Computer Graphics World

Edition 1 2020

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16 cgw e d i t i o n i , 2 0 2 0 look like they were hovering. I've always been a fan and amateur historian of the visual effects ILM has done over the years, and I was programming motion-control rigs when I was doing stop motion at Will Vinton's studio in the '80s and '90s. So, I'm familiar with the basic technology." That came in handy for Mando's ship, the RazorCrest, which is sometimes digital and sometimes a motion-controlled miniature. RazorCrest To stay within the Star Wars aesthetic, Hickel paid close attention the way spaceships moved in the early films so that shots with digital ships would have the same look. "I think a lot of the look came from George [Lucas] using scenes from the Battle of Britain, from real aerial photography of fighter planes, of WWII planes shot with long lenses in which they're trying to keep the plane in frame. That set the tone. So you don't see the ships traveling a lot in camera, but the sky whooshes by. Also, you don't see spaceships coming from infinity and whooshing past back into infinity because they didn't have enough motion-control track." So when Favreau asked if ILM could build a miniature and shoot the RazorCrest shots practically, the crew agreed. If it had been a known ship, the answer would probably have been no because the studio has so much experience making the digital ships look like the old ones. But, the RazorCrest was new. And having a miniature would be helpful as they built and lit the digital version. Also, although they didn't have time to build a model with working landing gear, and flying over terrain would be tricky, they found around 15 shots that could work with motion control. John Goodson, who had worked in ILM's model shop in the 1980s and '90s and then moved into digital shipbuilding, built the miniature RazorCrest in his garage. John Knoll, ILM's chief creative officer, built the motion-control rig in his garage and wrote the soware to run it. Hickel designed the camera moves. They set up the rig with a 50-foot-long track and a camera with a pan and tilt head on ILM's motion-capture stage. "Everyone was excited about building models and doing the shots old school," Porter says. "It was a very successful way to give the shots a Star Wars look." The team also relied on others at ILM who have been with the studio since the early days, such as visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and Lorne Peterson, former model supervisor at ILM, now retired. Peter Daulton, an assistant cameraman at ILM on Return of the Jedi, and now a digital artist at ILM, was especially helpful as Hickel designed the camera moves. "I'd ask him if he were shooting, what lens would he use, how long was the tracking," Hickel says. "Shooting with physical motion control limited us in the same way as the original filmmakers. It gives the shots a certain look." Thus, in The Mandalorian, we can see the best of 20th century and 21st century visual effects filmmaking techniques. Shooting actors in an LED volume is a long way from filming spaceships with a motion-control rig, but the combination keeps audiences guessing and creates the unique Star Wars look and feel. On to Season 2! Barbara Robertson (BarbaraRR@comcast.net) is an award-winning writer and a contributing editor for CGW. A Group Effort Several vendors created the visual effects for The Mandalorian: Industrial Light & Magic was the lead vendor, developed StageCra, created all the digital environments for the LED wall, and worked on several sequences. Overall visual effects super- visor Richard Bluff, with help from ILM visual effects supervisor Jason Porter, led teams of artists in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, and Singapore who worked on the show. They craed the AT-ST's nighttime journey through the forest and the battle with the walker in Chapter 4, the lava tunnel and TIE Fighter attack in Chapter 8, and all the miniature flying space shots of the RazorCrest. ILM's Hal Hickel supervised all the animation on the series. Hybride did most of the IG-11 perfor- mances, plus environment work, espe- cially in Chapter 1 at the raider village. Pixomondo worked on the Blurrgs, the desert in Chapter 5, mud planet work in Chapter 2, and other environ- ments throughout the series. Image Engine artists were heav- ily involved with the nighttime street battle at the end of Chapter 3 and the prison-break droid work in Chapter 6, among other shots. Ghost created set extensions for the sanctuary garden planet in Chapter 4, working along with ILM artists who did the establishing shots. They also han- dled the flashback scenes with the child Mando being chased by killer droids. Base also did set extensions on the garden planet and the forge effects in the armorer's workshop. MPC did the entire nighttime speed- er bike chase in Chapter 5, a brief scene outside the hangar with The Child and Mando on bikes, an encounter with the Tusken Raiders, and the hover cart traveling shots in Chapter 4. ILP created holograms and fitted characters with digital prostheses in the bar on the ice planet. StereoD did cleanup and probably had the highest shot count of all the vendors. The RazorCrest was sometimes digital and sometimes a motion-control miniature.

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