How Johnny Derango Crafted Suspenseful Cinematography in “Flight Risk” – Pro Tips for Filmmakers

It’s always a privilege to shine a light on the incredible professionals who are part of the FilmmakersWorld community, and today, we’re honored to welcome back one of the best: Johnny Derango. 

You might remember some of his featured posts, particularly the deep dive into FATMAN, another collaboration Johnny had with director Mel Gibson, which we enjoyed hosting and sharing with you. If you missed it, take a look here > FATMAN.

This time, we have another in-depth feature/interview with him about a film he worked on two years ago, once again directed by Mel Gibson, Flight Risk, starring Hollywood A-lister Mark Wahlberg.

In this feature, cinematographer Johnny Derango shares how he approached the visual storytelling of Flight Risk, offering real-world insights for filmmakers looking to master the art of cinematic tension.

We’re particularly excited about this project as Johnny has been talking about it as one of his most incredible works. For the first time, he worked within a virtual volume, facing unique challenges in certain scenes.

So let’s dive into this conversation:

How Johnny Derango Approached Suspense in “Flight Risk”

Hi Johnny, how’s it going? Can you tell us about Flight Risk, what it’s about, and what kind of experience it was for you working on this film?

Flight Risk tells the story of a pilot (Mark Wahlberg) who transports an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery), accompanying a fugitive (Topher Grace) to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.  

Pre-production began in April of 2023, with physical production taking place in June/July of 2023 in Bishop, CA, and Mesquite, NV for location work and Las Vegas, NV for volume/stage work.

As you might expect, it was truly a thrilling experience filled with some amazing cutting-edge tech and some good old-fashioned DIY solutions. 

This isn’t your first film with the iconic director Mel Gibson.
Can you tell us what it’s like working with him and how you both approached the cinematography of this film, along with its specific challenges?

That’s correct, Mel and I first worked together on the Nelms Brothers 2020 film FATMAN. 

He is an incredible collaborator who surrounds himself with people he trusts.  If you are part of that inner circle, he wants to hear your thoughts and ideas on how to help make the best film possible.  

Flight Risk was something new and challenging for both of us. Neither one of us had ever shot on a volume before, and I think the idea of that excited both of us. Keeping the look of the film, especially the interior of the plane, grounded in reality was a key component of what we discussed in pre-production.

What was it like working on a volume of this scale for such an important project, and from your perspective, what are the advantages of shooting in a controlled virtual environment?

For Flight Risk, we were blessed to have the time and budget to construct our own purpose-built volume tailored to our shooting needs.  Much time was put in with Pre Production/On-set Visual Effects Supervisor Michael Ralla and Production Designer David Meyer designing the volume itself.  

During Pre-Pro, David Meyer created a virtual volume in Rhino 3D.  We then placed a virtual plane on a virtual Nacmo II gimbal in a virtual space.  We then placed a virtual camera inside the plane and looked at all possible shooting angles.  

Based on the virtual camera placement, we were able to strike a balance of camera positions vs. where we would see off the volume vs. what we could afford budget-wise. This led us to constructing a 33’ high by 65’ wide and 65’ deep volume that was a whopping 270 degrees.  For the 30 or so days it stood, it was one of the largest functional volumes in the world. 

Were there any scenes where the virtual volume helped save time or budget without compromising visual quality? Did you love shooting in this environment?

For Flight Risk, virtual production was the perfect tool. That is not always true, but in our case, it checked all of the boxes.  With parallax not really being a factor thanks to the altitude at which the plane would be flying, we were largely able to avoid working in Unreal Engine.

If I had to guess, I’d say about 90% of what you see out the plane windows were plates that we acquired during our pre-production window.  
To that point, you live and die by what you see on the volume. Thanks to some incredible scouting done by Mel, Michael Ralla, our Line Producer Jenny Hinkey, and myself, we were able to chart a Flight path and acquire a diverse set of plates shot via long line from a helicopter piloted by Fred North. 

Michael and I then sat down and, based on the script, plotted out which plates would be used for every scene in the film. Those plates, which consisted of footage from six 8K Red Raptors shot in portrait mode, were then stitched together by Frame Store in LA to create  24k 360-degree plates, which we used on the volume.  

One of my favorite days on the film was when we were shooting a scene that took place at magic hour. 
It’s the first and perhaps only time in my career that I was able to shoot magic hour for 10+ hours in a single day!

You used a unique combination of practical and virtual lighting in the Flight Risk project. Could you explain how you designed the lighting to integrate the virtual volume with real elements?

