The Mandalorian invented new VFX tech to bring the world of Star Wars to life. The incredibly popular Disney+ streaming show is the first live-action Star Wars television series. Featuring one lone bounty hunter and an adorable green alien called The Child, (whom fans have christened Baby Yoda) The Mandalorian quickly became a pop culture juggernaut, particularly on the internet with countless memes and fan-inspired creations, when the show premiered last November.
Set five years after Return of the Jedi and the fall of the Empire and before the rise of the First Order, The Mandalorian's first season featured the titular Mandalorian (or Mando for short) attempting to keep the mysterious yet utterly adorable Baby Yoda safe from the clutches of the Client and the dastardly Moff Gideon. The season finale saw Mando rescue his little green friend from Moff Gideon, but Gideon had a surprise up his sleeve with the legendary Darksaber. While the series has gained a lot of popularity due to the storytelling and memorable characters, the incredible groundbreaking technology utilized to create enhanced and stunning real-time environments of The Mandalorian is finally getting a spotlight.
Thanks to an innovative collaboration between The Mandalorian show-runner Jon Favreau, his production team, and Industrial Light and Magic, the actors on the show were able to view the digitally created 3D sets and scenes in real-time instead of having to work against a green screen. As a result the new technology (featuring ILM's StageCraft technology and other platforms) allowed the production team to cut location shoots entirely without losing any of the quality and grandeur of the worlds featured in the show. Jon Favreau's prediction that the innovative technology will likely influence the way television movie productions will shoot from this point onward will more than likely come true. Check out the masterminds behind the revolutionary technology go further into detail about the way the magic works in the video below, from the ILMVFX channel.
Whether on film or the small screen, Star Wars has always been legendary in its pioneering visual effects that result in epic world-building to enhance the story being told in whatever medium. There is no need to suspend disbelief when watching the real-time sets of The Mandalorian due to the fact that the innovative production team and VFX masters painstakingly created worlds that are so realistic fans have to view the behind-the-scenes video to realize that it's all digital. The best technology does not detract or distract from the main story but only serves to enhance it, and this revolutionary production tech is a major part of what makes The Mandalorian so engaging to watch.
Season two of The Mandalorian is slated to premiere this October, not even a full year after the release of the first season. Currently the show is a guiding light for new and old fans alike, where even viewers without any prior Star Wars knowledge can enjoy the show (according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.) With no major Star Wars film on the horizon for the foreseeable future, the highly anticipated second season of The Mandalorian (not to mention the better-late-than-never official Baby Yoda merchandise release) will be the franchise's main attraction. Although plot details for the upcoming season are still under wraps, the show will without a doubt feature stunning sets that will more than likely put green screen post production scenery out of business for the benefit of movie and television viewers everywhere.
Source: ILMVFX