Re: OOC #35
Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. Part of the reason I even noticed it is because I remember hearing that they were practically beating the bushes, internationally, to come up with enough flyable Corsairs for Black Sheep Squadron. It's four decades and change later, coming up with six functional planes would be tricky, and there are a few shots that leave me quite certain they weren't actually flying (because the actors are NOT pilots, but the shot is a long, slow push in from a wide shot of the plane to a closeup of the pilot, through the cockpit canopy...and unlike the F-14/F-18, there wasn't a two-seater version of the Corsair, so anything that involves the 'pilot' being recognizable in the cockpit involves either some CGI work of the plane around them (or, I suppose, building a mockup of the fuselage...which they had to do for a few shots, as well), or shooting the plane and then digitally mapping the actor over the actual pilot (which is also relatively easily doable with today's technology).
But there are a few shots that had me questioning, "Okay...I'm not a fighter plane expert, but I've never seen footage of a plane flying quite like that...seen a lot of motion-control VFX shots of them, but this doesn't seem like the kind of production to go that route...maybe CGI? But if it's CGI, it's high-end stuff...the kinematics feel a little off but the visuals of the plane itself are incredible..." But that's just me being a plane nerd with a handful of knowledge about how they'd do visual effects like that.
I mean, the shots where they're filming from the bottom of the plane, as it approaches the carrier? and the tailhook catches the wire? I suppose you COULD fake that with CGI, but it looked pretty crisp, for that kind of footage, it could probably have been easier to find an old Corsair (there ARE still a few in the air, for air shows and the like) and hired them to do a few 'carrier landings' on a fake carrier deck (which was how they shot the decktop sequences for Hot Shots...)
When this comes out, I really hope the DVD/Blu-Ray has some 'making of' extra content on it. I'd love to hear how they did it all.