even put green

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screen behind it because I knew it was

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going to be a long lens and we would

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just blow that out and we wouldn't

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really see the background and here we

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are introducing mission control for the

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first time in the movie Mission Control

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becomes such an important you know

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setting for so much of the drama I was

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trying to create in a fun way a little

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bit of suspense so the camera moves

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around we wonder what this this is but I

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didn't want to reveal uh Jean CR yet and

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Ed Harris wanted to let people react to

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him and create a question mark here we

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are going through the process of

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strapping in this is our mockup on a set

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done at Universal Studios we've seen the

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anticipation we've felt it but it's also

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more intense their feet are pressing

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down on their shoulders everything's

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growing a little

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tougher there we finally met Jean cray

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let's stop there Apollo

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13 uh was often shot with a and b

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cameras but but it was not shot in a

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style which I have used in movies like

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rush or Frost Nixon that has an almost

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uh an unplanned chaotic feel not quite

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faux documentary but a kind of a

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spontaneous unstaged feeling I didn't

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choose that for this sequence and almost

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every idea or moment or line of dialogue

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is a different camera angle and so my

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shot lists were long and they were

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ambitious uh and uh I was I was you know

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just constantly going after the moments

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that I needed uh shot by shot I would

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very often shoot an entire sequence in

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case we would accidentally find

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ourselves getting a line of dialogue in

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an interesting angle that I hadn't

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planned for my rule of thumb always is

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in these

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situations go as far as you can in the

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scene as as long as you don't have to

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change the lighting or lengthen the

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amount of time it's going to take you to

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shoot it so use the camera setup for

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every every moment of the scene that

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it's valid um and um but try not to get

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too choppy that's the actor in me uh

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always appreciating a little more

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fluidity and flow rather than shooting

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scenes in small bits line by line even

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though the shot list and might exist uh

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might suggest a shot just for one line

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uh or I might imagine using it for only

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a single line or a single

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moment here we are back on our set we

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can carry on of course the capsule is an

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absolute replica meticulously recreated

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by Michael cornbleth the production

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designer and his team and we had a great

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deal of research here we are back in our

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mission control set i' like to stop for

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one second we actually got some elements

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from NASA the set the the real mission

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control had been mothballed at about

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this time and our production Designer

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Michael cornbleth uh was in such good

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favor there because they so appreciated

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how meticulous he and his team was with

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the research that they actually shipped

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a few of the components out to us so

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that um some of it's recreated most of

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it but we had some of the the real

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elements there and when we began our

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rehearsal period I did a full week of of

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Mission Control School where I had a

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couple of flight directors who were

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there they helped flesh out the dialogue

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uh teach uh each person at at each desk

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and Screen exactly what their jobs were

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so that the actors could begin to to

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improvise actually in the vernacular and

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understand the demands of the job so

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that uh there was a kind of a an

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authenticity and a density in terms of

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the behavior um and and and and and what

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you know it might feel like to be there

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to to to to make the scenes um as uh as

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transformational as they could possibly

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be during

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rehearsal literally had Jerry Griffin

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one of the one of the flight directors

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uh he came back laughing and I said

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what's so funny Jerry and he said well I

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I said I I needed a moment I needed to

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go to the bathroom and I completely

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forgot it was a a sound stage and I went

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to where the bathroom is supposed to

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be in Houston uh and so that was uh that

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was a you know that was high praise for

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for our art Department team within

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99% uh it was it was a recreation we

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gave ourselves a tiny bit more room in

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the capsules um because we knew we were

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trying to get cameras in there of course

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we also built the capsules so that you

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could take panels out not entire walls

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of course they're circular but uh

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certain pan panels out so that we could

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slide cameras in uh and I always wanted

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the feeling that um you know just as you

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know when you watch footage of people up

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in the shuttle or from the Apollo era

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you know that camera is in with them um

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and I wasn't going for that docu feel

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exactly but I I wanted that

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claustrophobia and I wanted that that

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feeling that it was uh you know again

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you were there with the astronauts here

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we are back in Mission Control this is

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yet another angle on Ed Harris

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particularly for this moment as he's

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beginning to start the countdown the

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preparation for the

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countdown camera moves to create a

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little tension it's a little different

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it's a aesthetic style shift in the

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scene the cameras are getting a little

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closer short camera pans again to create

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a little

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urgency these were all things that I

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plann

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for remember the garison East character

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Ken maddingley was meant to go on this

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Mission they thought he was going to get

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the chicken box or the measles or

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something and uh he had to stand down so

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very emotional for him and that factors

