ST VFX Before and After: STAR WARS: The Force Awakens

The Oscars YouTube channel have released this compilation video of The Force Awakens showcasing scenes before and after visual effects added in.Though there are many scenes featuring complete CGI effects, there are some scenes that highlight what great blend of real sets, locations along with CGI can achieve. Watch the 10 minute video click on the link !!!

http://jbwebtv.com/vfx-before-and-after-star-wars-the-force-awakens/

 

Maybe this will shut up the butthurt Practical effects ppl..

 

Thanks for posting this, I'm still looking through it. Some amazing work there... the explosion work is particularly great.

 

There were over 2,000 vfx shots in the entire film. And NO MINIATURES. All digital married to terrific live-action special effects.

 

While there were no miniatures, there were quite a few maxiatures

 

Cool seeing the Lightsabers they used..

 

Yes that was very cool seeing they did that on set.

By the way, ILM mentioned about two thirds of the BB8 shots used the practical, on-set BB. The rest were all-CG.

 

Two key ingredients: restraint and natural lighting.

 

Restraint?

 

Just goes to show you how much of a BS marketing campaign they ran.

But at least they shot it in a REAL desert!

It feels strange talking about it like this as it is now one of my favorite movies of all time now. But they still ran a garbage PR campaign that still gets under my skin.

 

Yup. Apart from the space battle sequences, and some of the shots of the Falcon flying on Jakku, there's a great balance between practical and CGI (and the CGI is mostly kept in the background, rather than the foreground). Then, even when there's a ton of green screen and blue screen on a set, they are often outside. Either on location, or in an outside lot. One of the biggest problems with a lot of CGI is that most artists haven't quite figured out how to light the digital world in a realistic way. So, JJ and Mindel opted for a lot of natural light. Smart choice.

And even with the pure CGI scenes, there's restraint in terms of avoiding too much visual clutter. You have a simple color scheme, a reasonable number of moving elements, and clean compositions. The X-Wing attack on Starkiller, for example. X-Wings, TIEs, missiles, blue, red, black and white color scheme. Simple and effective.

In short, restraint and natural lighting.

 

I don't think they'll make that same mistake again. And yes, it was a mistake. CG can be awesome.

BTW, here is a behind the scenes interview with two of ILM's VFX supervisors on the film, Pat Tubach and Roger Guyett:



Fans of the PT will know Roger Guyett co-supervised the vfx for Revenge of the Sith with John Knoll.

 

Oh I see and agreed!!

 

Yeah. It's really as much, if not more, how an effect is used, as which effect. TFA is a perfect illustration.

 

The PR was only reactionary to the bad rep that the prequels had gotten. What a silly thing to get annoyed with.

 

Wow, so my friend the Milli Falcon was mainly CGI mixed with a "big-ature" model (the LOTR coined that term for their massive model of Barad-Ur, shot for Return of the King)... Still, she looked amazingly realistic when doing that zig-zag run from her enemies, the TIE Fighters, through the massive wreckage of that Star Destroyer on Jakku!

And like what JabbatheHumanBeing mentioned, there's a perfect balance between usage of both CGI and physical models, thanks to the film being mainly shot outdoors - notably the desert scenes (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and those on the icy SKB (Iceland).

 

Why was the video removed???

 

They NEVER stated there wouldn't be any CGI but apparently some people somehow mistakenly believe there were claims of them using ALL practical effects. They were just using more practical effects than some previous films. In no way does that equate to no CGI. I actually saw people become upset natural light was used in the film. What insanity is that? Upset at the claim of using natural light? Very very strange.

 

Huh? People actually complained that light from the sun was being used in the film? Are you sure you're not hanging out with vampires? Madness.

 

No, the Falcon was not a bigature. She was CG for the flying scenes and a partial full scale build on set. Bigatures are big but they're still scaled down, not full.

 

Also note that even the blue/green screen segments are shot outside with natural light, rather than in-studio.

There's a very specific look to movies shot in studio with green screens pretending to be shot outside. The lighting is always off.

 

I'm serious! It's still hard to fathom. They were also upset about the claim of filming in a real desert. Regarding the natural light, I said they would probably hate The Revenant if they hate natural light...

 

Those people are, literally and figuratively, trolls.

The depths of dumbness fandom can reach sometimes is baffling.

 

Well they likely do hate The Revenant because there aren't enough 'splosions.