Tuesday 16 October 2012

Star Wars Ep 1: The Pod Race Case Study



George Lucas: ‘The secret to film is that it’s an illusion… created 24 frames per second. You have the illusion of movement… space and time'.



One shot of ‘The Phantom Menace’ usually took the talent of 40/50 people to create. Digital technology allowed more freedom to build epic landscapes and speed-up the production process. Usually big films have about 250 VFX shots, Titanic (1997) had 450/500… Star Wars: Ep1 has 1700/ 2000. Models were built for up to 5 weeks, and destroyed for an explosion shot. The story is a mix between performance, subtlety, behaviour and pacing. Each shot is designed like a painting, but it is the quality of the VFX which need to be at a high standard, across the board. Also Sound is important!- helps build fines the visual.

The best compliment any VFX artist can receive is that no one knew there were any effects in the film.


George Lucas: ‘How can we manage to change the operating procedures in a way that we can completely revolutionise the way we make movies?’






I remember watching this on VHS when I was young and being amazed by just the idea of the pod race. I was never into racing games or even a fan of Star Wars at the time, but this race was just amazing. I watch it now and I'm still amazed at how well ILM have combined the use of CGI characters, matte painting, live action, miniatures, SFX and even hand puppets to create such a believable environment. I really like this sequence because you can almost disconnect it from the rest of the film and still understand what’s happening. Yes, it is the classic ‘underdogs unbelievable win’, that is often found in American cinema but the action is lively. It has a fast paced edit and occasional funny parts to compliment the action. It draws you in and makes you forget that it’s all effects. Small details have been taken into consideration which normally you wouldn't notice. The drivers, characteristics individualise their pods. Close up shots actually show the engines powering up. Parts on the machinery move showing how much power and force they carry. And throughout all this I'm still trying to figure out what is CGI, and what is a miniature model.

      


Terrain and backgrounds also fit the atmosphere. The area is like a desert so there is dust/sand which covers distant objects and just to add that extra bit of oomph, the camera shakes as the pods get close. Not forgetting that sound of Sebulbas giant orange pod engines. Then come the crashes, each individually manufactured, so the miniature engine catches fire but in the next scene it’s a duplicate CGI engine rolling on the ground as chunks break off, and you couldn't tell the difference until you were told. One of my favourite things that add to the realism is the fact that the pods are flexible when they turn corners. I mean, we know that the driver’s seat is held on by two cables but the animators have paid close attention to how the pod turns through the rocky terrain, so the engines turn first and the seat drags behind.

     


Speed, smoke, shadow and reflection are given importance, especially during shots from a distance. These are just small things which help build the picture up and make it believable. There are certain areas where pods are blurred more as they approach the camera and as they get further away. I quite like this idea, as oppose to blurring the whole thing to show speed, it gives the viewer a good chance to see which pod has gone past, perhaps also the emotion of the character on board.


      

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The Fast and The Furious

I am able to see similarities between the pod race and other race films; Camera shakes, moving parts on machinery, added fire, smoke and sparks and driver’s reactions (which are similar to the way the cables on the pods in Star Wars move). Miniatures are not used as everything is digitalised. These, sometimes subtle additions keep the viewer’s sense of realism blurred so that he/she accepts the obvious CGI effects.



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ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) is a subsidiary of George Lucas’ film production company, Lucas Film. It was put together when Lucas began producing the Star Wars film series. Using many technical and creative innovations, ILM has helped drive the evolution of visual effects. This involves blue-screen photography, matte painting and miniature models, developing motion control cameras, optical compositing and other advances in effects tech. ILM is a leading company in the use of computer graphics and digital imaging in feature films since 1980. They developed techniques such as digital compositing, morphing, simulations, Imocap and the EXR file format.

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