Ascent 142 And Rushes Work On Moonshot

Ascent Media companies, Ascent 142 and Rushes have completed the grading and VFX work respectively on the forthcoming drama documentary Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, for Dangerous Films.
Moonshot charts the story of the men who undertook the historic mission to land on the moon, weaving dramatisation with HD NASA footage of Apollo 11. The film follows the astronauts as they go through the intense selection process and training programme through to July 1969, when Apollo 11 begins its journey to the moon.
Trevor Brown, colourist at Ascent 142, who also graded NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, another Dangerous Films production, commented: "Moonshot is a seamless blend of archive and newly shot material. The main objective was to get the various formats and ages to blend seamlessly together in a believable way." The online post production was carried out by editor Simon Brook at Ascent 142.
Archive material varied from standard 16mm reversal, 16mm negative through to 2-inch NTSC videotape. The newly shot elements consisted of HDCAM with PRO35 and super 16mm negative. Ascent 142 completed the grade using DaVinci 2K plus with defocus; invaluable for emulating the "look" of 60's material.
The VFX for the film required the creation of accurate, photo-realistic representations of various stage of the Apollo craft. Using a combination of recreated live action, 3D, miniature photography and NASA stills that were shot on the Apollo missions, the VFX team, led by Rushes VFX Supervisor, Hayden Jones, built up each shot based on the information supplied by mission expert, Kenneth MacTaggart.
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 was screened on ITV1 earlier this month.
(KMcA/BMcC)