The Making of Star Wars - Pioneering Special Effects, VFX, and Sound Design
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- Star Wars Behind the Scenes of A New Hope - a look back at how George Lucas and ILM pushed special effects, visual effects, and sound design to create a blockbuster from a galaxy far, far away.
The Making of Star Wars ►► bit.ly/hs-sw
StudioBinder Blog ►► bit.ly/sb-bl
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro - Star Wars Behind the Scenes
00:54 - Effective Budgeting
01:32 - Chapter 1: Practical Effects
04:05 - Chapter 2: Compositing Effects
08:36 - Chapter 3: Sound Design
11:26 - Takeaways
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Edited by MIKE STEELE
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Special thanks to:
Eyes On Cinema ►► bit.ly/sd-sw
Roadtrip Nation ►► bit.ly/bb-sw, bit.ly/fe-sw
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STAR WARS BEHIND THE SCENES - THE MAKING OF A NEW HOPE
The making of Star Wars A New Hope is stuff of legend. Today, blockbuster movies are a dime-a-dozen and the magic of how they’re actually created has all but disappeared. But in 1977, George Lucas and his team at ILM were still magicians, crafting never-before-seen imagery that changed the industry forever. In this short making of Star Wars documentary, we’ll explain how they evolved practical effects, compositing techniques, and sound design.
STAR WARS MOVIES SPECIAL EFFECTS
Compared to the scope and vision of George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away, Star Wars was a low-budget production. One of the ways they were able to pull this off was to use practical effects. This ranged from making Luke’s landspeeder to be a functional vehicle but appeared to float above the ground, to the extensive use of matte paintings that could extend the sets and add extras.
STAR WARS VISUAL EFFECTS
What the crew couldn’t accomplish on set, the visual effects team handled. For example, some of the most dazzling sequences in the film are the space battles. But up until that time, the compositing techniques for photographing a ship in space was very limited. To capture the WWII dogfight footage Lucas shared as inspiration, the ships needed to have more dynamic mobility. The solution was something called the Dykstraflex, a motion-control camera that could be programmed precisely to execute the same movements multiple times. This allowed them to capture as many elements as they needed while giving the ships the desired movement and energy in the frame.
STAR WARS SFX
The final element in creating a fantastical yet believable world was the sound design. To be fair, the concept of a sound designer didn’t even exist yet. Ben Burtt, responsible for the sound effects coined the term for himself, essentially creating a new filmmaking role in the process. Here, too, revolutionary changes were being made to create the most iconic sounds like R2-D2’s bleeps and bloops, Darth Vader’s ominous breathing, and, of course, the hum of the lightsabers. To do this, Burtt mixed the sounds of a humming projector with a TV set - the swinging sabers were created by playing this sound through a speaker and waving a microphone in front of it.
Without all these innovations, there’s a good chance Star Wars would’ve simply gone unnoticed. Instead, it raised the bar for filmmaking in Hollywood with low-budget techniques to create an unforgettable cultural experience.
#FilmTheory #VideoEssay #Filmmaking
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♬ SONGS USED:
"Main Title" - John Williams
"Dojo Tradition" - In This World
"Princess Leia's Theme" - John Williams
"Imperial Attack" - John Williams
"Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack" - John Williams
"Cantina Band" - John Williams
"The Last Battle - John Williams
"Rescue of the Princess" - John Williams
"The Princess Appears" - John Williams
"Glass" - Claudio Laucci
"The Blue Danube (Excerpt) (2001 A Space Odyssey Soundtrack)" - Johann Strauss II
"1986" - Angel Salazar
"Mouse Robot and Blasting Off" - John Williams
"Assembly Line Dreams" - Ostin Drais
"The Little People Work" - John Williams
"The Walls Converge" - John Williams
"The Throne Room and End Title" - John Williams
Music by Artlist ► utm.io/umJx
Music by Artgrid ► utm.io/umJy
Music by Soundstripe ► bit.ly/2IXwomF
Music by MusicBed ► bit.ly/2Fnz9Zq
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro - Star Wars Behind the Scenes
00:54 - Effective Budgeting
01:32 - Chapter 1: Practical Effects
04:05 - Chapter 2: Compositing Effects
08:36 - Chapter 3: Sound Design
11:26 - Takeaways
PLEASE do a cinematic deep dive into the work of the Shaw Brothers. Their cinematography techniques inspired many of us to this day.
