Did Michael Bay Recycle Pearl Harbor Footage Into Transformers?
How do you make a huge blockbuster summer action flick for only $150 million? You cut costs in every area you can. You might recognize one or two of the shots from Transformers, because it's likely that Michael Bay recycled them from his other films. Why spend a boat load (pun intended) of cash for a shot of an aircraft carrier if you already have one in the avid editing bay?
The shot above was captured from the high definition version of the Transformers trailer (as we don't have access to a film print). The photo below is from Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. Okay, so they aren't completely identical. The contrast and saturation are changed, and oh yeah, there are fighter jets on the aircraft carrier. May-be those were computer created?
Update: Mark Bush has answered my question in the comments below. The shot from Pearl Harbor is actually the shot they had to touch up with computers, while the Transformers shot is likely the original.
The lower was CG due to trying to make a copy of USS HORNET for the Pearl Harbor movie along with adding the B-25 removing all radar and communications from the mast and changing the lighting to bland the details of the hull to make the shot less obvious that it was a modern carrier.