Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469942
30 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Summer 2022 The TOPGUN Flying Team is a branch of the Navy. As such, we shot primarily at naval air stations. Those naval air stations are where the aircraft that we needed to shoot were hangared. We did shoot a little bit on stage at LA Center Studios, and also at some practical locations in and around Los Angeles and San Diego, but mostly we were at relatively distant locations all over California. It turned out that "shooting almost entirely in California" meant China Lake, San Diego, Lake Tahoe. To get to most of the naval air stations, it took a lot of driving, but at least I was able to make it home for most weekends. We began shooting in May 2018 in San Diego for a one week pre-shoot at Coronado's North Island Naval Air Station. After the pre-shoot week, the whole crew went immediately into a couple of months of intensive scouting and prepping. During this time, all the departments scratched their heads and went hard at the work of figuring out how to approach filming and recording the flying sequences. We all had multiple scouting trips to several different naval air stations to look at, measure, inspect, and learn as much as we could about the F/A-18 supersonic jets that we would be using for filming. Once each department determined what equipment they thought would be needed to do their inflight work, our Key Grip, the late Trevor Fulks, had to tackle how and where, to attach the equipment on the planes. We were told that any gear placed in the planes needed to be able to stay attached at up to 7G's, and the gear could not interfere or prevent any aircraft functions or communications, nor could it interfere with the pilot or co-pilot's ability to eject in an emergency situation if that ever became necessary. Having figured out how we could meet each of the Navy's requirements, we began interacting with the Navy to submit our plans for their approval. We were asked to state every detail about each piece of gear: its purpose, its height, length, width, weight, the type of internal batteries it used, In 2018 during pre-production for Top Gun: Maverick, I met the film's Director, Joseph (Joe) Kosinski. He explained that Top Gun: Maverick would not be a remake. It would be a standalone second act to the very successful Tony Scott-Jerry Bruckheimer-Tom Cruise-Val Kilmer film, Top Gun from 1986. Tom Cruise would be returning in the lead role as Maverick, and Val Kilmer would also be coming back to make an appearance as Ice Man. In that meeting, I learned that Top Gun: Maverick would be shooting almost entirely in California, which is where I live. I had been shooting on distant locations for most of my projects over the preceding years. The opportunity to shoot a whole movie at home was very welcome. I was very pleased when Joe and Executive Producer Tommy Harper decided to offer me the opportunity to be the Production Sound Mixer for Top Gun: Maverick. I could tell it was going to be exciting. It was going to present some very unusual problem-solving situations that would be rewarding to figure out, and it was going to be LOUD, REALLY LOUD! For certain, it was not going to be boring. Joe and I discussed some of the major sound challenges that he knew we would face, and we kicked around what we thought might be the best approaches to tackling them. The most immediate issue to address was that we were going to film all the actors' flying sequences actually inflight, real supersonic sorties while the actors and the sound equipment were being subjected to extreme G Forces. The request was for me to record all the inflight dialog in sync with the six cameras that would be mounted in the planes, with high-enough quality to be used in the final mix. There were to be no green screen-simulated flying sequences for this version! Everything was to be filmed actually in flight. I can't say I had ever been asked to record in those conditions, but I was certainly game to give it a try… Going forward, I quickly learned that Joe was extremely calm, extremely prepared, and extremely supportive. He is an absolute pleasure to work with. Monica Barbaro and Tom Cruise on the set of Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.