Will you also please make a video on Terminator 1 and 2 how they shot it?
😢😢😢
We forget how difficult it was to make movies like this. The creativity and technical prowess here is so inspiring.
They left no stone unturned
it is still hard. CGI requires long hours of labor too.
but now days people just dismiss it as if it's something easy. saying "that's just CGI".
problem is, producers and directors who are not familiar with CGI also think it's something easy, and are unwilling to pay enough money to the CG artists.
@David Jacobs yea the reasons why movies are so expensive these days is because the over use of CGI practical effects aren't gonna go away as they are just too dam conventional and low cost
this star wars movie - a new hope - may be the most creative endeavour in history.
@@davidjacobs8558people dismiss CGI not because they think it's easy, but because it took out all the creativity and inventions you needed to make a movie while using as less money as possible, and amaze tge crowds... People used to look at a movie and wondered "wow, how did they manage to do that scene" while now, you already know it's just CGI and you rate how good or bad it is, which is boring... The only thing movies have fun now is the story and acting
your narrator is seriously dope man, give him a raise or smth
I wholeheartedly second this statement ^^^^
I third.
This might be a dumb question but Why does he sound so loud and clear compared to every other narrator on UA-cam?
@@BurritoFireo96 Most narrators are just the people who made the video. I don’t know if this narrator was hired specifically to narrate, but if he was it would allow them to look for someone with conviction in their voice.
They also may have a larger budget for sound equipment.
@@dmc1943 yeah their mic quality’s always sounds so crisp and well-mixed. Impressive honestly, for a youtube channel to be able to maintain this level of quality over a span of several years, and that goes for both independent and non independent channels
And this is why this first Trilogy is a classic masterpiece.
Dang, George really went through it to make his dream come true. No wonder why Star Wars still holds up today
It paid off like no other film haha
Crazy how Star Wars still holds up today!! And ILM deserve a ton of praise because without this film, they wouldn’t have been able to do more Star Wars films and other movies as well!!
Agreed!
And Weta as well
A good story and fine acting also play an important role in the film's continued success.
@@allenjones3130 Agreed! Especially Sir Alec Guinness, David Prowse, and James Earl Jones.
Since i also edit videos
I can understand how difficult it was back then. They had to actually make a camera and computer for it on a string budget 😮 so if something was wrong in the shot they had to refilm and remake it. Now we can see it while we make it with a click of a button
All this stuff was common knowledge for geeks of my generation but you're doing the Lord's work here, teaching the youngins that special effects didn't begin with CGI.
VistaVision isn’t a film stock, but a wide-screen format camera that had been more or less forgotten. While it is true that film grain was an important factor, the registration of this format (also the base for IMAX later) moving laterally (rather than vertically)
through the shutter, and the registration system, made for a much more stable frame, avoiding the sort of registration error that could undermine any mattes or rotoscoping. There were ma,y optical probs that had to be overcome for this to work, but you get the gist.
The practical effects in this never fail to shock me
Game-changer for sure
These days the magic of Star Wars is away, but the first movies are so beautiful to watch, even after almost 40 - 50 years
The team's efforts paid off!
Speak for yourself about the magic being gone I still find the movies amazing.
@@alexanderharris8310 Lol!
Sound design is the single most important element when creating emotion in your audience. IMO.
Incredibly important!
I designed saber and sword prop sounds for a decade (no joke). I have been inspired by Ben Burtt for decades.
It's hard to believe that I've crafted over 9000 sounds. And now, I've designed a ton for my own project and series ("Diamond Dragons").
