Set in France, Flyboys follows the journey of young Americans as they learn to fight and fly at a time when airplanes had barely taken flight.

During the period, the average life expectancy of pilots was a paltry three to six weeks. Over the course of the war, the brave pilots came up against the top German aces of the time, flying the dreaded Fokker tri-wing aircraft.

The panel was made up of producer Dead Devlin (The Patriot, Stargate), Director Tony Bill (My Bodyguard, The Sting), visual effects producer Mark Franco and actor David Ellison. Among the hot topics of the panel were the stunningly realistic visual effects, which were mostly achieved through the use of computer graphics. 

In order to create a degree of realism that has yet to be achieved in CG flight, the visual effects team set out with a flying ace of their own, a six-time British acrobatics champion, who performed all the maneuvers in an actual WW I era warplane.  The effects team employed a sophisticated computer tracking system to gather telemetry data, which was then fed into their computer rendering software, giving the airplanes realistic flight characteristics while giving the directors creative control over elements such as camera angles, colors and lighting. 

Live action from the film's actors was partially shot on green screen, allowing the visual effects artists to seamlessly integrate the actors into the computer generated action.  The finished action shots bring the intimacy of the cockpit together with the drama unfolding in the blue beyond.  The visuals from the film are truly stunning, bringing vividly to life a long gone period in aviation history.

The stunt pilots weren't the only pilots on the film's crew.  James Franco, one of the films leading actors, earned his pilot's license before shooting the film.  Franco, who was unable to attend the conference as he was in the middle of shooting Spiderman 3, delivered a video-taped introduction to some of the preview scenes.  Actor David Ellison has been flying since the age of 16 and felt a strong connection to the characters, as they struggled through the infancy of air warfare. 

But the film isn't just about visuals.  The story, as described by host Anthony Ferrante of If Magazine, is what Pearl Harbor aspired to be.  Audiences will have to decide whether Flyboys meets the challenge.

One interesting non-Flyboys item: producer Dean Devlin stated that he was in talks to produce the two sequels to the sci-fi hit, Stargate. He said, "I'd want the films to stay on track for what the original three were planned to be, I want to let the series stand on their own." He is currently in talks with MGM for these projects.

The film was produced independently and will be distributed by MGM on September 29.