Rogue One: A Star Wars Story features some spectacular visual effects, as expected. But like its franchise predecessor, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, much of Rogue One's visual appeal comes from not just the CGI effects but the physical sets and props that were built for the movie. Considering its direct connection to the original Star Wars trilogy, the makers of Rogue One were tasked with re-building some of the classic ships and sets that helped make the originals so memorable in the first place.
Previously released behind-the-scenes featurettes have showcased how Rogue One's mixture of computerized effects and real, physical elements were brought to life, such as the glimpse into Alan Tudyk's motion-capture work as K-2SO. A new video (watch it above) reveals how the modeling team rebuilt classic ships for Rogue One - and the way they added fresh details to them while remaining faithful to the original trilogy.
Via Star Wars News Net, a new video posted on the Hollywood Life: According to Ny MaGee YouTube channel on Sunday shows a presentation from Russell Paul, model supervisor for Rogue One and longtime digital supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. He shows the methods that he and the ILM team used to reassemble and update familiar ships like Imperial Star Destroyers and X-Wing fighters for Rogue One. For many of the ships’ parts, the team found the same pieces that were used in the original Star Wars trilogy and used them to re-create those same vehicles.
Paul also explained that Rogue One added plenty of new details to the new models in order to make them just as convincing for modern movie screens. For the Star Destroyers in particular, ILM used larger miniature models than in the original Star Wars and added new pieces from the same modeling kits. Paul said their methods were used so they “all felt like they were part of the same exact universe and they all fit right next to each other.”
So if you watched Rogue One and felt as if the Star Destroyers and other classic vehicles were the same models that you saw in the original trilogy, it’s because in many ways, they were. Paul, who also worked on the modeling team for the Star Wars prequels, did a great job with his team to effectively recreate the classic ships and update them with even more details to fit the modern look and feel of Rogue One.
The visual connections between Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy were many. They also could have treaded dangerously close to becoming overdone. But the work of Paul’s modeling team ultimately resulted in an effective marriage between the groundbreaking modeling effects of the classic originals and the modern technology used to make films today. In a movie rich with strong visual and narrative connections to A New Hope, the effects used to bring the classic vehicles roaring back to life were as powerful as any.
Source: Star Wars News Net
