How Jordan Peele Captured The Seemingly Impossible Nope On Film

Not many of us ever think about the effort that goes into getting the right shot in a film. That is unless you work as a cinematographer or you have a very particular vision about how you want something to turn out. If there’s one person who knows how to take the audience on a ride and make them feel more than uncomfortable, it’s Jordan Peele.

The psychological horrors ‘Get Out’ and ‘Us’ firmly put his name on the map, with many eager to see what ‘Nope’ would bring to the table. It turns out, an incredible story about a UFO that is nothing like what we’ve seen before and shots that almost seemed unthinkable. That was until Jordan Peele came along and captured the seemingly impossible ‘Nope’ on film.

Filming The Impossible scene meant Jordan Peele had to be creative

When it comes to a scene that the director refers to as The Impossible, it might give you a few clues about the effort that went into bringing this shot to life. Jordan Peele confessed he initially wanted to work with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, but their schedules didn’t work out for the scene. Even though he shopped around for other people he knew in the business, nothing was giving the director the shot he was looking for. It wasn’t until a couple of months later, when Hoyte was free, that the pair created something of cinema magic. They needed to shoot a huge landscape at night while keeping the feeling that it was expansive. The problem? Shooting at night means there is no natural source of light, but shooting in the day and editing it to look like night can be obvious to those in the business. Instead, Hoyte and Jordan had to use an infrared camera during the day, but that offered new issues as they only shoot in black and white. Eventually, they used another camera to capture the color, layered them over each other, and tweaked a few things to make it look like nighttime.

Shooting through a tablecloth was easier said than done

Using forced perspective is something a host of cinematographers have learned to utilize, with ‘Nope’ doing just that. A scene that sees trained animals head to the highest point might look like it’s shot through a tablecloth, and that’s because it is. The idea was to show the scene from the perspective of Jupe, the kid, with things being scaled up on the set to fit with the feel of it all. Jordan Peele added that having the tablecloth in the way of it all also created a sort of veil between the camera and the audience as everything begins to unfold.

The dusty chase scene might have been the toughest to film of them all

A galloping horse, dust, and a UFO. Does it get harder to film than that? Not according to Jordan Peele. The ‘Nope’ director confessed they had to use someone to create fake dust in a helicopter and a highly trained horse ridden by a stuntman to bring the scene to life. That was all while Jordan and Houte van Hoytema were in a rig trying to capture the moment. Apparently, it took several takes until they had a take they could use, but even that wasn’t easy. Hoyte admitted he struggled to keep up with the horse as the car just wasn’t fast enough, meaning he had to pan around in an attempt to capture the moment.

Having so many layers made one UFO scene a challenge to bring to life

Everything about seeing the monster in the distance was meant to be a subtle feature, but it wasn’t long until Jordan Peele and the team learned just how much work would go into bringing the ‘Nope’ scene to life. For one, there was the UFO in the distance. Then there was the fact it was raining, and it was being shot through the window. All of this meant Jordan and the others needed to take a step back and think about how much you would really see through the window, resulting in layers upon layers of water. Of course, being at night was just another layer to the challenge, but one they ultimately managed to bring to life oh-so-perfectly.

Learning how Jordan Peele captured the seemingly impossible ‘Nope’ on film goes to show that anything is possible if you know what you’re doing. After all, Jordan is known for his incredible shots and stories; is it any surprise he did it again with his latest project? Probably not.