Birdman’s VFX supervisor Ara Khanikian explains how Michael Keaton’s pseudo-superhero movie return changed VFX with its techniques. Before it was announced that Keaton was returning as Batman for The Flash, the closest he came to returning to the superhero genre was in Birdman. The film premiered in 2014 and is a black comedy that follows Riggan Thomson (Keaton), a washed-up actor trying to score another win for his career after it peaked when he played a superhero named Birdman 20 years earlier. While Keaton portrayed the Birdman hero in Thomson’s fantasies, it wasn’t quite the same as his Batman role, but it did impact VFX.
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While appearing on the Corridor Crew, Khanikian explained how Birdman was one of the earliest films to use natural footage in place of a green screen. To film the flying scenes in Thomson’s imagination, the VFX crew captured actual footage of Manhattan. The footage was then played on background plates to light Keaton, causing natural light changes and allowing him to see where he was flying. The technique was a predecessor to LED volume stages, which display high-quality footage and 3D content as the background for actors instead of a green screen. Check out Khanikian’s explanation in the video below at the 15:55 mark:

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Modern Shows That Use A Variation Of Birdman’s Technique

In 2014, using natural footage instead of a green screen was a unique concept. However, the technique is used frequently today in a much more advanced manner. Two shows that have attracted attention for using the technique are The Mandalorian and House of the Dragon. The technique has been modified by the usage of LED screens that display footage. However, these aren’t ordinary screens at all. These are enormous screens that project images in high-quality 3D.

Additionally, The Mandalorian figured out how to have the scene on the screen change in time with camera movements. Hence, when the camera shifts directions, the 3D environment will likewise shift its lighting and perspective in the same way an actual setting would change with camera movement. Meanwhile, House of the Dragon has created one of the largest volume stages in the world that includes 2,000 LED screens. Their set is also advanced enough to let filmmakers see the visual effects in real-time during filming.

Both The Mandalorian and House of the Dragon having scooped up countless awards for their visual effects, their techniques are expected to become commonplace in future films and shows. Recent DC and Marvel films, like The Batman and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, have already incorporated The Mandalorian’s VFX technology into the filmmaking process. It’s intriguing to see how Birdman utilized a technique of displaying natural footage as a background for its actors in 2014, and now not even a decade later that technique has expanded into staggering volume stages that have likewise changed VFX forever.

Source: Corridor Crew