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
Hi StudioBinder. I don't think I ever thanked you for sharing your documentaries on youtube. They are always interesting as well as entertaining. Thanks.
The skill to do something like this is incredible! Credit due to all of the people Lucas hired to make his crazy ideas a reality.
We're all lucky they got to work on it
No matter the quality of a star wars project. No one can deny how the special effects are always top notch.
For the next 'How They Shot It' I recommend: Alien, Blade Runner or Stalker
Thanks for the suggestion!
My debut film 'Miss Scarlet' will be released soon. Thanks to Studio Binder for helping me to be the director. One day, Studio Binder will explain my directing style in the playlist of director's playbook. Remember the name, Baliram Chauhan (The B.C)
Congratulations!
Or not
@@jackkroll1963 They will....
Whoever edited the music in the background, that was amazing!
The extra time doing such thorough motion design doesn't go unnoticed, these are great pieces of content.
Greatness is in the details 💯
I saw this in theater as a child. From that day forward I was interested in filmmaking and SPFX. From that day forward, I wanted to work with ILM.
Well I don’t work for ILM, but I am involved in filmmaking and SPFX today! Thanks George Lucas!
Congrats!
Congrats!
@@StudioBinder well, except I never worked for ILM and I only got into filmmaking at the age of 50 after a career that was much more boring.
@@SomewhatAbnormal And that career was?
@@jesustovar2549 not that it's relevant to this conversation, but I started as a graphic designer in 1989, and I got into web development around 1996. It seemed like the most profitable way to use my degrees and those fields were in high-demand at the time. I didn't think that working in Hollywood film production was even an option, though I now know it was.
Why do you ask?
The narrator of the channel has the best way to explain a content/topic/subject. Thank you, sir. May you live ages so that we can listen to you all the time. Please tell me the name of the narrator.
He prefers to stay anonymous :)
Dykstra, Burtt, McQuarrie, and the cinematographer dude deserve a lot of credit!
And John Williams :)
And Joe Johnston, Colin Cantwell, John Barry, Richard Mollo, and many others.
Yup the whole team!
Should have included the amazing music of John Williams. His music was the thing that really punched up the emotion.
My favourite shots are both the Millennium Falcon being drawn into the Death Star (the sense of dread and doom the music inspires) and it leaving, as the engines whir up and the music accelerates to give that sense of the start of the escape.
Studiobinder + Star Wars = Masterpiece
Facts
🔥🔥
These people were absolut geniuses🤩🤩
The best in filmmaking!
Its crazy how much this one movie changed the game. George certainly bit off more than he could chew with this production but luckily he was surrounded by immense talent that bailed him out.
Filmmaking is a team effort haha
“Bailed him out” the disrespect
@@jakefernandez3972 you must not be familiar with how that production went, it was a disaster up to the final edit.
@@nydabeats lemme guess, you watched that one “how Star Wars was saved in the edit” video and just assumed that everything they said was fact?
@@jakefernandez3972 well it was fact. but that doesn’t change George’s involvement/contribution one iota. there is NO star wars without George.
It's amazing the amount of fine detail work that was done for this movie. Everything was reinvented
They pulled out all the stops!
Star Wars is INSANELY timeless
And very intentionally so by George Lucas!
Even more impressive than I realized, having grown up on the original trilogy; the number of new techniques they created here that went on to grace many amazing films is just incredible.
making of Star Wars with practical effects is as mind-blowing as the movie! i am a Star Wars kid, and just loved this video. The commentary spoke exactly what i feel of star wars
One of the Best How They Shot it video. The Star Wars Franchise is the Great Example of how to make Dreams come True.
From a Galaxy Far Far Away, Thousand Thanks StudioBinder.
Glad you liked it :)
This series is excellent.
Glad you're enjoying it :)
This answered so many questions I had about composting. Awesome!
Glad it helped!
