How to Film the Impossible 7

Forty years ago, BBC Horizon released a documentary called “𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲.”

They visited Industrial Light & Magic to show how the magic was made.

In this segment, a few feet of set had to become a few hundred.
The bridge wasn’t hanging over a canyon, it was ten feet above safety pads.
The illusion of danger would have to be built later.

By tilting the frame, adding a river from another continent, and painting a new stretch of cliff between them, the team extended reality by inches and miles at the same time.

Every layer, live action, miniature, painting, and optical matte had to line up perfectly, even where Indy’s legs crossed the edge of the painting.

A scene stitched together so tightly, you’d never know it was never there.