Flyboys

The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country’s first fighter pilots.

DNEG simulated thrilling aerobatic visual effects sequences for Dean Devlin’s movie 'Flyboys', which is one of the first feature films to be shot on Panavision’s new Genesis camera.

The film, which was released in the US on the 22nd September 2006, is the story of the men of the Lafayette Escadrille, the first American fighter-pilot squadron to see action in World War I. DNEG were appointed by Flyboys’ producer Devlin (Independence Day, The Patriot) and the film’s director Tony Bill (The Sting) to help put the audience in the cockpit with the young flyers.

DNEG, led by Visual Effects Supervisor Peter Chiang, began their work by creating the pre-visualisations that were used to shoot the live-action and then later focused on digitally creating and enhancing the aerial battle sequences.

Visual effects shots make up approximately fifty minutes of 'Flyboys' and DNEG’s work covers 740+ shots, including CG models of the period aircraft, animation, CG environments and matte paintings.