Living in the Age of Airplanes is a 2015 American epic documentary film written, directed, and produced by Brian J. Terwilliger. Narrated by Harrison Ford, it explores the way commercial aviation has revolutionized transportation and the many ways it affects everyday lives, and it concludes with a positive endorsement of flying. The film's themes include connections and perspectives, using several cinematographic styles to convey its message.
Terwilliger conceived the idea of the film in 2007, two years after releasing his feature directorial debut One Six Right. He intended it as a reliving of the feeling of flying for the first time and a celebration of the aviation industry. Production began independently in 2009, with filming taking place a year later in eighteen countries across all seven continents, becoming the first IMAX film to be made on such a scale. It used the first entry of the Arri Alexa digital camera. Filming took over 100 days. Post-production took place between 2013 and 2014. James Horner, who died in 2015, composed the score later released in 2016. (Horner was a licensed pilot and the only occupant of his turboprop aircraft when he died in its crash near Ventucopa, California months after film release.) Despite having 260 hours of raw footage, the film becomes only 47 minutes long when edited and divided into five chapters.
Living in the Age of Airplanes was initially planned to be released as Aviation: The Invisible Highway before National Geographic Films acquired it for distribution. It premiered on April 6, 2015, on a special Emirates flight, before its theatrical release on April 8. Ford's accident in his airplane just before the premiere attracted more interest in the film. It was released for streaming and on home video in 2016. Critics praised its technical and narrative aspects, but some felt it lacked in discussing the history and disadvantages of aviation; fans of One Six Right were disappointed by its difference. Terwilliger disagreed with most of the criticisms. The film won three awards, two of which in regards for Horner's score.
Summary
Living in the Age of Airplanes is divided into five chapters and opens with a quote from Bill Gates: "The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together".
The first chapter, "The World Before the Airplane", observes that the first mode of transportation, walking, took "a lifetime". Geographically isolated, humans mapped the universe before the Earth and were unaware of other cultures. Walking remained the only transportation for over 195,000 years until the invention of the wheel. 4,500 years later came the advent of mechanical transportation, which, though faster and more efficient, was still restricted by the nature of land and sea. Airplanes are considered revolutionary; where others could only travel at around , they could fly at speeds up to ; they can also cross land and sea, and do not mandate airports.
The second chapter, "The Portal to the Planet", says aviation is crucial to connecting the world with its diverse landscapes and cultures. Daily, around 100,000 take-offs and landings occur, and over 250,000 people fly "at any moment in time". The third chapter, "Redefining Remote", depicts Maldives, a country that is accessible with seaplanes, since its small islands and shallow waters make airports difficult to build and ships impossible to approach. Despite the difficult terrain, airplanes can reach Antarctica, making it accessible to tourists and researchers. The fourth chapter, "The World Comes to Us", depicts cargo aviation, which allows products to be quickly shipped worldwide; flowers' perishable nature had restricted shipments to just country-wide, but with cargo, they can be shipped anywhere long before they perish. With air travel, Las Vegas became the largest economic hub; hence, those who have never flown are also indirectly impacted by aviation.
The final chapter, "Perspective", laments that flying has become ordinary and lost its joyousness, becoming frustrating instead. However, the film says, "every era is a golden age, it's just a matter of perspective", encouraging audiences to appreciate the present moment and asking them to imagine a world without aviation. It then says no technology can replace aviation's ability to bring people physically close on such a scale. After saying "the most meaningful [place one could go with airplanes] is home", it ends with footage of landed passengers embracing their waiting loved ones.
Production
Pre-production In 2005, Brian J. Terwilliger released his feature directorial debut One Six Right, which focuses on general aviation from the viewpoint of pilots, under his company Terwilliger Productions. It has since gained a cult following among aviation enthusiasts. In 2007, he conceived the idea of a film focusing on the impact of commercial aviation on society. He planned the film would give context to aviation to relive its wonder and hoped audiences would "not look at flying the same way again". He described the film as a "love letter" to the aviation industry.
Terwilliger wrote the narration with Jessica Grogan, and Daniel Oppenheimer wrote additional narration. The working title was Aviation Epic, in reference to the film's large scale and ambitious nature. Terwilliger chose to show the difficulty of pre-aviation life to make the film relatable, and gave it a philosophical theme, comparing aviation to the Internet, which "could help us share ideas and communicate with other people so quickly now. We can create another [t]weet and the whole world knows what you are thinking in seconds."
According to Terwilliger, pre-production included months of getting filming permits and finding crew members who would help the filming process, such as language interpreters and drivers. He considered the logistical aspect of production the most challenging. He initially pitched the idea to National Geographic Films but decided to keep the production independent, as he had on One Six Right, to make it true to his vision, worrying National Geographic would try altering his ideas and become involved in the production process, losing his creative control. According to him, the film's budget was relatively high. The film was first announced without a title on September 15, 2014, in an interview with podcast Film Courage. Amid pre-production, a short film called Flying Full Circle, in which Terwilliger flew with the Blue Angels, was made.
