Okay, this is just a little couple of things, that again, I've only just realised, before I move on from the 'props' stuff altogether....
As regards this 'foot' -
I've just realised that apart from the 'wobble'....what also gives this shot such a 'mid-air', dangling-look to me, is the way it has been framed against the background it's been given.... It just seems that compared to all the other AT-AT-foot 'close-ups', there is no hint of the ground seen around it, and it could pass for being as high-up as a 'cable-car' or something, going by the way we just see the mountains that are behind it here! Not seeing the bottom of the 'prop' foot has really ruined the effect of this shot I reckon...which could have worked better if we had, and if it had also been 'zoomed-in' on a little bit more, enough to still capture the part where the cable tow 'attached'....
Adywan, while I don't know if this is an option or not, or know yet if you happen to like the current 'prop' foot too much to lose it....can I throw this out there, that if you are definately keeping it, that the background be altered in some way to seem like it could be nearer the ground?
Here's the kind of other backgrounds that we see in comparison to the 'prop' foot's one, whenever we see 'close-ups' of AT-AT 'feet', to show what I mean -
The main effect we see in these shots above is an overall 'whiteness' and lack of background detail, and just a hint of 'ground' effect nearby. Not the 'mountains set against sky' backdrop that the 'prop' was filmed against. Unfortunately, none of these particular shots above seem quite long enough to use / or 'flip' into reverse, for use instead of the 'prop' shot, as they are too brief.
This one below, on the other hand, is long enough, if manipulated. I didn't previously suggest that the actual footage could be just re-used without 'flipping it into reverse, if you wanted the cable tow to seem as if it was hitting the REAR, LEFT foot in the foreground , on the same side as it does in the 'prop' shot. With a little alteration, it wouldn't seem an obvious 'total re-use' of the shot, by the time we get to it again (with Luke in it) roughly 4 minutes later. There has been lots of action / other AT-AT shots going on in-between times to make it pretty 'un-obvious' by then....
Although the same shot 'flipped' in reverse would probably just have any new 'rappelling' cable appear just after the foreground foot passes (matching the sound effect on the soundtrack of course), I think that the 'change of side view' of the REAR, LEFT foot that this would entail, from that previously seen, would work okay too, as I personally always like shot changes from differing sides in certain scenes. And the fact is that there are intercut shots of the pilots between what comes before and after the 'prop' shot anyway -
Or the 'flipped' shot as seen below -
Okay, I'm done. I can get onto some of the more 'fun' little AT-AT things now.... :)