The story of Neil Armstrong's path from test pilot to the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. It's told as a close portrait of a man working through the death of his daughter by committing to the discipline of an impossible mission. In Damien Chazelle's film, grief is the thing that pushes him forward.
First Man is a 2018 drama, history and science fiction film directed by Damien Chazelle. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 cinematography, 1 narrative and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Schindler's List uses several of the same techniques.
Shooting with a handheld camera so the frame shakes and moves with the action. This documentary-style look, called cinema vérité, puts you uncomfortably close to the character.
How this film uses it
Linus Sandgren shoots the test flights and early space sequences with a handheld camera, which matches the chaos and danger of experimental flying. The camera shakes, loses its subject and finds it again. The technological achievement feels like it could physically fall apart at any second.
Where to see it
The Gemini 8 sequence. The camera is inside the capsule, handheld and shaking. When the malfunction hits, you get the dizzying feeling of being inside the spinning spacecraft.
Limiting the film to what one character can see and know. The camera never goes where they couldn't be, so you share their blind spots and their vulnerability.
How this film uses it
Chazelle keeps the film almost entirely inside Armstrong's point of view. The moon landing is shown from inside the capsule and from behind the visor, as Neil's private experience. The global broadcast is left out. The most public event in human history is filmed in an intensely private way.
Where to see it
The lunar landing sequence. The camera is inside the LEM with Armstrong, and you approach the lunar surface through the reflection in his visor. You experience the historic moment the way Neil does, which is fairly different from how the world watched it.
Shooting vast environments, including outer space, on 70mm IMAX film. The extra size and sharpness make you feel like you are inside the image.
How this film uses it
Chazelle saves the IMAX format, with its very large and tall image, for the lunar surface sequences. The moon's vast grey expanse is shot in a format big enough that you physically feel its scale. The contrast with the cramped capsule sequences tells you how enormous the place Armstrong has reached is.
Where to see it
The first steps on the lunar surface. In IMAX, the moon's landscape stretches to the edges of the frame. The human figure in the pressure suit is impossibly small against a grey vastness that has never been walked on before.
Removing music, background sound or dialogue from a moment where most films would fill it. The quiet forces you to sit with what is on screen.
How this film uses it
Justin Hurwitz's score is present throughout the film and drops out entirely for the lunar surface sequences. The vacuum of space is played as true silence. The most dramatic moments of the mission have no music to tell you how to feel.
Where to see it
Armstrong's walk to the crater where he drops his daughter's bracelet. The film goes completely silent, with no score and no background sound. In the silence of the lunar vacuum, his grief has finally found its resting place.
Questions
First Man: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does First Man use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in First Man (2018): Handheld Cinema Vérité, Single POV Restriction, IMAX Large-Format Space and Strategic Silence.
Who directed First Man?
Damien Chazelle directed First Man, released in 2018. CineCode also covers Whiplash (2014), La La Land (2016), Babylon (2022).
What films are similar to First Man?
Films that share techniques with First Man include Schindler's List (1993), Das Boot (1981), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Manchester by the Sea (2016).
