Christopher Nolan's World of Practical Effects
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Welcome to Christopher Nolan's WORLD! The world of practical effects! From Batman Begins to Oppenheimer, join us as we recount and take an in-depth look at some of the coolest practical effects Christopher Nolan has pulled off!
You're in for a ride so just sit back and relax, and more importantly "Don't think, just feel it" Oh! And Enjoy the theme song!
🔥🔥Behind The Scenes of Cinematography SERIES - • The Production of Film... 🔥🔥
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🖥️Editor: John Owens
✏️Writer: Cheecken , John Owens
📚Researcher: John Owens, Cheecken
🖼️Thumbnail Squad: David Altizer
🤖A.I. Programs Used: None
THEME SONG: Frame Voyager
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0:00 Christopher Nolan's World of Practical Effects
1:04 CHRISTOPHER NOLAN THEME SONG by Frame Voyager
1:26 Nolan's early films
1:38 BATMAN BEGINS (2003)
6:01 Practical effects are the way to go!
6:47 PRESTIGE (2006)
7:11 THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
10:29 INCEPTION (2010)
15:44 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)
18:07 INTERSTELLAR (2014)
25:15 DUNKIRK (2017)
27:51 TENET (2020)
30:08 OPPENHEIMER (2023)
32:15 IMAX CAMERAS DESTROYED
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#christophernolan #practicaleffects #FrameVoyager
🎶🎶 *IT'S CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S* 🎶🎶 *IT'S CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S* 🎶🎶 *IT'S CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S WORLD OF PRACTICAL EFFECTS!* 🎶🎶 Which is your favorite Christopher Nolan scene pracitcal effect?
hi
I liked when he crashed an airplane
@@jonahplayscello Must have been a fun day
@@ISOGQD 👋👋👋
Hope that jingle makes a an appearance in a future video. It's too good to be a one-off. lol
You know you have a legendary status in the industry when people start questioning if you made an atomic bomb explode for real just for the shot.
hahaha mostly just a joke because he always is so serious about doing everything practically. All good fun
LOL what if he did
What if I told you that all real atomic bomb shots were just cinematic practical effects. Lookout Mountain USAF.
@DashzRight . Good to hear. Its just more scary" nuke" propaganda
@@DashzRightthe explosion was underwhelming yes, but the rest of the movie was brilliant imo
The craziest thing Nolan sent actors to a black hole just to film interstellar.
It was reported he sold 17.8% of his soul to do so
@@FrameVoyagerthats crazy 🥶
@@FrameVoyagerWould you give the devil 5 million dollars for a 1% stake in Christopher Nolan's soul?
@@jaysefgames1155you would probably profit haha
it still astounds me that he didnt get an oscar for flipping france upside down in inception. craziest practical effect ive ever heard.
Sir that was CGI
@@paulrozario5516 nah
@@orenparis it was CGI. i've seen the breakdown once
@@paulrozario5516 nah he flipped france upside down
@@paulrozario5516r/woooosh
The fact that Nolan cares about how good the movie will look and sound years into the future tells you everything you need to know about him as director. He is the director of the people.
The Future? 😂
@@JohnconnoYeah movies with lots of cgi will eventually look aged as better cgi technology comes out. Practical effects eliminates that and the visuals can stay amazing forever.
I hated the sound in Oppenheimer. I think it made my tinnitus worse. His style choice of making the music blast to 100000999 is annoying at best.
@@__Est.her__ thats just you, the sudden blast of the bomb exploding is one of the best sound usage I have ever experienced, it simulates what it was like to them to feel the blast
@@__Est.her__tbh, whole openheimer was crap
Oppenheimer is gonna be a huge hit and it had a production budget of a little over a third of the new Indiana Jones movie's. I hope this will be a wake up call for Hollywood and push them to make more films of substance instead of braindead cashgrabs.
Well, it actually ended up coming in at a higher budget than originally reported. On the red carpet Nolan said it was actually $180 million. He could have misspoke though.
@@FrameVoyagerstudio confirmed 100M after the fact, Nolan misspoke. He meant it was a 180 page script.
If it makes the same about of money Indy 4 has made, Oppenheimer would be a resounding success And it is already surpassing expectations even if Barbie is making more money (but keep in mind Oppenheimer has been delayed by up an entire month in various parts of the world)
i hope generalisations are all ever not necessary anymore.