Love the fact this movie actually was kinda low budget, comparing the time, but Lucas kept the independence by doing it with his money. His team developed new technology that helped t make better movies now. Yet, i think there are still relevant things here for a low budget film on these days (like the matte paintings) or other things. CGI improved all but also shows we can do things on small scale.
Honestly it's a great example of entrepreneurship as well as filmmaking
SW wasn't self funded by any means.
I watched,again, the trilogy last week. Still amazed me. Groundbreaking, like your videos.
Incredibly rewatchable
Good for you...!
This is incredible. How did they did this blows my mind that at that time, this was such a ground breaking at the time
they really put in the E for EFFORT into these movies. What a work!!!
It's paul gregory who is the narrator if I'm not mistaken. Your voice is just chef's kiss from the both the hands. Immaculate clarity and fluency.
Glad you liked it!
As a note, the Matte Paintings were not made out of plexiglass, but actual glass.
The only channel I will ALWAYS watch the new video instantly! The best film related videos available anywhere. Period.
Cheers!
My God, the amount of work for that blue screen! I always wondered how they used to do Chroma Key before computers. That's insane. Now anyone can mess with transparent background at home with just a few clicks, and if you get the lighting right it will probably look great (might even look better than some recent blockbusters). At the time, the people working on visual effects were true geniuses.
@@nobody3404 What John Williams has to do with this? The video is about special effects lol
Wow that video was very an absolute beauty! Almost make me tears. The narration to explain all the magic that made Star Wars possible is so good! For all that it brought, Star Wars will exist forever 🌌
I think you should do a video about Mamoru Oshii and his distinctive style as a director.
Thanks for the suggestion!
I remember when I first saw " Star Wars " , also known as " Star Wars : A New Hope " at the now defunct Port Theater , way back in 1977 , I was completely blown away !!! I had never seen or heard anything like it !!! George Lucas is a genius , to think that him and his crew planned it all out for months , so when they began filming they knew exactly what they were going to do !!!
Star Wars was a perfect storm of just the right kinds of technologies and people coming together at just the right time. For sound, having Ben Burtt for the sound effects and the legendary John Williams doing the score was a genius move. Ben's innovative sources for sound effects set Star Wars apart from everything that had come before. And John's musical choices for Star Wars could have been very different. In fact, at the beginning John asked George if he wanted a typical "spacey" type music that pretty much every other sci-fi movie had had up to then, or a more serious approach. Luckily George chose the latter and John knocked it out of the park.
And of course having John Dykstra and pretty much everyone at ILM at the time added to the power of the movie. For more detail on this, I highly recommend the Disney+ series, "Light and Magic" about ILM, its formation and innovations over the years. You'll see footage you've never seen before, and that's saying a lot!
Actually George Lucas used classical music records as temp-tracks for Star Wars and he wanted it to use it as the soundtrack just like Stanley Kubrick did with 2001: A Space Oddysey, then Steven Spielberg (one of the few that had faith in the project though he wasn't involved, even said that the movie was going to look better with special effects, indeed he was right) recommened George Lucas to work with John Williams who already earned an Oscar for his score in Jaws, you could still hear the musical influences on Williams' score like The Planets by Gustav Holst or The Rite o Spring by Igor Stravisnky.
Awesome job! I’ve probably watched at least 100 X the amount of time of the movie in behind-the-scenes documentaries, opinion, pieces, and everything else that goes along with that, and yet I learned from this video! I really appreciate that.
I'm glad that I watched star wars of recent when I could appreciate sound design. The sounds are beautiful!
Say what you will, but I like these effects so much more than CGI. CGI effects, especially nowadays, always look murky and blurry (because they are trying to add "atmosphere" to place the ships into the scene). I prefer the sharp and solid look we see here.
May the Force be with you, StudioBinder.
You as well!
You can thank Gerry Anderson and Derek Meddings for the dirty worn look in Thunderbirds and UFO plus other shows. Way ahead of the curve.
