PaulisDead2221 said:
I'm studying old school special effects and wanted to hear some of everybody's favorite visual feats in the trilogy. The thing I love most about many of the effects is that they're amazingly simple and doable on even the tightest budget.
My personal favorite is the starfields of the old trilogy, just holes poked into construction paper if I remember right. It's amazing that an entire universe can be conveyed to the audience by poking a tack through something that can be bought at a crafts store for 85 cents. Science fiction doesn't have to be a blockbuster game, we just need lower budget filmmakers to use a little practical imagination.
I think the starfields were created with pieces of black lucite (with pinholes poked in).
I really like the shot of the tie-fighter that gets 'electrocuted' and hurls towards the camera in ESB during the asteroid chase scene. I also love the 'pull away' shots of the Falcon in SW when it appears that it's moving very quickly away from the camera, when in fact it's the camera moving away from the model, and the various shots of the Falcon in the trilogy when the Falcon kind of banks/sways upward towards the camera and you can briefly see its underbelly.
The close-up shots of the Death Star (I) where you can see the little illuminated 'windows' are great, too.