Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/977547
14 cgw | e d i t i o n 1 , 2 0 1 8 yard of low-tech design, a language that extends to visual effects. We used model kits as building blocks. And movement is even part of the language. When you look at the stop motion Phil Tippett gave the walkers, it's astonishing. But, not for a modern audience. With our new walkers, the AT-M6s, we wanted to bring that slightly jerky mechanical feel and marry it with high-resolution models, incredible ac- tion on the ground, and better weight shi. We aren't breaking the umbilical. We're working within the visual language." Similarly, the camera moves in Jedi reflect physical cameras. "Rian didn't want a magic camera," Morris says. "He wanted it to feel like the film could have been shot with a physical camera, not in space, but with miniatures. We tried to avoid fast zooms, breaking too hard, objects that would have torn off a camera lens when they went by. But at the same time, we put together sequences that could not have been executed 25 years ago." Or, even a few years ago. Take Snoke, for example. In The Force Awakens, the character who appears on screen is a 25- foot hologram. Johnson wondered about putting an actor in makeup on set to create Snoke, but it was clear that Snoke's carved face couldn't be created with makeup. He had to be digital. "Rian was concerned," Morris says. " 'Can we achieve that?' he asked. I said, 'Of course we can. We have the best team in the world.' " ENTER THE GALAXY Officially, there are 1,848 visual effects shots in the film, but Morris also super- vised an additional 360 digital makeup fix shots and between 150 and 200 produc- tion fixes by Stereo D, bringing the total to well over 2,000. Preproduction began at Pinewood Stu- dios near London, with Morris and Keene on site, and with concept art and designs under way by ILM's Senior Art Director Kevin Jenkins, who became Lucasfilm design super visor for the film. Albert Chang from The Third Floor worked with Morris, Johnson, and a small team of artists at Pinewood doing previs that moved storyboards from Dave Allcott into three dimensions. At the four ILM studios – London, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Singapore – ap- proximately 1,000 artists contributed to the film, along with seven third-party collabora- tors. The visual effects Oscar nominations given to Morris and ILM London Supervisor Mike Mulholland honors their work. "Dividing the work was almost like a casting process," Morris says. "We knew we would do [the digital characters] Maz and Snoke in London to continue the work on Force Awakens. And, the big sequence with the Fathiers, the large horse-like creatures, would be in London because I wanted to be close to the animation team. Then, we chatted with the supervisors from different locations. Mike Mulholland in London was keen to do a space battle. Eddie Pasquarello in San Francisco worked with Alex Prichard in Singapore to do everything in the third act. Dan Seddon had the megahangar, the island, and worked with Rodeo FX and Hybrid in Montreal. One of the nice things about these films is that everyone wants to work on them. So, we wanted to give every- one some meat." Filming took place at Pinewood, on location at Skellig Michael island, the Dingle Peninsula, and other places in Ireland, as well as in Cro- atia, Bolivia, Iceland, and the UK. Continuing from the last scenes in The Force Awakens, the film begins on Skellig Michael, where Rey (Daisy Ridley) hands a lightsaber to Luke Sky- walker (Mark Hamill), but many other shots in the film took place on greenscreen stages with practical sets at Pinewood. In addition to the actors on set were several characters, some of which would become digital in postproduction. Puppets for the horse-like Fathier appeared in five shots but otherwise were digital, created in London. Half the cute Porgs were anima- tronic, but to extend their range and humor, digital Porgs were animated in Vancouver and San Francisco. There was an anima- tronic for the crystal foxes, but it wasn't in the film. They were created in San Francisco. Andy Serkis performed digital Snoke wearing motion-capture gear, and Mark Hamill does a cameo performance as Dobbu Scay, a drunk- en digital toad alien that burps on BB-8. "Mark said, 'Give me a character. I've never done the suit thing,' " Morris says. "So we built this ginger-haired character with a monocle." BB-8 was an animatronic most of the time, although when he's running and when he rides in the back of Poe's [Oscar Isaac's] X-wing, he's digital. "The actors love having the practical BB-8 on set," Morris says. "But, you can't tell the difference with the CG version." Yoda was an animatronic, enhanced with effects to appear as a hologram. Many of the stormtroopers were actors in suits, although when you see crowds of troopers, most are digital. And, stunt actors MODELERS REFERENCED SHIPS FROM THE FIRST TRILOGY TO CREATE THE ENORMOUS NEW DREADNOUGHT.