The visuals in Flight Risk more or less had to be reverse-engineered.  Mel envisioned the final scene of the film taking place on the runway at night.  This made for a challenging final sequence, but in turn allowed me to craft an amazing visual lighting arc. 

The film takes place in near real time, starting with a pretty standard daylight look that then transitions to a later afternoon look, magic hour, blue hour, and finally a night look.  We also sprinkle in a few different cloud looks to keep it interesting. 

Every one of these looks had to be painstakingly married to the plates we were using on the volume.  That’s where an incredibly close collaboration with Gaffer Andy Lohrenz and Lighting Programmer Elton James came in.  
The three of us had to work hand in hand, tying any lighting changes, fluctuations in light, or effects together in a seamless fashion with the team from LUX Machina, who were running our volume.  

Our lighting almost entirely consisted of Aputure units (a bunch of Nova P600c’s), most of which were contained in softboxes hung on chain motors from points in the ceiling.  

You mentioned that the use of softboxes and movers played a crucial role. What were the main challenges in making the lighting dynamic and synchronized with the gimbal’s movement?

As I said, this production was one of cutting-edge technology and some really clever DIY solutions. One of the things that proved to be incredibly challenging for us was how to make the plane look like it was changing directions while under hard direct sunlight.  

While the plane could bank to the sides and tip up or tip down, it could not rotate hydraulically.  To overcome this, when changing directions on screen, the plane would bank on the gimbal, and the plates on the screen would begin to rotate in sync with what the plane was doing.  

This gave the illusion of the plane changing directions and worked incredibly well in almost every situation. The one exception was when we had hard direct light that was supposedly sourcing from the sun.  Ideally, we would have had a large unit on a techno crane that we would have moved as the plates rotated.  Unfortunately, we did not have the budget to carry a techno crane for 22 shooting days. 

This is where myself Andy Lohrenz and Elton James had to get creative. In order to have the sun shift from one side of the plane to the other, we would start with the hard sunlight, which was ideally created by one of our two movers, which were attached to the top of the volume at roughly 2 O’clock and 11 O’clock while facing into the volume.  

As the image on the volume rotated, whichever of those two lights that we were using would dim out, and we would pick up with a sun-shaped pattern of light created digitally by Elton, which would arc across the 20’x40’ LED panel hung above the plane.  

As the shape reached the other side of the LED panel, we would dim up one of two Aputure 1200D’s, which were placed on the open end of the volume at 5 and 7 O’clock positions. This gave off the appearance of the sun changing sides as the plane changed directions.  It was a fairly brilliant Lo-Fi solution to what could have been a very complicated problem.

When reading a script, you’ve mentioned that you initially try not to imagine the visuals. How do you balance your approach with the director’s vision to ensure visually authentic storytelling?

As a DP, it’s very easy to start picturing specific frames or lighting while reading a script.  As a matter of fact, while reading, there are times where I find myself lost in what a lighting setup might entail, especially if it is a large night exterior or something of a technically challenging nature.  

The problem is that when you do this, especially upon a first read, you can lose track of what the script truly is, a story. For me, understanding the material intimately before I begin visualizing it is very important.  

I need to know if the story is something I’m passionate about. Is it a story that I want to tell?  When I take on a film, it becomes all-encompassing, months of my life devoted to this one thing. I give it my all. 

So for me, understanding the story, the characters and their motivations is key.  It allows me to meet with a director with nothing visually set in stone. I’m able to listen to their take on the material and then develop my own ideas with an understanding of what they are looking for.  I find that a singular vision is almost never as strong as a true collaboration.

You’ve mentioned that your goal is always to “marry the visuals to the script.” Is there a specific moment in Flight Risk where you feel you achieved this perfect balance?

There’s a moment late in Flight Risk where Topher Grace is staring out the window, the life slipping out of him. In the script, it read: Winston smiles, comforted. Turns and looks out his window at the thick clouds passing by. Ghostly.

In pre-pro I pitched Mel on the idea of using the last moments of the sun to reflect what was taking place on screen.  To me, the fading, flickering sun reflected Winston’s struggle to stay alive.  This is a perfect example of the visuals supporting the story.  We enhance the moment by engaging the audience through lighting and framing.  

Now that’s a cool pivot—we started talking about the flight plan, and you’ve worked your magic again!
Big thanks to Johnny for connecting us with VFX Supervisor Michael Ralla, and welcome to FilmmakersWorld, Michael! Now, let’s dive into that flight plan!

