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blowing up things SW style

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Every little boy is a small pyromaniac. When we grow up we become... big pyromaniacs, as we always wanted ;) With that in mind - a little question:

After seeing several documentaries about how OT was made and comparing that to what I saw about PT, I'm having trouble recalling seeing miniature sets & models being blown up for the PT special effects. While the TIEs exploding into plastic chunks against a bluebox are common for OT docs.

I don't think they've used only digital fire and stock video for the PT explosions? Or did they?
I saw the original theatrical release of the Old Trilogy on the big screen and I'm proud of it...
How did I accomplish that (considering my age) is my secret...
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There were plenty of real elements used in the PT, Lucas just doesn't want to admit it, so all the "making of" stuff focuses on the digital work. There's a convention I go to every year and for several years one of the guests was Carol Bauman from ILM. She showed workshop pics of ILM crew working on models of Coruscant buildings and various craft from TPM and AOTC (ROTS was still in production at the time).

Various digital FX animators, ILM and otherwise, have all gone on record as saying that natural elements - water, smoke, fire, rock formations, etc. - still take a lot of work to generate in CG and look convincing, so they have to resort to the old ways for those elements, at least for now.

My outlook on life - we’re all on the Hindenburg anyway…no point fighting over the window seat.

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There were plenty of real elements used in the PT, Lucas just doesn't want to admit it, so all the "making of" stuff focuses on the digital work. There's a convention I go to every year and for several years one of the guests was Carol Bauman from ILM. She showed workshop pics of ILM crew working on models of Coruscant buildings and various craft from TPM and AOTC (ROTS was still in production at the time).

Various digital FX animators, ILM and otherwise, have all gone on record as saying that natural elements - water, smoke, fire, rock formations, etc. - still take a lot of work to generate in CG and look convincing, so they have to resort to the old ways for those elements, at least for now.


No embedded images allowed, I see.

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/01.jpg
Naboo fighter model being 'sploded

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/02.jpg
No footage of them performing this trick. Same basic technique used in AOTC.

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/03.jpg
Miniature podracer hangar

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/04.jpg
Miniature Theed plaza

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/05.jpg
Podracer props

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/06.jpg
Dudes in masks

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/07.jpg
Animatronics

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/08.jpg
Speilberg and Lucas discussing the pro's and con's of battle droids vs. stormtroopers beside a battle droid prop.

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/09.jpg
Yeah yeah yeah, but what you might not have known is that some shots in the film utilize a guy in the suit. They're quick but they're in the movie if you look for them. For example, when you see Jar Jar's hand as he tries to fish the wrench out of Anakin's racer engine, that's his "real" hand.
My preference is simple. I want remastered versions of precisely what we saw and heard for each Star Wars film on opening day.
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Technically, there were more SW models in Episode I than in any of the OT, but you're right, the explosions are all CG. I know they filmed models of the N-1 Naboo starfighters blowing up because I've seen videos of it, but in the final film I'm pretty sure they used CG explsions for all, or at least almost all. Beyond that, there really isn't any examples in the PT of dogfights where ships explode--the land battles used some real pyro elements, but they are comped in totally CG landscapes and totally CG vehicles, so it doesn't look like real elements anyway. The ROTS opening spacefight, as far as I am aware, was a 100% CG affair.
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thecolorsblend2 said:

No embedded images allowed, I see.

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/01.jpg
Naboo fighter model being 'sploded

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/02.jpg
No footage of them performing this trick. Same basic technique used in AOTC.

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/03.jpg
Miniature podracer hangar

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/04.jpg
Miniature Theed plaza

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/05.jpg
Podracer props

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/06.jpg
Dudes in masks

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/07.jpg
Animatronics

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/08.jpg
Speilberg and Lucas discussing the pro's and con's of battle droids vs. stormtroopers beside a battle droid prop.

http://www.blissnet.org/ot.c/09.jpg
Yeah yeah yeah, but what you might not have known is that some shots in the film utilize a guy in the suit. They're quick but they're in the movie if you look for them. For example, when you see Jar Jar's hand as he tries to fish the wrench out of Anakin's racer engine, that's his "real" hand.

FYP.

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I primarily focus on collecting pyro models from the OT and have also spent a lot of time talking with crew members and ILM crew guys who worked on the prequels.
Of the prequels some miniature explosions were used in the final sequence in TPM however 90% of the shots in the final battle were CGI.
However in AOTC and ROTS the only miniatures that were made were essentially blank "bucks" used to composite the CG models for basic shape and then they were finished digitally.No miniature ship models were used in either AOTC or ROTS.
That is not to say that miniatures were not used.As has been shown there were sections of Theed built in miniature and the hangar.Parts of Kashykk and Mustafar and Utapau were made in miniature and also some parts of the Opera in ROTS.
As also noted Jar-Jar was not 100% CG.Along with the moment noted when you see Binks juggling in Watto's workshop that was also an actor in the suit.Of course these scenes were also touched up digitally in post but started with physical actors and props.There were also full-scale static Battle Droids made for all three prequels and used at various points.
The reason I am fascinated with miniatures is that they are,effects-wise,the one constant throughout the six films in one form or another.Obviously the hero sabers are also a constant however either A)they have been destroyed or B) are in the LFL archives or C) are in private hands and cost a small fortune which will always be beyond my reach.Miniatures,particularly ship models,represent and reflect a dying part of the VFX industry and are therefore,for me,an essential thing to preserve.

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Original Star Wars Props and Production Material