They are not cash grabs😡
The intro scene to Oppenheimer with the particles going at the speed of light, seeing the nuclei, the rumbling bass in the background. Wow, i was in awe. It was beautiful and i don't think another movie can achieve that kind of epicness.
He isn't against vfx he understands that for certain projects practical effects are more suitable, just depends on the project he is working on.
Oh, for sure! He uses vfx in every film haha. Honestly, doing things practically like that probably makes the VFX teams job harder.
Yep, Nolan has stated so many times he’s A fan of CGI. He just doesn’t that that much.
Vfx and cgi are two different things
Yea he don't hate CGI just that he prefers to do it for real as long as it's possible.
And just when it came to Oppenheimer he went completely retarded and refused to do cgi when he needed it most.
Somehow building revolving corridors, flipping trucks, dropped aeroplane fuselages is "incredible" and yet the fact they grew 850 ACRES OF CORN for Interstellar is just as amazing. In Canada. Surrounded by cold mountains.
What's crazy is that they could have filmed that literally anywhere in the world and added the mountains digitally, or grown a small field of corn and extended it to the horizon with digital effects, and the end result would have looked exactly the same.
Nolan x Cruise colab will be lit!!!
It would be interesting for sure! Maybe they would both go to space together
Include Hans Zimmer
Throw Jackie Chan in the mix
Too bad, rn Tom is a bit.... pissy about the fact that Dead Reckoning is only playing for 1 week in IMAX. Not sure if this extends to Nolan, but for the time being, I wouldn't hold my breath for a collab between them.
It will smash box office
Everyone here is (rightfully) talking about Nolan... but the effort made to produce this video, especially the opening musical number, is just amazing to see!
No other director is on Nolan's level. Nolan is the one of the best directors. His movies are timeless
However, I would like to add that Denis Villeneuve works at a very similar high level.
@@robderich8533 100% agree that Villenueve is up there. Maybe not to Nolan's level but quite high for sure!
One of my favorite directors is Steven Speilberg
dude made the movie AND the popcorn
Damn! That would have been hilarious. Like legit turn into popcorn for the premier of the movie haha
I think I'mma need to watch Tenet again... a few times. I just have to say that this video is a love letter to both Nolan and cinema. It's a phenomenal piece of work.
This is a wonderful analysis on Nolan’s practical effects usage. I do have to admit being a little disappointed that “The Prestige” was passed up as I’m sure that, much like magic, he had complexities that he made feel seamless.
Talked with one of the people that worked on it and they really didn't go into much detail on what they did for the prestige behind the scenes. So it was really hard to cover it
What's more impressive about him is that he doesn't use a second unit director. That's unheard of for big action films. Most action films or big budget films are shot with second unit directors who shoot all of the action sequences and pick up shots. Not only does Nolan use extensive practical effects... he shoots everything himself! What a beast!
I was there in Heinz Field for dark knight rises. That was an epic day. So much going on. Also incredibly difficult. The extras in the stands were required to wear winter clothes in the middle of summer for the winter scene. It was a brutal 14hrs.
Gosh that sounds like how they make the Hallmark Christmas movies in the summer lol. Sound AWFUL
@@FrameVoyager I was very very very WARM. 🥵🥵🥵 what was cool though is through out they day they raffled off tons and tons of stuff. Batman memorabilia like vintage stuff. As well as New stuff for the movie, a car, multiple round trip domestic and international flights, premier tickets with the movie stars, Apple iPods, computers, just tons of shit.. They also had pallets upon pallets of water, and bags of snacks. Like A LOT of food for all the people who came to sit in the stands for 14hrs.
@@FrameVoyager p.s. I still have my fake terrible towel we had to wave in the stands. Its literally a piece of yellow tablecloth 🤣
@@buttmuddbrooks oh that's pretty cool!
@@buttmuddbrooks 😅😅😅
Bravo! Excellent video! Nothing like watching a film and being treated to things done right in camera. Chris is helping to keep traditional filmmaking alive. Practical Effects FTW!
Appreciate it! Yeah, really looking forward to Oppenheimer.
