John knoll star wars series#

“I don’t have any particular loyalties to one technique or another. There was also plenty of practical pyrotechnics from special effects supervisor Neil Corbould. In terms of “Rogue One’s” 1,600 VFX, the workload, like “The Force Awakens,” was divided between ILM studios in San Francisco, London, Vancouver and Singapore. And the hope was that the aesthetic would be shared across the whole film.” He added, “So we had Gareth shoot a lot of that pre-animated, where’d we go onto the motion-capture stage and find the compositions that were pleasing to him and we’d record them. And I didn’t want there to be a stylistic break where the live-action has one look and the space battle has this other look.” “Typically, those are storyboarded and prevised and there’s a more deliberate composition and shot design style than you get in the live-action process. “Gareth has this documentary style and there were some space battles where he could do his own hand-held shots with the virtual camera,” Knoll said. (“Rogue One” was shot with the Arri 65 with Ultra Panavision 70 lenses for the widest possible aspect ratio but deliberately shallow depth of field.) Knoll also suggested that Edwards use ILM’s iPhone virtual camera for ease of use and to complement his hand-held live-action footage. During the film’s prep, Knoll (who co-developed Photoshop with his brother, Tom) recommended inserting “Star Wars” characters into archival World War II and Vietnam photos. “Rogue One” was executed by Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) as a gritty war movie. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) was always the heroine and stemmed from Knoll’s desire to have a smart and resourceful female role model for his three daughters.

John knoll star wars series#

When the series didn’t fly, Knoll forgot about it until Disney bought Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy became president. Knoll was encouraged by former colleague Kim Libreri (now CTO of Epic Games) to pitch again and Kennedy embraced it as the first standalone. You’ll find detailed discussions and even tutorials on the Reality Redefined and Unreal Engine YouTube channels.The Disney Upfront Needed Jimmy Kimmel. So if you’re an indie filmmaker, or just a tech enthusiast, head over to the channels above for more news and updates on the groundbreaking Volume virtual set technology.

We’ve curated a series of mind blowing videos that showcase this innovative technology and how amateur filmmakers, particularly those in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, may soon be able to avail themselves of it affordably, enabling them to make higher quality productions with ambitious sets and fantastic worlds. Pioneering this technology is game engine innovator Unreal Engine, and of course, George Lucas and John Knoll’s Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) along with Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau, who shares Lucas’ passion for pushing the boundaries of technology to empower the creative process. The virtual set and production technology that is fast replacing green screens enabling realistic environments to be created and composited in real time on set for less cost and in less time than traditional post production and visual effects. Indie sci-fi and fantasy filmmakers rejoice! The Volume is your next creativity empowering tool.įor some time we’ve known that AAA video game environments have looked completely realistic and that the same technology has been used to create special effects in film and television VFX.īut until recently, those visual effects were always done in post-production using footage shot on a green screen.