On Wednesday, our members gathered for a special screening of First Man, followed by a Q&A with Damien Chazelle.
The Q&A was moderated by director (and former Directors UK Chair) Charles Sturridge, and covered Damien’s approach to research, shooting outer space, and capturing the character of Neil Armstrong. Catch up with all our-live tweets below.
Another screening! Another brilliant director Q&A! Tonight we’re watching First Man. Join us for our Q&A with director Damien Chazelle afterwards #DUKfirstMan pic.twitter.com/jzQ6j13Ihg
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
We’ve just been to the moon and back with First Man (spoilers). Our Q&A with director Damien Chazelle is about to begin. Director Charles Sturridge moderates #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Charles: your first two films were obviously very personal to you and your love for music. First Man seems very different. How did you come to the project? #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Damien: when I was first approached I initially didn’t think it was the right film for me at that stage of my career #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
But I read the book we based the film on and I was struck by the loss in Neil Armstrong’s life. His life was defined by it and that really interested me #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
I pitched that take on the subject but I wasn’t sure they’d go for it. They did though and then I was on board #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
This was all before La La Land. He read the book while they were prepping that movie, went off and filmed their musical, and then came back to this #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Speaking about his responsibility to history, Damien explains that he made the version of this story that he would want to see #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
As long as he had that story in mind it was easy to “cherry pick” the parts he wanted to focus on. But everything is truthful #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
They spoke to the people who are still alive - Neil’s sons, Buzz Aldrin - so that they created a more rounded portrait of Neil Armstrong, beyond the popular image of him #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
He was a very complex man. Someone who hid his emotions and channeled them into his work, when he perhaps should have been displaying them to his family and colleagues #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Many people he worked with had no idea he had a daughter, which seems incredible #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
We were told that ‘Neil would never have cried when his daughter died’. I don’t buy that, so sometimes you have to choose to not follow conflicting information like that #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Damien tells us about his love for miniatures, back projection and physical effects. His choice to employ those methods here was aesthetic - it just looks different to CG #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
The capsules were attached to a gimble so they could control the movement in 360 degrees #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
It was difficult to fit cameras in those sets though. At times the camera operator would be in costume and get swapped out for one of the actors #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
They had a rehearsal period, and some of the looser family material came out of those rehearsals rather than being as originally scripted #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
We knew it was going to be movie that lived in close-ups. That way the wides really count #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Also when you’re dealing with characters that keep their emotions bottled up inside you need to get in close and show every tiny variation in their expression #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
The very intimate stuff and emotionally sensitive stuff was shot with one camera. Anything bigger, where we wanted to catch multiple takes on the same material, we used two cameras #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Really enjoying @Directors_UK's Q&A with Damien Chazelle #DUKFirstMan
— Kevin Walls (@kevinwalls) November 21, 2018
And for certain scenes we went to town. We had four cameras for the mission control scenes, and then wandered about, with any extra able to become the main player. We wrote fifteen pages of dialogue for those short scenes so every character had something to say #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
The scenes on the moon were shot in a massive warehouse. It was freezing! We had a huge light in the distance to resemble the sun #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
The landing scene was also shot in IMAX, which was very challenging. Our budget didn’t allow us to do as much as we wanted, but we wanted that scene to wow and we were incredibly pleased with how it turned out #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
#DUKfirstMan pic.twitter.com/q8HHK7nmQz
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Questions from the audience now #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Damien is talking about his approach to sound design, and praises his amazing team. He knew how important sound would be to creating the feeling that you’re in the space capsules with them #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
They went to SpaceX and recorded rocket launches. And they put mikes in helmets to get authentically imperfect sound recordings #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
A member asks about his approach to framing the IMAX sequence, and the compromises he had to make to adapt to three different aspect ratios #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Damien explains that it was the first time he’d worked with IMAX cameras, and he had to learn to keep those different compositions in mind simultaneously #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
But space was actually quite forgiving there because of the darkness at the edge of frame. There was only one shot that looked silly when they viewed it in another aspect ratio and had to rethink it #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Ideally you want something that works for all three, because all three are going to be seen by significant audience numbers #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Audience member: congratulations Damien. You’ve scored a hat trick - you’re killing it! #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Damien is speaking about his approach to research and how they spoke to the real people involved #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
They interviewed them before filming began, asked them questions during shooting and showed them early cuts #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Showing them those cuts at that stage resulted in some really helpful suggestions. They picked up on inaccuracies that we’d missed and we still had time to fix them #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Neil and the rest of these guys weren’t superheroes, despite being portrayed as such. We knew that chipping away at that image would rub some people the wrong way #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
But we felt that was essential for the story we wanted to tell #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
And that’s a wrap! A big thank you to Damien Chazelle for sharing his incredible film with us, and to Charles Sturridge for moderating #DUKfirstMan
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 21, 2018
Our members took to Twitter after the event...
#FirstMan screening with Damien Chazelle. Interesting visual choices made it very visceral, strips away the romanticism of space travel a bit #DUKfirstMan pic.twitter.com/Yh1QN7G4K8
— Daniel D. Moses 🎥 📸 (@danieldmoses) November 21, 2018
Amazing cinematography & sound design on this movie. 🎥 16mm, 35mm & IMAX. #Firstman #nasa #DUKfirstMan pic.twitter.com/xtJScz3Nj7
— Gareth Molan (@garethmolan) November 22, 2018
The @Directors_UK screening marathon continues as @DSChazelle speaks with real eloquence about the impressive #FirstMan pic.twitter.com/iphKG4Nlr4
— Mike Rymer (@Mike_Rymer) November 22, 2018
Excellent. Thanx @Directors_UK great evening once again with Damien Chazelle & Charles Sturrridge #FirstMan pic.twitter.com/mEtjXmWvAt
— Mary Aldridge (@MACAldridge) November 21, 2018
It’s that @damianchazelle fella great Q&A after a @directors_uk screening of #firstmanmovie with The Gosling #therightstuff #space #ryangosling #rockets https://t.co/vb7dqnC7C6
— HalflifeFilms (@MattHarlock) November 22, 2018
May have loved #FirstMan even more the second time around, complete with Damien Chazelle Q&A. pic.twitter.com/5BwuxaJ1TN
— Chris Presswell (@ChrisPresswell) November 21, 2018
Thank you @Directors_UK for a great screening of #FirstMan followed by a great Q&A with the inspiring and utterly charming @DSChazelle pic.twitter.com/0DPvbtIUHq
— Park Bench Pictures (@parkbenchpix) November 22, 2018
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