Nice!
respect to all this pioneers and all their hard work ... amazing ...
Honestly, the best tutorials out there. With respect, whatever you guys are paying this amazing narrator, is not enough.
This is just brilliant Studio Binder. Well done you
Thanks!
And THIS is why Star Wars is a Masterpiece!
Wow! Extremely well made video! Thanks guys! 🎞👍
Dear StudioBinder team. I just want to thank you for all the work you are doing. Your videos are helping me become a better creator, a better filmmaker.
The advice you give for free on this channel is priceless. I am fascinated by cinema, and you make that fascination grow deeper and deeper. From all my heart, thank you.
Love hearing this! Happy filming :)
Great doc. Even though as a Star Wars fan , I've seen all this before, this was really interesting and well presented.
Without George Lucas, there is no Star Wars❤️
Definitely
It is truly amazing ❤ thank you for this video
Glad you liked it!
What I specifically like about these 'the making of' series is that they tell this from the perspective of the filmmaker. Add a most excellent narrative and it makes for a very watchable mini movie in itself. At some point I think it would be worth seeing a "The Making Of The Making Of" to show the huge creative effort behind all these explainers - just to celebrate the sheer quality of them.
One of the best film channels out there
Amazing videos as always.
Thanks for watching!
You could have made this a couple of hours long, easily. This just scratches the surface.
probably!
@@StudioBinder but I liked what there was 🙂 Some clips I hadn't seen in there!
An episode on Blade Runner would be fantastic!
Thanks for the suggestion!
Apologies if you've already covered some of these, but here are my picks for How They Shot It: Gravity, Moulin Rouge, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Stay tuned ;)
I'd love to see a breakdown of how the Wachowski sisters shot the Matrix, or Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.
Me too! Including Neo dodging those bullets in slow motion.
Thanks for the suggestion!
They were brothers back then
Great narration!
I found Star Wars Arcade(1998) at a water park. It was so fun. John Williams music blasted from the speakers.
Amazing!!!
And one more time thanks Studio Binder.
I would the see the breakdown of "Cinema Paradiso". Soundtrack and script.
Adam Savage (Mythbusters) worked at ILM.
"Adam Savage is an American industrial design and special effects designer who worked for ILM building ships and miniature sets for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones."
Awesome to watch
Thanks for watching!
This is an excellent piece. Especially for its shortness.
How about doing a piece for every shot in Star Wars?
You software looks good, too.
Every single shot? That might be a little too long 😅
@@StudioBinder I just wanted you to know what a great job you did.😄
Greetings studio binder for this masterpiece video
Enjoy :)
I loved these movies as a kid.
Great Video!
Cheers!
Thank you so much for that.
Cheers!
Excellent!
🙏
I hope the artists and special effects team get what they deserve
George Lucas is the inspired mastermind and entrepreneur from Modesto to this Galaxy Far Away. And it was long time ago, when I was 9 years old and daddy took me to watch the beginning of this space saga...
we all have our first time star wars story
the success of star wars is credited to the geniuses behind the scenes just as much as george lucas. absoutley amazing that all of these people were able to create such a timeless piece of cinema.
Great video
🙏🙏
probably not gonna happen, but i would love to see a break down of “what dreams may come” or “loving vincent”
thanks for the suggestion!
Amazing how 1970s and 1980s movies are much better than today's! "Star Wars"(1977), "Alien"(1979), "The Empire Strikes Back"(1980), "Return of the Jedi"(1983) and "Aliens"(1986) are THE BEST SCI-FI MOVIES EVER-EVER-EVER! *** I really hope one lucky day I can finally buy 4K or 8K "THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY(1977,1980,1983.)" Digitally restored unaltered original theatrical version! *** Everything that happened to Star Wars since 1997 is a crime against humanity!
It was made by a man with a vision where his story was told by a bunch of amazing editors.
Everyone on the team deserves credit!
Great video. Although showcasing it very well, it doesn’t actually mention one of the key elements of the film’s success: the sound track. John Williams is the man!
