The producers of thriller No Way Up tell Robert Shepherd how they created visually stunning scenes set in the Pacific Ocean, from Basildon and Maidenhead
By Contributor
Published: March 5, 2024 Updated: March 6, 2024
The producers of thriller No Way Up tell Robert Shepherd how they created visually stunning scenes set in the Pacific Ocean, from Basildon and Maidenhead
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> The producers of thriller No Way Up tell Robert Shepherd how they created visually stunning scenes set in the Pacific Ocean, from Basildon and Maidenhead
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/making-a-splash title=Share via Email class=share-email>
In recent years, water has emerged as a powerful symbol in TV and film, reflecting our deepest fears and hopes. Netflix's Nyad showcases the indomitable spirit of humanity against the vastness of the ocean. Similarly, The End We Start From uses flooding as a metaphor for societal collapse and rebirth, while After the Flood explores the aftermath of devastating rising water, underscoring the resilience of life. Now, comes the Lost-esque No Way Up, a film directed by Claudio F h (Wilder and Sniper: Ultimate Kill) from Altitude Film Entertainment, produced by Annalise Davis and Andy Mayson, executive produced by Will Clarke, chairman and joint-CEO of Altitude Film Entertainment.
Starring Sophie McIntosh and Phyllis Logan, the film depicts the harrowing journey of passengers aboard a crashing plane as they desperately struggle to escape before it plummets into a bottomless gorge in the Pacific Ocean. Complicating their ordeal is the menacing presence of circling sharks around the wreckage.
Producer Annalise Davis sheds light on the cinematographic approach, detailing how cinematographer Andrew Rodger and director Claudio F h employed an Alexa LF and LF Mini camera paired with Caldwell Chameleon lenses for an anamorphic shoot. They aimed for a cinematic aesthetic to counteract the limitations of the confined space they worked within. A lot of the film is set in the galley, which is very claustrophobic. Therefore, we wanted to avoid making it feel too small, she explains.
We understand that lens choice is as crucial, if not more so, than the camera itself when crafting the look and feel of a film. The chameleon lenses for the flares produced, which gives No Way Up an almost classic Hollywood feel of like an actual shooting on actual film. Claudio, a massive Spielberg fan, dedicated significant time to researching various looks and feels, drawing inspiration from the types of films he admires.
Setting the scenes No Way Up embraced virtual production techniques for the telling of the stricken airliner, teetering dangerously close to a deep ravine. The film was shot using modular sets of an aeroplane lowered into a tank, alongside cutting-edge virtual production technology provided by DNEG VP - a partnership between Dimension and DNEG.
The two main sets were: one depicting the intact plane interior and its crash, and the other portraying the aftermath of the plane crash. Projected outside images, initially real shots, enhanced the realism. While some images needed replacement in post production, the aim was to minimise the use of green and blue screens. Given the significant outdoor scenes within the plane setting, extensive replacement would have been required.
The biggest challenge, according to Davis, was crashing a plane and having a plane underwater with very little money . She praises Maidenhead-based Shoot Aviation. The company has an airfield, and it's run by people who love planes. We had a real plane, shuddered it for the crash and did some really cool stunts. And then obviously there was a lot of VFX for the stuff outside of the plane with the crash. So that was just like, good old fashioned really great direction by Claudio who is a great director for this stuff. He's great at action. And then to sink the plane we used a real plane, built by our brilliant production designer Matt Button, who kind of is great at building stuff.
The ocean viewers see was shot at the Underwater Studio in Basildon. The tank was small but deep and we needed depth and obviously on our budget we couldn't afford Pinewood, frankly, Davis says.
Tough start The lead actor tested positive for Covid-19 before shooting began, causing a brief delay. On the second day, the second lead also contracted the disease. In response, writer Mayson swiftly rewrote the scene, shifting the focus to Phyllis Logan's character, Nana, interacting with her granddaughter and husband at the airport. This adjustment allowed us to continue filming without the affected actor, says Davis. Despite the unforeseen circumstances, the rewritten scene seamlessly integrated into the narrative. It was a crucial decision as the filming location, Stansted Airport, presented logistical and financial complexities. That's the magic of filmmaking.'
Lighting LED walls provided lighting throughout the stunning final sequence of the film, supplemented by a few light cards to direct light in various directions. Executive producer Steve Jelly, co-founder and Joint MD at Dimension Studio, emphasised that the primary goal was to achieve interactive lighting, a technique utilised in other projects as well, some of which are currently in production and thus confidential. The concept aimed to create a wraparound light effect around the actors, very important because if you look at even the most masterly blue and green screen shots, they always look a little bit bogus when you're trying to integrate the close-ups with the background through the visual effects process, he says.
This technique reduces the artificial appearance ensuring a more authentic final result, even when additional elements such as Houdini simulat
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
The producers of thriller No Way Up tell Robert Shepherd how they created visually stunning scenes set in the Pacific Ocean, from Basildon and Maidenhead
