How do films achieve the realistic depiction of the moon?

Many films set at night feature the shape of the moon rather prominently. Yet I can't really imagine that this is always the exact moon captured in the scene, be it because the timing and angle doesn't exactly fit, or the moon is unrealisitically large, or the scene can't be shot completely outdoors at all.

I thus wonder what techniques are actually used by films to add the shape of the moon into a scene.

film-techniques

Best Answer

There are four ways it is done:

Plan your shoot around the moon phase you want.
Shoot the moon you want separately and edit it in digitally to your shot videos. Composition.
Completely CGI. The moon is simple, and any number of digital video editing suites or plug-ins can do it.
Miniatures. The classic way. Some digital editing to make it nicer.

The 2009 movie Moon used the last method to make great practical and realistic effects.

Q: Your lunar exteriors are quite convincing. How much of that is a real set, and how much is CGI?

A: It’s model miniatures. All the lunar exteriors were shot using that technique, which they used to do in the '70s and '80s. We had a soundstage in Shepperton Studio where we built a piece of lunar landscape, about 30 by 40 feet. We really made it look like the moon. We had these beautiful little miniature vehicles pulled across the landscape by fishing line and titanium wire. That’s basically the foundation of the visuals. We were able to expand upon it in post-production. We digitally created distance, star fields, lens flares and dirt being kicked up by the vehicles. The lens flares were a way of adding visual style to it , but it was also a way of camouflaging certain things.

http://www.studiodaily.com/2009/06/director-duncan-jones-on-low-budget-moon/

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Why does the moon appear so big in movies?

Movies try to be more interesting than real life. Movies often exaggerate the Moon Illusion because movies are works of art. If a movie makes the Moon look enormous, it's because the filmmaker is trying to create a memorable image.

What movies were inspired by A Trip to the Moon?

is eight moon-inspired movies for mankind:

A Trip to the Moon (1902)
In 1902, Georges M\xe9li\xe8s directed and starred in A Trip to the Moon. ...
Destination Moon (1950)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered in 1968, one year prior to the Moon landing. ...
Moontrap (1989)

How did audiences react to A Trip to the Moon?

The story might sound simple now, but audiences back then loved it. We don't know much about the film's early reception (there's a story about how its first audience applauded for hours after seeing the film) but we do know the film was in high demand. So much so that negatives were stolen and pirated across the world.

How did Melies make trip to the moon?

Melies himself plays a professor who convinces his fellow scientists to join him on an expedition to the moon. They travel in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the moon's surface, escape from an underground group of lunar locals (Selenites), and return to Paris with a captive in triumph.

Le Voyage Dans la Lun (A Trip to the Moon) by Georges Méliès (1902)

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