I haven’t even watched Star Wars but that was such a great explanation
Now's the time :)
Seriously? Wow, who hasn’t seen Star Wars! Go watch it immediately!
Masterpiece video 📷
Glad you liked it!
I find your content to be so helpful, thank you! Could you do a video explaining Damian Chazelles filmmaking style?
All of this is why we had to wait 3 years between each of these movies! 🙃
As for the next movie to look at, assuming that it hasn't already been done, would be The Rocketeer.
The effects in Star Wars are better than any CGI nonsense of today.
Ooooooowwweee brilliant!
It’s awesome to know that the techniques ILM used on Star Wars were also later used in Star Trek. In fact, the one film they weren’t used on, Star Trek 5, the effects looked like garbage compared to the other films.
I would love to get your breakdown of The Fountain.
Thanks for the suggestion!
“Less than most blockbusters”? This movie and Jaws were the FIRST Blockbusters.
They defined the modern blockbuster but there were still blockbusters in the sense of big budget movies that were the most well-known
Awesome👍
Cheers!
What's really sad is groundbreaking Visual Effects work with spaceships and space scenes were first achieved on 2001 ASO, TV series UFO and Space 1999. All years before Star Wars. The original print composites of Star Wars were pretty sketchy, optical prints that still had see thru elements in them, they were tidied up with CGI in later releases of the film. 2001 ASO was released in 1968, that's 9 years before Star Wars. The Visual Effects in 2001 ASO still looks amazing today and have not been tinkered with to be tidied up like Star Wars.
while I do find them amazing to look at, they're also (as pointed out in this video) lacking in so many ways. it still gets away with it due to how the movie itself is paced and how artistic it is, but the special effects themselves look way more dated even compared to original print SW.
@@Agarwaen Yep, Star Wars required all the tidy up work and CGI fix up's, 2001 ASO, Space 1999 and UFO are all seen just as they were originally produced
I grew up in San Francisco & at about 12 yrs old my Mom Moved us to San Rafael in Marin County…it Wasn’t Long til I found out that ILM was Literally about 1 mile away down the street 😮…I remember how I found out…I,was cruising around Late at Night once,& saw a Semi Flatbed with a Space Ship on it…I was Amazed & found out after Asking around that It was in a Movie & the Warehouse down the Street is where Filming was happening,so the Next day I went down the Street & Found ILM,it was a Big Box Building,& I didn’t get to see much ,so Later on as I was growing up,I remember Riding my Dirtbike in a Big Field a short Distance from ILM,Then one day as I was Riding,I Noticed a Big Flame in the Distance,I had to Stop & Wait ,hoping I would See it Again…Sure enough There it Was Again…..so I Rode over there,& to my Surprise,I saw this Forklift with a man up,on the Extended Boom in a Cage with a Tank & a Nozzle,he was Blowing Fire to Emulate a Fire Breathing Thing…Not a Dragon,& there was a Small Section of Parking lot that was Made Up to Look like a Forest !…it was So Cool !…I remember going back Every Day for a Week & it was Still Set Up like that…I Eventually got to see the Inside of ILM but Only a 5 second Glimpse because it was Private,I eventually saw a Few more Short Filmings there,George Moved ILM to the Presidio in San Francisco later on
Impressive. Most impressive.
🧐
Not knocking cg effects artists but practical will almost always amaze me more and I have no clue how George and his crew were able to pull this off in 1976..I mean even if they had a budget 4x as much it'd still be amazing but that they were able to pull this off with no one believing in it and stressed the hell out..and then the sound..yea no doubt this classic will continue to wow us for as long as we're around.. not even the awful sequel trilogy(prequels I've always loved and at least have the soul of Star Wars) can ever take away what that original trilogy(and really the prequels too) are to me...love the video bruh u got my like and sub no question
Thanks for this inspiring essay. Can you do The Mandolorian next?
We'll definitely be including it in a future video!