GB HEL I COPTERS | ADVERTI SEMENT FEATURE
frame and how they want the motion to continue – it would probably help if we took a hallucinogenic! But the VFX team are living and breathing it. It’s normal in their head. Of course, if you’ve got 20 minutes before going into a shoot and you’re having that conversation, you’re like, ‘OK, where is the target going to be?’ Sometimes it’s like that – time is limited on a film production; your interpretations have to match” Banks tells us this film was one of the easiest GB Helicopters has worked on: “Everyone was there as a cohesive unit, rather than lots of different departments being brought in.”
“We set a brief prior to flying – we had three helicopters and four pilots, including myself – so we knew exactly where we needed to go. We ran the shot, debriefed in the air between aircraft and took on any comments from the director on the ground, repeated and added variations to ensure every angle of the action could be captured in post,” Banks says. The pilots worked closely with Moth, as well as the film’s DOP, Ken Seng. Banks explains: “Seng stayed on the ground, but when we were with the first unit, we were able to send images to the ground using our HD downlink for him, Moth and the director, Tim Miller, to see.” GB Helicopters also has its own camera systems and Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), which means it has close communications with the Civil Aviation Authority and can obtain permissions for temporary reductions in operating margins to fly at low level and in areas otherwise not permitted for general flying activities, such as carrying out stunts or flying low over the centre of populated areas. Moth also sourced the aerial unit and arranged who and what needed to be where
and at what time, because a few of the aerial scenes were shot in Alicante, Spain, rather than Hungary. This was for the part of Terminator: Dark Fate where a car is chased to the US/Mexican border by Mexican police and US border patrol helicopters. As you can imagine, both helicopter scenes needed a lot of VFX in post-production. TUMBLING HUMVEE Banks says: “The VFX team told us what they needed, which, when you’re talking about exploding aircraft and vehicles falling from the sky, can be entertaining. We shot the VFX requirement on a multiple camera array within the Shotover K1 with six Red Dragon cameras. This was attached to the camera aircraft, which were single- and twin-engine Squirrel helicopters. We now have a three-camera Hammerhead array for our Shotover, which uses three Red Monstro cameras – this gives the same coverage, but requires less stitching, which is proving popular with VFX teams.” He continues: “It’s important to have a sense of imagination in order to understand exactly what the VFX team wants in the
MORE INFORMATION: gbhelicopters.com
“It’s important to have a sense of imagination to understand what the VFX teamwants”
MORE INFORMATION: spiritinthesky.co.uk
OCTOBER 20 1 9 | DEF I N I T ION 39
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