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into our story later so I wanted to

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isolate him and and uh begin to remind

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audiences of that that feeling of uh of

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of of loneliness that that he was a

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little forlorn to to be left out of this

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this is where the sequence is beginning

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to suggest that there is danger involved

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there is tension so camera moves sounds

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um body language of the actors can

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continues to change those are all angles

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from um inside The Capsule that's a

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model it's it's not a NASA shot um again

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back Mission Control now we're going

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much

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tighter eyes lips also tighter now on

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the people in the stands camera moves

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starting to press in I wasn't doing very

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much of that prior to this now that was

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has a little bit of a disorienting turn

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and there's the the first ignition

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moment so that little turn was there

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just to sort of key in that that moment

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of

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ignition this is a model and our first

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bit of CG the ice is the only thing in

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this sequence that's CGI the fire is

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real and we used a

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model of course Gary s was reacting to

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nothing when we shot that but the rocket

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uh was a model matted in later camera

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Shake of course now try to simulate the

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intensity all very carefully

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storyboarded sequences uh designed just

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for the moment in which they're uh they

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exist in the movie CGI ice but otherwise

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it's a model shot at various camera

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speeds cameras on a crane looking

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down there's a model shot with CGI

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ice also storyboard at a different

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angle uh and a feeling of of relief

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because it Le it has at least gotten

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past this first critical

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moment of course the spouses are still

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concerned this is a critical moment in

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any launch so we play that off of the

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garon East

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character the astronauts know that they

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have to clear this hurdle

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again we're just vibrating the camera

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and shaking our capsule set it's very

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basic again moves to try to keep this a

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little bit tense at this point I don't

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want the audience to start to relax

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that's a design shot obviously to

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suggest from their point of view that

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they're they're an outer

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space that's a moment all the astronauts

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always talk about of course their straps

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would never be quite that loose we

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loosened them a little bit more uh and

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uh uh they made fun of us for that but

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uh I I needed for audiences to feel the

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Lurch forward a little bit more models a

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light change on our

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set cinematographer had set a bright

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light to represent the Sun a little

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moment of concern which happened in the

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real Mission Again a reminder that even

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though things are going pretty well uh

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it's it's a it's a dangerous

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undertaking cameras are moving again to

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try to create some

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tension popping in the

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foreground just ways to energize the

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behavior in the frame through the

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staging this is the abort

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option if to make the audience try to

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invest in the idea that it would be

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horrible if suddenly they had to abort

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directing the actors through a sequence

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like this is almost entirely taken care

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of by the research and also the w they

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get to wear and uh by the time we shot

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these scenes on the stage it had

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actually already been weightless uh so

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we went through an entire rehearsal

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period but we also shot all of our wide

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shots in our weightless environment

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first so in a way they were experienced

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astronauts by the time uh they they were

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shooting the close-ups were coming up on

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our first shot that was done in the Zerg

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plane and that's when they begin to take

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the helmets off as soon as they shut

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down and they're in orbit here we go

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this is the first shot we did you'll see

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he can let it go and there it's floating

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today you would do this CGI but then the

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wires would have been so restrictive

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would have limited the

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authenticity uh and uh and it wouldn't

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have been nearly as much fun so the

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objective of the scene was to um to sort

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of pull the key characters the community

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the characters that we were going to

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focus on throughout the remainder of uh

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of our of our story to introduce them um

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in a a moment of tension but ultimate

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success and Triumph and um um and I I I

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wanted the music to work with the the

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sort of the highs and lows of the of the

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sequence and the late great James Horner

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I think this is one of his you know most

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brilliant cues and um and he created a

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lot of them for movies some of them you

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know for me uh and I think what James

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brought to this is incredible this is

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another sequence in my opinion where if

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you watch it with the music then watch

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it without sound and then go back and uh

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and listen to it not only with the sound

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effects of course but with that music

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it's it's in and of itself a kind of an

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education it's an incredibly long cue uh

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and it so supports the images uh and the

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emotional ideas of uh of the scene that

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I was trying to create through the

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staging a scene like this is very

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challenging for a director because

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you're filming in four or five or six

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different locations and you're trying to

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make it as cohesive and fluid as you can

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so you're trying to think about matching

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camera moves uh rhythms of shots um the

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screen directions the way people are

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looking uh if someone's looking off

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camera right for one scene you might

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want the person that you cut to in the

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next scene to be looking camera left

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that naturally connects um the the

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characters in some subliminal way uh

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that's just you know kind of the grammar

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of um of of Cinema uh but also because

