MovieChat Forums > Apollo 13 (1995) Discussion > Special-Effects

Special-Effects

posted 6 years ago by AmeriGirl26 (15062)
4 replies | jump to latest

I remember wondering how they depicted weightlessness in the film, because that was a really tricky thing to do before the 2000s. And what you see in the capsule scenes LOOKS real. Turns out, it is.

I finally learned that all the scenes shot in the Apollo capsule and ship cabin were actually shot on a famous airplane that can simulate no gravity in a special way. Many people who have been on it, call it the "Vomit Comet," due to the queasiness some passengers have from the extreme changes in gravity during the highs and lows the pilot takes the plane on.

I was not only amazed, but realized what kind of effort that would have taken. The movie-makers basically would have had to transport entire pieces of the capsule sets, put them inside that plane, as well as bringing the actors and crew, and had to take one or two shots at a time. In fact, they were documented as having to go up over 130+ times to film all the space scenes. Incredible!

[–] TexasJack (12516) 6 years ago

That's crazy! I never knew this.

https://news.avclub.com/on-apollo-13-s-20th-anniversary-a-look-at-how-they-mad-1798281369

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8847) 6 years ago

Hmm, that's pretty interesting. I never knew that, but as you say, I guess that explains why those scenes feel so authentic.

Kubrick had done a pretty good job of simulating an anti-gravity environment 30 years earlier, so I would expect them to be able to do a pretty good job of it in the 90s, but certainly Apollo 13 looks better than 2001 in that regard.

[–] CaptainCrozier (620) 5 years ago

According to Ron Howard's commentary on the DVD, some scenes were filmed on the KC-135 airplane, a.k.a the Vomit Comet, which has been used since the actual Moon Race of the '60's to train astronauts for zero-gravity, while others were filmed on the ground with the aid of seesaws and other props--for all shots other than head-to-toe ones--or by way of having the guys mime it, which they apparently learned how to do fairly well courtesy of their 'training' on the Vomit Comet.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8847) 5 years ago

That's pretty cool.

It's really amazing the kind of stuff that actors go through to bring films to life, and the way that they're able to sell illusions convincingly and with a straight face.