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10 cgw j a n u a r y . f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 7 T H E B A T T L E B E G I N S At the end of Episode III, the Empire con- trolled the galaxy, and the surviving heroes were in hiding or pretending to support the Imperials. The plot for Rogue One exists between the lines in the opening crawl of Lucasfilm's Episode IV: A New Hope, the first Star Wars film. That scrolling text described a Rebel attack and the the of Death Star plans by Rebel spies. But, no feature film had Rebel spaceships winning their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire, and none featured Rebel spies stealing secret plans for the Death Star. That opened an opportunity no Star Wars fan could resist, and ILM artists are among the most passionate Star Wars fans. The first two acts of Rogue One set up the the attempt during a gigantic space battle that takes place through the third act. "This project was one of the most fun I've ever been on," says Rogue One Visual Effects Supervisor Nigel Sumner. "It's Star Wars." Artists in all four of ILM's studios worked on the film creating digital set extensions, ships, and characters, with Sumner supervising work in San Francisco and Vancouver, Mohen Leo supervising effects in London, and Alex Pritchard overseeing the artists in Singapore. Hal Hickel was overall animation supervisor. All four supervisors – Knoll, Sumner, Leo, and Hickel – received BAFTA nominations for their work. ILM's artists received seven VES award nominations, the most of any feature film in competition this year. And, Knoll, Leo, Hickel, and Special Effects Supervisor Neil Corbould received Oscar nominations. "All our studios have great talent, so we don't put the hardest work here or there," Hickel says. "It's really down to the produc- ers and coordinators to balance the work among the studios." When the volume of work permitted, each studio concentrated on one of the four key locations. London artists built digital sets and created effects for sequences filmed in Jor- don that stood in for the desert moon Jedha. Singapore artists handled the Rebel attack on the stormy planet Eadu. Vancouver artists worked from plate photography taken in the Maldives and the RAF Bovingdon Air Station in the UK for sequences on Scarif that take place during the ground battle. The San Francisco crew managed the space battle that intercuts with the Scarif ground battle and occupies the entire third act. Technical innovations for the film largely centered on new systems developed for the production and the digital humans Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia Organa, creat- ed in the San Francisco studio. O N - S E T V F X The filmmakers shot most of Rogue One on stages at Pinewood Studios near London. There, to give the director, cinematographer, and actors a view of the larger surround- ings in which they'd appear in the film, ILM displayed pre-rendered visual effects on huge LED screens. Sometimes those images would be in-camera and appear in final shots. For example, when Jyn is on Corus- cant, actor Jones could see the city-covered planet out her window, and the director and cinematographer could film those views. "It was nice for Gareth [Edwards] and the DP because they could get the appropriate lighting," Leo says. "Also, it allowed Gareth to choose compositions he might not have chosen if he had only seen bluescreen." A 270-degree dome made from LED panels that surrounded a hydraulic motion base took the idea to an extreme. ILM worked with The Third Floor to generate 360-degree animated content displayed on the LED panels. Those moving images would surround an actor riding inside a spaceship "cockpit" on the motion base. "The cockpit moved, and on all sides the actors would see the animated content, the planets, ships, laser fire, and explosions," Leo says. "They'd feel like they were in space. Gareth could switch from one planet to an- other, get the lighting he wanted, and call out explosions and attacks with TIE fighters." With the press of a button, the LED screens could even flash dramatic streaks as if a ship entered hyperspace. "People could not get enough of it," Leo says, laughing as he admits to taking a few hyperspace rides himself. "A lot of peo- ple came by and wanted to be sent into hyperspace. It was a really impressive setup. We used it quite a bit for the space battle and some other scenes. Most of the X-wing and U-wing content was shot on that stage because we got such nice lighting interac- tion on the actors and the cockpit. In many cases, we would replace what we see out the cockpit windows with higher-quality images appropriate for where the shot landed in cuts later, but we had moving reflections and THE DEATH DESTROYER SEEN HOVERING MENACINGLY IN THE ATMOSPHERE WAS ONE OF MANY SPACESHIPS BUILT AT ILM.