{"id":67631,"date":"2015-12-16T10:49:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=67631"},"modified":"2015-12-16T10:49:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:49:21","slug":"how-to-recreate-star-wars-practical-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/how-to-recreate-star-wars-practical-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Recreate Star Wars Practical Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recreate the groundbreaking Star Wars practical effects with this fun collection of tools and tutorials.<\/h2>\n

The special effects of the original Star Wars<\/em><\/strong> film pushed the boundaries of what was technologically possible. Fortunately, those effects are much easier to pull off today. Let’s take a look\u00a0at how the artists behind the original\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> created their groundbreaking visuals and discuss a few ways to create similar effects from the comfort of your editing station.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Greebles<\/h3>\n

How They Did It in\u00a0the 70s<\/h4>\n

\"How
\n<\/a>Image via\u00a0Tested<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

There are few scenes in film history as iconic as the chase scene at the beginning of A New Hope<\/em>. Besides simply being a visually spectacular scene, the\u00a0cinematography highlights just how outgunned the rebels are against the Empire. Since\u00a0a full-sized Star Destroyer is hard to come by (especially in 1975), model-builder\u00a0Lorne Peterson<\/a> had to come up with a clever way to show the illusion of scale.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"How
\n<\/a>Image via Reddit<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In order to simulate scale, Star Wars<\/em> artists took pieces from model kits<\/a>, painted them, and put them on the smooth surfaces of the\u00a0ships. This created ‘fake’ details which, when lit correctly, looked like they were a part of a massive ship. These small details came to be known as\u00a0greebles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How You Can Do It Today<\/h4>\n

You can actually create simulated greebles in Cinema 4D<\/strong> using the appropriately titled Greebler plugin<\/a>. The plugin can\u00a0automatically create simulated details and save you a ton of time in Cinema 4D.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/vimeo.com\/41944101<\/p>\n

\n

2. The Death Star Explosion<\/h3>\n

How They Did It in the 70s<\/h4>\n

\"How
\n<\/a>Image via The Nerdist<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The original Death Star explosion is one of the greatest explosions in film history. It really is the perfect combination of particles, fire, and smoke<\/strong>. However, creating a great explosion in the mid-70s wasn’t as easy as simply recording a firecracker.<\/p>\n

Special effects artists had to create actual bombs<\/strong> and record them at 120fps on 35mm film. The explosions were shot on a sound stage with a massive 40×40 blue screen lit by eight blue carbon arcs. In the words of Bruce Logan<\/a>,\u00a0the explosion supervisor for the original Star Wars<\/em> movie:<\/p>\n

We let off massive explosions with very little safety equipment and no fireman. I remember wiping burning napalm off my arms after a particularly large explosion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After recording, the explosion would be keyed out and placed over the background plate. Here’s the final result:<\/p>\n