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www.postmagazine.com 23 POST JANUARY 2017 ROGUE ONE T he first in the "Star Wars Anthology" series, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story takes place shortly before the events of the original Star Wars, when Rebel spies, led by Jyn Erso, set out to steal the design schematics for the Galactic Empire's new superweapon, the Death Star. The film is produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. "The idea of the anthology stories is to explore stories in the Star Wars universe in ways we haven't seen before," says Nigel Sumner, VFX supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM; www.ilm.com). Director Gareth Edwards and DP Greig Fraser "have created unique visuals through cinematography, lensing and lighting, but the design language seg- ues directly to 'A New Hope' — there's a wonderful legacy look and feel to Rogue One. I'd love to see a double feature with both films!" Sumner saw his first Star Wars film — Return of the Jedi — when he was seven. "It held such a warm place in my heart," he says. Little did he know that he'd grow up to work on episodes 2 and 3 at ILM and play a major role in a new chapter in the Star Wars franchise. Rogue One is "comparable to other Star Wars pictures in the number of VFX shots: These films tend to have a high shot count," notes Sumner. While prepro was centered at ILM's San Francisco and London studios (principal photography was done at Elstree Studios near London), VFX-shot production involved the creative talents of all four ILM facilities: San Francisco, London, Vancouver and Singapore. "For every project we reinforce and strengthen the pipelines already established between studios," Sumner explains. "The volume of work required for a picture of this scope and scale can really challenge a system." Work was "placed strategically" among the studios, he says, with "sizable chunks owned cre- atively by each studio, from layout to final effects and compositing." The Third Floor (www. thethirdfloorinc.com) created previs, techvis and postvis for the mov- ie under previs supervi- sor Barry Howell and UK lead Margaux Durand- Rival. The team began working with Lucasfilm and ILM's art depart- ments in San Francisco in November 2014, then started production in the UK at the beginning of 2015 with artists from The Third Floor London. The company brought its own Star Wars heritage to the project: Its six cofounders met on the third floor of the Main House at Skywalker Ranch during the making of episode 3. "When we finished, we had enjoyed working together so much that we decided to form our own company," says Howell. "Now we're one of the largest previs companies around, em- ploying over 250 people worldwide, so it was quite enjoyable to be able to return to our roots and work with some of the same colleagues again." In providing previs for Rogue One, The Third Floor was asked to show "the feel of the mov- ie's aesthetics — the mood, the atmosphere, the lighting — so you felt like you were watching the first pass of the movie," Howell explains. "Gareth was very clear about wanting to feel the emotion. Lighting played a huge part in his storyboards, which were more like mood paintings. He wanted us to capture that in the previs." The Third Floor's previs touched "all of the big action pieces" as well as vehicle interiors and "smaller emotional moments you don't normally associate with previs," he says. The most fun was developing ways to reveal the Death Star and the destruction it brings. "We knew it would be the big moment in the movie, the moment everybody remembers, so we wanted to nail it as best we could," Howell recalls. "Gareth gave us sketches and the variables and let us play. We provided options that progressed through multiple iterations that integrated old and new elements." Although The Third Floor employed its usual The Third Foor's previs touched all action sequences. BARRY HOWEL, THE THIRD FLOOR