Nolan is absolutely in the top 3 best modern directors, maybe even the best. Doing things for real to mitigate tacky looking effects in future never really occurred to me but it's genius in itself really.
" Doing things for real to mitigate tacky looking effects " You've never actually seen a CGI breakdown of his movies, ammiright?
The Dark Knight isn't just one of the best superhero movies. I think it's one of the best movies ever made full stop.
The only thing that keeps it from being that for me is the Maggie Gyllenhaal casting. Everything else was perfect but she was not a great fit at all for that role.
@@FrameVoyager I think I must be the only person in the world that Preferred Maggie over Katie. both actors in both films are overshadowed by some of the greatest casting of any film but Katie brought nothing to the character to me.
Ehh, I find myself rewatching Raimi's spider-man 1 and 2 more than the Dark Knight trilogy
@@FrameVoyagerame opinion here. I would have preferred if Katie would have continued that role in Dark Knight as well.
Its a good movie, but not amazing
Now do one about all the amazing visual effects work super talented artists make for All of Nolan's films. It's great he does a lot of stuff practically, since it makes the vfx better by having all that reference but I really don't like the current trend of "practal good, CG bad". He uses vfx in all of his films. The example you give about the crowds in Dunkir, while it's true they used cardboards, they ALSO did a lot of CG crowds. It's always a great mix of both techniques that makes the most believable effects.
Oh, I agree. Lot of work in his movies by vfx artists. I do wonder though trying to do more practically to aid the vfx work, I don't mind how his movies look. I think there absolutely is a balance somewhere in the middle though, otherwise you get stuff like Indiana Jones 5
@@FrameVoyager Yeah, for me the best is a mix of techniques. They are tools, some work better for some things some work better for other things. And for the vfx artists, as much as reference as possible is always better, even if a lot of the time they end up replacing completely the real elements in the shot with cg because they have the reference of how it moves, how it interacts with the light, etc. Now, talking specifically did you feel the "nuclear bomb" as massive as it should? For me it felt kind of anti climatic. Not as big as we have seen in test footage. It was good for the movie marketing saying they were not gonna make the bomb in CG but maybe in this case it would have been better if they went with cg like they did on interstellar with the black hole. Scientifically accurate but super impactful (though in that case it was impossible to shoot for real). By the way your videos are great, it's nothing against you, it's just that there is a current trend to elevate movies just for being "practical" and hiding the truth and minimizing the great work of the vfx artists. Like all the marketing around top gun maverick.
Nolan was actually given an award by the Visual Effects Society in 2018 and remarked that it was ironic considering his reputation, but he said that he loves CGI and visual effects, and that he couldn't make his movies without them. However, this trend of downplaying the visual effects and saying everything was done "for real" is older than you think. For 1993's _The Fugitive,_ the promotions made a lot of noise about how they crashed a real train into a real bus, and that no models were used. And while they did crash a train for real, only a few shots actually appear in the movie, and the majority of the sequence was done with models. But according to the the marketing hype, it was all completely real. They've been lying to us for years.
Apparently watching Nolan's movies and working as a crew in his movies is an experience in itself. Must be a blast to work as a crew in his movies.
0:40 You interpreted his statement incorrectly. He is saying that there are no fully CGI shots in the movie and that every shot atleast has some practical stuff, not that he didn't use CGI at all.
Right, they probably still composited a lot of elements into the film, but it's likely very minimal. Nolan even said in an interview he told their VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson to try and recreate the nuclear explosion with no computer graphic elements. And considering Andrew Jackson worked on Mad Max, I would assume they achieved that. For other Nolan movies I would interpret that as they used mostly practical elements aided with CGI, but for this movie, beyond the nuclear explosion which they say they created for real, there really isn't much cgi work needed.
The podrace in Episode I has many shots that don't use CGI.
I love that Nolan uses practical effects!! Having said that, Dunkirk felt way too small. It should have been hundreds of boats, thousands of planes, and tens of thousands of people because that's how it actually hapoened. It felt like there might be 200 people on the beach.
Maybe that’s the reason i am not completely satisfied with the film. Same with the scaling of the Nuke from Oppenheimer.
Dunkirk totally failed to capture the scale and complexity of the evacuation. I’ve seen more people on Bondi beach. In that instance, Nolan’s refusal to use cgi really impacted the movie.
