Exclusive: See Early-Stage CGI from Captain America: Brave New World

Digital Domain, a visual effects studio, has unveiled an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at a key moment from Captain America: Brave New World, presented by Digital Trends. This intense scene, lasting over eight minutes, features Captain America (played by Anthony Mackie) and the Falcon (Danny Ramirez) stepping into a dogfight above the Pacific Ocean between US and Japanese forces, an encounter that risks escalating into war.

The standout aspect of this sequence is its reliance on computer-generated imagery (CGI). “We captured plenty of footage with Anthony Mackie suspended on wires, but in the end, the entire scene was rendered using CGI,” explained Cameron Ward, the previsualization supervisor at Digital Domain.

In the previsualization clip, viewers can see the foundational CGI work that constructed the expansive ocean setting from the ground up. According to Ward, the primary hurdle was not the creation of the vast environment, but rather the rapid speeds at which the characters and objects were moving.

“The major challenge was the velocity of the action,” Ward stated. “We had missiles zipping through the sky at 600 miles per hour above the open sea, which we had to fabricate from scratch. We needed to position our camera to give the sensation that Captain America was flying past at that speed pursuing them. So the question was: how do we convey that visually?”

Crafting Realism Beyond Characters

Another significant task for the team was the creation of clouds. Digital Domain developed a proprietary cloud shader tool designed to replicate the sizes, shading, textures, and opacity levels found in natural clouds. By layering four to six cloud renderings, they achieved the varying brightness and depth characteristic of real clouds.

Light and shadow played a critical role in enhancing realism, especially over the reflective ocean surface. The team meticulously replicated the way sunlight bounces off the water, creating shadows to ensure a lifelike appearance. Each frame involving a jet or character soaring through the air was scrutinized to render accurate shadows on the ocean below.

Before taking on Captain America, Ward had contributed to several major projects, including The Last of Us, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Thunderbolts. He noted that Brave New World was his most ambitious undertaking thus far. Digital Domain dedicated a full year to the project. “I’ve been with Digital Domain for five years,” he remarked. “This is the largest sequence I’ve ever worked on. As development progressed, it became considerably more CGI than we initially planned, especially as we ran into issues with reflections in certain shots.”

Captain America: Brave New World is now available for home viewing. The Marvel film is set to release on DVD and Blu-ray on May 13, with Disney+ subscribers able to stream it starting May 28.