Filming
Principal photography was done in 95 locations, in 18 countries on all seven continents, the first IMAX film at such scale. Within the United States, they filmed in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.
Filming began in 2010 when the first Arri Alexa camera was released; the crew decided to purchase its seventh iteration before the model was made available to the public. They were unable to use film cameras due to financial and logistical shortcomings. Other filming equipment included prime and zoom lenses, a triangular jib, sound equipment, and various kinds of support, which weighed over . Terwilliger remarked, "Just getting to the locations could be a real challenge. One day in Costa Rica, we went to shoot suspension bridges and ended up hiking [] in and out of the forest with all this gear. [H]alf the job is carrying equipment, the other half is actually shooting."
There were four skeleton crews. Andrew Waruszewski, who had filmed documentaries for National Geographic, was engaged as cinematographer upon recommendation to Terwilliger by producer Bryan H. Carroll. Terwilliger said Waruszewski had the attention to detail and level of commitment he was looking for. Discussions about the cinematography included symmetry and tone; Terwilliger wanted every shot in the film to look "like a commercial".
The crew began filming in Mojave Air and Space Port, the first scene in the film, and continued to the GE Aviation and Airbus factory, where components for an Emirates Airbus A380 were being assembled. A Canon EOS 5D was used for time-lapse sequences, which were photographed by Ben Wiggins, who was of the splinter unit: at times separate from the main crew, and at times would leapfrog each other. In scenes such as those featuring Hunts Mesa, he would have two 5Ds; one still and another doing a hyperlapse. Meanwhile, Terwilliger had Doug Allan filming the South Pole scenes for 11 nights. Despite his experience of living in Antarctica, Allan had never visited the South Pole until then. Helicopters were used for aerials except for those in the Maldives, where a seaplane was used because helicopters are outlawed. Other cinematographers shot aerial and underwater scenes in Australia, Kenya, the Maldives, and the US. Some scenes were filmed in a Qantas Airbus A380 flying a Los Angeles-Sydney route.As seen from a shot in the film featuring the flight path.
In "The World Comes to Us", Terwilliger chose a flower as the primary object to depict cargo aviation because it is "timeless", culturally appreciative, and perishable. The film crew followed a shipment of roses from Kenya as they traveled to an Alaskan house, transiting at an Amsterdam warehouse and Memphis International Airport.As depicted in the film. When they arrived at the house and began setting up their filming equipment, the roses arrived. Terwilliger wanted the roses to have arrived from Kenya to make the film's message genuine.
Although some shots were planned using flight data from FlightAware,Noted in the film's credits. some were impromptu at the cost of the crew staying in the locations for extra days. Impromptu shots include those of airplanes flying above ancient monuments, "juxtaposing the old and the new", and a shot of a Trans Maldivian Airways seaplane nearing a shipwreck, which required the crew to organize with the pilots. At times, the crew would revisit prior filming locations to reshoot. Generally, the crew stayed a few days at each location; they spent 16 days in the Maldives, with poor weather further extending it. Terwilliger considered the entire Maldivian scene the best.
In some instances, poor weather prohibited filming; in one instance, San Francisco fog filled up the Golden Gate Bridge as they intended to film it from a location they reserved for only a day. The shot of a hermit crab crawling over the Maldivian sands took two hours to film while the crew instructed the crab to move in the required direction; prior, several other crabs were "auditioned". According to Terwilliger, he and the crew felt privileged they "got to experience many things that [the] film talked about". Filming ended in 2012, lasting over 100 days. The crew filmed 260 hours of footage, only 47 minutes of which were used because IMAX theaters have hourly showtimes. According to Terwilliger; "We just shot and shot and shot, even though I know we'll never use this ... Most of the time I was right: We didn't use it. But sometimes we did. When you have those options later, it's a beautiful thing."
Post-production
Terwilliger wanted an A-list narrator and score composer for the film, and wanted the narrator to have experience with aviation. Harrison Ford, who is also a pilot, recognized Terwilliger from One Six Right and accepted his offer to narrate the film, which was done over three days in early 2014. Ford narrated the entire rough cut of the film, watching it five times to "get into the character". James Horner befriended Terwilliger in 2008 at an air show; he agreed to compose the score. His goal was to provide a spiritual feeling to match the film's tone, also marrying aviation and music. It was released digitally in a soundtrack album on September 14, 2016, coinciding the film's digital and physical release. It was released in CD through Intrada Records on August 23, 2017.