‘The Mandalorian’ Reuses Visual Effects From the Original ‘Star Wars’
The first season of Disney+’s The Mandalorian has been getting a lot of love. By blending old school and modern effects, it strikes a balance between the warm, fuzzy nostalgia of the original trilogy and the cutting-edge technology of the newer Star Wars films. In a recent interview with ICG Magazine (via io9), ILM VFX supervisor Richard Bluff details how the visual effects company's use of real-time technology forges a “greater connection” with the original Star Wars movies. Says Bluff:
There has been an enormous number of practical elements shot for previous Star Wars films, so we leveraged as much as possible from ILM’s asset library. For example, there’s a scene in episode five when Mando sees two Banthas off in the distance. I was adamant we shouldn’t build a fully animated and rigged furry Bantha for just two shots and suggested we pull out the plates from A New Hope’s dailies. I knew I could come up with a shot design to leverage the Banthas from that.
So basically, the reason that The Mandalorian feels so akin to A New Hope is because it uses actual footage and dailies from the movie itself. Bluff also reveals that the show uses an original Ralph McQuarrie matte painting for one of the fly-in shots of Tatooine. While it certainly is effective to reuse previous footage, it also helps build a connection to the time period The Mandalorian takes place in. The events of the series occur after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens, so it makes sense that the world of The Mandalorian feels more like the original trilogy. It also serves as an Easter egg of sorts to fans who have been watching Star Wars since the beginning.
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