

Anything you would make was not a ticket to appear in the film. "We had to earn our stars, so you had to get that character to a point where it was worthy of being on screen. “In some films in the past you’d get a build list, and you’d be like, 'I have to build this, this and this.'" said Scanlan. As a result, the team would work tirelessly to create an insane number of creatures from which Abrams chose his favorites. Basically, there was never a guarantee that any given creature would appear in the film. Not every painstakingly-created creature made the final cutĬreature and Droid FX creative supervisor Neal Scanlan said that Abrams employed a "give me everything you got" approach to building creatures. Members of the crew from those films were invited back to The Force Awakens -and they brought their offspring along with them to help build the sets.Ĭreature models from "Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey" 5. The majority of the film was shot at Pinewood Studios in England, where the original films were shot. For example, Gary Tomkins, the senior art director of vehicles on the Force Awakens, is the son of Alan Tomkins, the art director who created such iconic vehicles as the snow-speeder in The Empire Strikes Back. The sons and daughters of many a crew member on the original Star Wars ended up working on the VFX and design teams for The Force Awakens.įor that reason, the sons and daughters of many a crew member on the original Star Wars ended up working on the VFX and design teams for The Force Awakens.

It's only natural that this interest would then lead them to careers in the very same field. If you think Star Wars had a lasting effect on you as a child, imagine the effect it had on a child whose parent created the worlds they fell in love with. The film was generational in many respects, but one element was entirely literal: many members of the art and production design teams on the original movies ended up having children that evolved similar interests. The force is strong in the family of Star Wars crew members
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Production designer Rick Carter's first question in an initial meeting at Industrial Light & Magic proved to set the tone for the entire film: "How strong is the force, what’s its relevance, and why make a Star Wars movie now?"ĥ. Concept art drove the movieĪfter Abrams was attached to the project, the reboot kicked off with a focus on concept art. It was incredibly intriguing to me." (The money probably was, too.) 2. "It was just so titillating," said Abrams, "to think about the notion that this character, who we all know, would be discovered by some new young heroine. And j ust like that, the central story for three entire films was put it into motion. "The image was of a young woman -we have no idea what her story is -saying, 'Where’s Luke Skywalker?'" said Abrams.

Then, stricken by a divine force of inspiration, he came up with an image that, in his own words, "gave him chills." Concept art for Rey from "Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey" on the "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" Blu Ray. His attitude reflected the fact that "he'd done sequels" and "didn't want to do that again." He was most likely worried that his involvement with the Star Trek franchise would cause audiences to show up with certain expectations (namely, that they were in for just another two and a half hours of lens flares). Abrams to offer him a shot at directing The Force Awakens, he was prepared to reject it outright. When Kathleen Kennedy first called up J.J. It all began with a single image from Abrams' imagination Below, we've highlighted the best of the best. We checked out the five-part hour-long documentary Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey, which premiered at SXSW this year, to see if there were any filmmaking nuggets worth sharing. The 3-disc special edition comes chock-full of bonus features and behind-the-scenes segments, and if you're a Star Wars fan, they are a dream come true. Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out on Blu-Ray/DVD/digital last week to much fanfare and an absurd variety of "limited-edition-based-on-the-superstore-you-bought-it-at" versions.

Abrams invoking the spirit of Steve Jobs, here's how Lucasfilm made Star Wars: The Force Awakens a massive success.