Off all the practical effects featured here, I think growing entire corn fields was the most impressive
Truly inspiration work, not just your camera nerdiness but being a great host as well! Cheers
Appreciate it! 😅😅😅
I just want to thank Christopher Nolan for not using green screens but give us this real life experiences- many many thanks 🙏
wow imagine growing corn instead of just using a green screen. well it fricking makes a huge difference with ambience and lighting. pretty fricking awsome.
So so good at tying these videos together, loved this
Appreciate it! Was fun to walk down memory lane and remember when I went to see them all in theaters haha
Nolan never disappoints
Agree
The SFX crew for the truck flip on Batman deserve massive kudos, the piston popping out and flipping it effortlessly took some serious RnD
Happily, I just subscribed to your channel. I found your channel and this report is AWESOME! Thank you for making and sharing it.
Appreciate it!
My only problem with Nolans methods for Dunkirk he just wasn't able to capture the sense of size at all for the beaches and It just didn't feel right, there should have been 500,000 soldiers alone on that beach not to mentions thousands of trucks and tanks instead it looked like there was 500 people it really took away from just how dire the real situation really was.
Speaking of THE Prestige, I would actually really love to know more about the process of having one actor play two different characters side by side from opposite ends of the production schedule and meeting in the middle, all while avoiding the usual doppelganger / time loop tropes. The film is easily one of his best and gets such little attention.
the crazy thing is if you look at the reported budget of Nolan's films made with practical effects they aren't that different from movies that are full of CGI eye sores
Nope haha! But, he can probably use that budget in other ways because his CGI budget is lower. He seems to put way more money into sets and props. That would actually be a fascinating financial dive. "Which director spends the most on CGI"
@@FrameVoyagerDavid fincher but more like vfx and not exactly cgi
@@FrameVoyager Liz Olsen the other day criticise acting against nothing on a green screen Tho she probably said sth we already knew out loud she came across as a tad unprofessional so I think she's gone from the MCU
@@FrameVoyager the story with interstellar was an interesting one Kipp Thorne (the science consultant and theoretical physicist) basically told Nolan that ok we have a bunch of equations of a what a super massive black hole would look like but we don't the budget to run the simulation And Nolan was like OK fold into the budget of a Hollywood production we would use whatever comes out in the movie I think Kip published some scientific paper based on the results and some time later when we got an image of a black hole it looked like just as the movie portray It was pragmatism and ingenuity
I'm sick and tired of people complaining about CGI stop this bullshit
In some scenes of Dunkirk you can see modern glass apartment buildings and houses with Velux roof windows, and factories in the harbour that are a bit too modern for WW1.
Just found your channel. After watching this well researched video I subbed hit all the bells and whistles.
Appreciate it!
It's impressive how far he's willing to go to do it practically and it usually turns out great as a result of it. Respect. Dunkirk is the one glaring exception though.
I will always admire Christopher Nolan's mastery and control as a filmmaker, his devotion to practical effects is a blessing in a world full of CGI (even though he sometimes requires it), this is why his movies never age in yars to come, they look fresh and modern, they look like they were shot yesterday, which is why I love about certain films. I always liked how Gotham looked in Batman Begins, the fact that most of Gotham's scenes were miniatures and sets make it have its own identity, it's like Gotham from the comics came to life. BTW, love the jingle at the beginning, now I can't get it out of my head.
In photography too, getting thinga done in camera than in editing is the satisfying way....
Excellent video, thank you!
The theme song perfect down to the last detail
hahaha couldn't help myself on this one
22:26 “Crossing That Bridge”! 😀 Love that music. It fits perfectly.
Phenomenal..... Thank you
Appreciate it!
I love practical effects still being used instead of full vfx or CGI or greenscreen movies
Please stop hating CGI I'm getting really sick and tired of people
@@assassin8636 I dont hate cgi but what i hate is BAD looking cgi in movies . It clear that there still uses of cgi in movies .
@@nezunish-898 if handled well
Wait, you're telling me I was staring at cardboard cutouts in Dunkirk? Man I need to watch that movie again
haha yep!
