Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061165
J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 | P E R S P E C T I V E 4 3 R E S O U R C E S The Craft of Aircraft in Cinema Art B Y P H I L I P FA I S S , S C R O G G I N S A V I A T I O N A. A UH-60 BLACK HAWK BEING LIFTED IN A SCENE FOR THE MAKING OF RAMPAGE. B. UH-60 BLACK HAWK WITH UPDATED COCKPIT PANEL MADE FOR RAMPAGE. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCROGGINS AVIATION. Working with aircraft in television and film is a complex undertaking that mixes real equipment with modified or custom elements that often need to integrate with special effects rigs and be enhanced with digital effects to get the final product. It is fairly common for Art Departments to rent a commercial plane interior and have the construction and set decoration departments prepare it for shooting in a corner of the stage. When more complex sequences are needed with specialized components and rigging, it is often best to reach out to a company that deals with aircraft elements exclusively. Scroggins Aviation was founded by Doug Scroggins in Las Vegas in 2010, and has grown into a leading source for aircraft elements and parts to the film and television industry. The company got its start with the A B television series The Event, which needed a crashed Boeing 767 to be filmed in The Pinnacles near China Lake, CA, a project so large that it put the effects shop on the map and was the foundation for many projects to come. Art Director Mark Walters needed a number of aircraft and helicopters in Rampage, featuring Dwayne Johnson. One of the more challenging builds for that feature was the Apache AH-64. Scroggins sourced a real fuselage and then created working drawings to have additional elements made (i.e., cowls, chain gun and wings with rocket launchers). The front cockpit, where Johnson fired upon a large aquatic monster, was outfitted with modern panels and digital screens to match current Apache panels. The engine pylons were cut out of foam and painted. Wing sections were drafted and laser cut. These were all later assembled with the pylons, which housed the rocket launchers and Hellfire missiles. Explains Mark, a pilot and Naval Academy alumni, "For Rampage, we required a total of five bucks. These included utilizing a UH-60 Black Hawk redressed as three different birds over the course of shooting, a C-17 Globemaster III cockpit, and an AS350 Astar that was used both on a motion base and then crashed into an outdoor set. Scroggins Aviation was able to provide all of these assets, as well as building out an AH-64 Apache and converting a Boeing 767 cockpit into a B-2 stealth bomber cockpit for us. Everything came set-ready with all instruments and screens rigged for playback which allowed us to concentrate on the visual content, rather than spending time building out the bucks to 'fly' on a motion base, or rigging electronics for playback. The quality of their aircraft and their functionality was just outstanding." Spider-Man: Homecoming needed a unique cockpit from the ground up. Brad Ricker, Supervising