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it is going to be shot in tiny bits and

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pieces uh you you have to constantly be

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on alert

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working with the actors again not

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turning them into puppets you want

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naturalism you want you want you want

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everything that they have to offer

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creatively um you want it to be as

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spontaneous as it can be but you as the

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Storyteller as the keeper of that story

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have to keep in mind you know the The

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rhythms of things the the the sort of

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the the the the the the the modulation

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the ups and downs of uh of of the of the

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the feeling that you're trying to convey

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to the audience in terms of the

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narrative and uh and and the way it

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unfolds and you have to convey that to

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the actors Without Really putting that

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literally in their minds because their

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job is not to be thinking about that

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their job is to be in their moment as an

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actor it's your job as the Director to

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be you know thinking of the uh of the

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overview trying to keep the the

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mechanical uh issues outside the mind

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of the actor as much as

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possible actors are so different however

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some actors are just great with the

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mechanics of a movie and it helps them

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to understand you know what lens is on

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the camera uh it helps them to

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understand why the camera's moving in uh

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and they understand Cinema and they're

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and they they they can um they can sort

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of build performance along with director

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and the the the grammar of the medium in

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really interesting ways that's that's

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rare um and many of the greatest actors

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uh don't like to know anything about the

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camera um there's a great master

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class with Dustin Hoffman and and he's

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an actor famous for not really wanting

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to know what the camera is doing and and

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not wanting to hear much about the

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technical uh demands or limitations or

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needs of course he's technically Adept

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he's directed he understands as well as

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anybody uh but he doesn't want that in

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his mind when he's acting uh Tom Hanks

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is somebody who you know loves to know

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what you need loves to know uh what's

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going on and how he can work with

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whatever it is the director is doing

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with the camera to you know to uh help

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achieve the goal so you know there there

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are so many different kinds of

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incredibly talented individuals who work

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in very very different ways part of a

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director's job is to understand that and

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be able to speak intelligently

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compassionately supportively uh and

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offer guidance to people who who do work

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in different ways and speak to them in

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in in in their in their language and um

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understanding you know their approach to

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their work and their psyches most of the

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challenges in this sequence really came

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not in the execution which went very

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00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:51,480
smoothly because we had always known

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this was a pivotal sequence uh uh and

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and a and a and an expensive sequence

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and very

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challenging um the editor Dan Hanley had

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actually gone and built using archival

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00:18:04,679 --> 00:18:08,000
footage a launch sequence uh this had

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been meticulously storyboarded and and

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00:18:12,039 --> 00:18:16,320
analyzed and while I I didn't storyboard

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00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:18,840
the actors I shot listed it very very

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00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:20,760
carefully and meticulously and again I

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was thinking uh mostly about uh camera

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movement and Tempo and shifts in the

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tempo of the the camera movement uh or

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the non-movement um and and when to get

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tighter when to when to stay back when

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to release the tension a little bit and

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then you know exert tension again using

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uh the camera and of course the actor's

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performances by the time we were

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actually staging and shooting the scenes

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the actors had been around NASA the

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mission controllers had been through

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their mission control school and this

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was the first thing that we shot in our

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00:18:58,039 --> 00:19:02,440
mission control set so uh in a way it

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00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,360
had the anxiousness and the excitement

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00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,240
of a launch uh because uh they were you

427
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,640
know this was this was the first scene

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00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,400
that they were doing and uh and I think

429
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,039
that you know the um uh by the time we

430
00:19:17,039 --> 00:19:20,640
were shooting this scene uh you Tom

431
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,240
Hanks and Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon

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00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,919
really had a feeling for you know for

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00:19:25,919 --> 00:19:27,720
what it was to be a test pilot what it

434
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,080
what it meant to uh to to finally get

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00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,360
down and do the job and so much

436
00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:37,799
anticipation um we we shot this movie as

437
00:19:37,799 --> 00:19:40,320
much in sequence as we possibly could so

438
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:41,559
by the time we were shooting this

439
00:19:41,559 --> 00:19:43,559
sequence we'd

440
00:19:43,559 --> 00:19:47,280
actually uh shot you know what what sort

441
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,120
of the first 45 minutes of the movie uh

442
00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:54,280
and uh so there was a lot of buildup for

443
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,559
the actors as well to getting to that

444
00:19:56,559 --> 00:19:58,320
point where you know they're finally

445
00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,559
getting to play the astronauts or as I

446
00:20:00,559 --> 00:20:02,280
called them throughout the shooting the

447
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:06,799
actronauts bring in the actronauts