Hi everyone! Thank you for having me! The flight plan was based on several components:

1. Interesting looking mountain formations discovered during first helicopter scouts.
2. Narrative requirements, like clouds, low passes, visible cliffs, water, or reveals of something.
3. Time of day and sun positions, capturing options that allow for different camera positions inside the plane.

We scouted the Sierras for several hours, continuously logging the flight path with a GPS tracking app and taking hundreds of photos on iPhones with positional meta data turned on. All that data was brought into Google Earth, we automatically ended up with clusters of photos in certain areas that were turned into way points.  

The plate capture flight path was then mapped out along natural geographical features connecting the waypoints with straight lines, but also trying to capture different sun positions.  While it was initially assumed that 90s was long enough for a continuous run, it paid off that the crew upped that length to 180s once the clips were used on the wall.

In other cases, specific things had to be visible not only in the frame, but also in the direction of travel:  A good example is a moment when the water of the Pacific Ocean is being revealed – which Lake Mono had to stand in for.  A very specific approach was needed to achieve a reveal from behind a mountain, while simultaneously losing altitude to get closer to the ocean level.

Even more specific was the footage for the final crash landing moment, which had to include choreographed actions from emergency vehicles on the ground. Time of day and sun positions was mostly driven by the DP’s desire to always have the sun in frame (final frame on the wall).  In some cases, reverse-printing.

Thank you so much Michael for all these insights, and let’s go back to the latest part of this interview Johnny!

Johnny, you worked closely with the Aputure team to develop custom firmware during the shoot. How important is it for you to collaborate with equipment manufacturers to push the boundaries of technology?

Throughout my career, collaboration with manufacturers has always been extremely important to me. Companies such as Sony, Arri, DJI and Aputure amongst others have gone out of their way to support me on many projects.  Knowing that these companies are constantly looking to improve, directly looking for feedback from working Cinematographers and crew shows how much they care. 

Aputure was incredible in the way they supported us on this film.  Going as far as to send Ben Dynice (Director of Product: UX/UI at Aputure) to set to visit with our lighting programmer Elton James in order to see where improvements could be made with the lights that we were using. 
I believe firmware updates were written to support our needs during production.

We all know that making a film is a team effort, and collaboration between departments is key. What was the most challenging aspect of working with the VFX team to integrate practical and virtual elements?

Collaboration between departments was integral to this film.  It is the smallest of things that can make or break the illusion of a plane flying thousands of feet in the air. For example, the scene where we enter the clouds. Unfortunately the day we shot the plates for this scene, we were not actually able to capture as many clouds as we would have liked in our plate. To sell this transition to the clouds, I would need the help of Lux Machina, Special Effects Supervisor Jesse Noel, Gaffer Andy Lohrenz, and lighting programmer Elton James. 

Lux Machina provided virtual clouds that could be overlaid on the footage on the volume in real time, while Jese Noel and his team pumped practical atmosphere on stage to mimic the foreground clouds.  At the same time, Gaffer Andy Lohrenz and lighting programmer Elton James added lighting effects to sell the hard sunlight transitioning into a much softer oscillating cloud look.

The combination of all these effects creates a very believable transition from strong daylight to all-encompassing clouds, foreshadowing the danger ahead.

The past two years have been extraordinary for you, with the success of the family film Unsung Hero, also distributed by Lionsgate, and Red Right Hand, directed by the Nelms brothers and starring Orlando Bloom.
Looking to the future, what is the next project you’re working on, and what types of projects would you love to be involved in as a cinematographer?

I am currently in pre-production on the sequel to the 2018 Lionsgate film I CAN ONLY IMAGINE.  After filming Unsung Hero, I realized how much I enjoyed both sharing my faith and telling inspirational stories.  My goal is to continue to make films that will inspire people and give them hope. 

Life is hard, and sometimes we need the reminder that we are not alone in what we are going through.  Seeing a character overcome struggles similar to those that we face can sometimes be the difference in whether we make it through or not.

If I can help bring hope to just one person, then I’ve done what I’ve set out to do.

A special thank you to Johnny Derango for his incredible passion and generosity in always sharing his process with the community, and for letting us be part of his challenge on this particular set!

For those looking to master suspenseful scenes, Flight Risk is a powerful case study in cinematic tension, lighting, and shot composition.

For all our loyal readers—stay tuned! A worldwide exclusive is on the way, featuring behind-the-scenes content from Flight Risk.

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See you soon for another deep dive,
The FilmmakersWorld Team