DNEG - a worldwide CGI studio is literally credited on IMDb. There were around 200 visual effects working on this film. Sure, it's less than would be typical for a movie this size. But it's not "no CGI".
..which film are you referring to?
Gotta love the Norway cameo in Tenet :) it's nice to see your home country show up on the big screen.
The matrix films had alot of practical FX, thats what made the film look so good.
I got off work and randomly watched this. Now I wanna direct films.
Best intro jingle I've ever heard
Been looking up Nolan Bts practical effects for weeksb leading up to Oppenheimer, perfect video . What’s a true master of spectacle.
I figured everyone would be haha! That's why I made a little refresher lol
@@FrameVoyager Lowkey this the best one and longest video on the subject matter too which I highly appreciate, you threw in stuff I haven’t even seen or heard about yet!
Stuntman is like "yeah im half gone, let me drive that truck."
A great video showcasing great movies. Well done
Appreciate it!
My favourite story teller ever !
thats a fire intro ngl
"This is either madness or brilliance It's remarkable how often those two traits cohincide"
Wow, such an awesome video 👏
' oppenheimer' the phycological and biographical movie ever made by nonal that will really inspire the next generation for an innovative approach of visualization and critical thinking❤hats off to the whole team🎉🛐
Godbless what you do
You missed the blowing up of the huge miniature building in inception
GREAT VID. You just earned a sub🎉. Ty
Wow. When I watched his (Mr. Nolan's) Batman, I felt that I was looking at NYC! Now I know why. While I am no movie buff, Mr. Nolan is (perhaps this is too soon) now up there in my mind with Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock
loved the intro
😅😅😅 appreciate it!
Worked on several NOLAN films, he’s a brilliant film maker!
Cool stuff here John, hope you’re doing well!
Marvel should definetly hire this man, the recent movies have been trash they need this man
Nah, I'd rather have more unique and interesting projects from this man over more comic book movies. Besides, Nolan has said he's done with them.
Great work
Appreciate it!
Love this guy movies
Christopher Nolan is a genius mad man
As he said IMAX is 3D without Glasses. Absolutely true🎉🎉😮😮❤❤
Amazing video!
Appreciate it!
I love how they cast shade on a whole industry (VFX) that they use.
❤❤❤❤ for the song
I'm going to come out with a Frame Voyager album on spotify here soon 🙃
My favorite director
Respect
Memento is such an underrated movie!
Amazing video, wow!
Appreciate it!
high school musical 3 also did that rotating scene before inception. sh*t wild 😂
My favorite movie director of all time
And now that it's won an oscar, all the hard work paid off to the fullest
Hell of an intro song.
Actor: Who is the director? It's Christopher Nolan!! Actor: LET'S GOOOO!!
underrated channel
the smile that grew on my face when you said Interstellar is your favorite Nolan film.
hes an underrated madman.
@ 8:00, it wasnt that he improvised the delay. it was that the last part of the building was suppposed to explode and it didnt. Which people assume was improvised
Dunkirk is the only example of Nolan's avoiding CGI was actually a detriment. the scale of the evacuation was pretty underwhelming compared to real life, and even underwhelming compared to other films. Atonement's dunkirk beach scene does a much better job of showing the scale of chaos and confusion on the beach.
The theme song is incredible lol
haha thanks!
Its interesting hearing four different people describe how 'an entire city' fit into an airplane hanger.
I can't unsee that Bane mannequin in the plane scene now lol
its officially Nolan Szn 🤩
For real. Comes about every 2-3 years
good job
Disney, Marvel, and DC should take notes!
Fuck yeah! Love that intro theme!!!!!
😅😅😅
@@FrameVoyager Lookin forward to a shorts with just the intro.
Great director 👍
Still can't believe that he managed to do that with a real black hole
One item that was once or still use is bits of the explosive TNT which gives the flash color. The US military have 100 gallon barrels of Naplam, WP blocks, and the stand by gasoline and diesel. The diesel would slow down the reaction.
I could see this playing at the alamo drafthouse before the movie starts lol
Love the Alamo draft house! That would be pretty fun haha
I work in a factory setting and unfortunately have seen two magnesium fires. They were able to be contained and nobody was hurt but they are a very different animal from “traditional” fires and need a special extinguisher to put out. Makes sense why he used it in Oppenheimer.