Star Wars Episode VIII: Social Buzz! Two Pictures from the Set, More Training and Fun.
Rian Johnson posted on Twitter an image supposedly taken from the Star Wars: Episode VIII set with a piece of equipment jokingly asking whether this is a technical equipment or a droid. Also Daisy Ridley posted a new training video from the Pinewood set, and more…
https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/700643359405125633
This is actually a Leica Total Station – a surveying instrument used for all kind of measurements. We use a similar station in our studio, using it for aligning our pattern sheets on the ceiling for the motion capture system, so they could definitely use it for some VFX stuff as well, like measuring the distance to different tracking marks and so on.
Winner. It’s fun to realize how much of the legacy stuff is just gacked with real 70s gadgetry, & how well it works. https://t.co/jkkGUoDqvG
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) February 19, 2016
There is not much to see here, but I find it really funny that Johnson is using an image with a big blue screen after all the talk about the practical effects in The Force Awakens.
Also here’s Daisy Ridley’s training video. She is even using a parachute to make things harder. Thing will obviously get much physical in Episode VIII, since most of the cast is training really hard.
John Boyega also had an action packed day on set:
https://twitter.com/JohnBoyega/status/699722694749769728
And he had some fun on Instagram as well:
Mark Hamill being funny as always, after someone tweeted this:
@HamillHimself Red 5 standing by. pic.twitter.com/RKjS3XG7zE
— Freddie Avalos (@Wipeoutt31) February 18, 2016
Odd that all I was thinking about before attacking the DeathStar was my underwear.#StarWars #PilotPanties #FocusLuke https://t.co/OflMSt0aSI
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 19, 2016
Also Peter Mayhew posted his second tweet with pages from the 1976 Star Wars script:
#chewscript 002 Lol, "a flurry of electronic swearing"… Can't you just see Kenny doing it? Love it. @starwars pic.twitter.com/U9bzmXS3tV
— Peter Mayhew Foundation (@TheWookieeRoars) February 19, 2016
And last but not least Carrie Fisher gave us a first look at the Episode VIII logo with the working title Space Bear…. and of course Gary!
https://twitter.com/carrieffisher/status/700731677312548864
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
I don’t see a problem with Rian Johnson using blue screen, and obviously, the CGI FX that go along with it. Abrams might’ve preached that he was using practical FX all he wished, but there was plenty of CGI images in TFA at any rate.
More importantly, TFA’s nostalgic look & feel was good for what it needed to be: a reintroduction to the GFFA. Now that we’re past that point, I hope with all of my heart that the story takes precedence, even if new worlds, alien characters, technology, etc. call for more CGI.
Man, f these cryptic tweets & Instagram posts. JJ “mystery box” Abrams is no longer running the show (except for having his name attached to the project as executive producer), there’s no need to be ultra secretive and tight-lipped on the details of Ep. VIII and the making of it like JJ was with TFA.
Yes, because all the secretes should be given away in the set photos and BTS stuff right?
Didn’t say anything about secrets, but a bone of something with meat every now and then would be nice. Furthermore, this guy is not JJ, I’m expecting Rian to be a bit different in regards to how he goes about things.
Sometimes I miss those starwars.com Hyperspace Club days…
The training pics/vids are them throwing a bone, the Space Bear working title is a thrown bone, as are many of the other things. Just because you don’t realize that they are revealing something, doesn’t mean that they aren’t.
I mean “throwing a bone” like they used to back in the day, which is what I was alluding to when I mentioned the Hyperspace Club that starwars.com used to have where subscribers could get a BTS view of the making of a Star Wars movie (if people are willing to pay money for this type of access, why not offer it?).
Because people AREN’T willing to pay for that kind of access anymore. To be perfectly honest, these little behind the scenes things we ARE getting through the cast and filmmakers instagrams and such, are the EXACT behind the scenes things that you’re stating you’d rather pay for.
But they’ve been tight-lipped about Rogue One, so it’s not just the directors making that call.
This movie just started filming. What do you want? The movie is coming out in two years. You’ll get to see it. Chill out. For as many fans out there that demand the script be dropped into their laps next Tuesday, there are just as many (if not more) who are patient enough to wait a bit. As for me, I really don’t need to see anything until the first teaser drops.
You mean that wasn’t the first teaser?
lol joking
The secrecy behind Rogue One on the other hand…..
Yeah, a glimpse of that movie is long overdue by now…
I don’t mind that either. Just like EVIII, I’m going to get to see the movie eventually; less than a year in the case of Rogue One.
We need an emoji translator for Carrie 😀
I find it funny that people translate “practical effects” as no blue screen, etc. What, you expect them to haul the Falcon set up to the International Space Station and film the cockpit looking out into actual outer space?
Then perhaps the production should stop fucking harping on about practical effects? Just a thought.
I mean to be fair, this is a new movie, with a new production crew, and I don’t think they’ve said anything about it yet.
In one of his first interviews after being hired Rian Johnson said they’d be employing a mix of techniques. He criticized the glut of CG effects that defy logic and physics and come off as patently ridiculous and obviously fake.
Okay. Do you blame him though? First of all “A mix of techniques” is different wording than “practical effects”, even if 7 was probably more accurately described by the former. Second, do you really think the Clone Troopers look better on film than the Storm Troopers do in TFA? That is the kind of stuff they are talking about, not pulling out motion capture computers from the 70’s to do dogfighting scenes.
The answer to both questions is an emphatic no.
I always took the practical effects talk to mean practical whenever possible, not all the time. You know, they’d build an actual hallway for the actors to walk down as opposed to awkwardly combining green-screen footage of the actors with miniature environments, but what couldn’t effectively be done in the practical realm would be moved to the digital. That’s more or less what they did, and the end result was fantastic.
Agreed
Or perhaps people could stop fucking being obtuse and realize what the production’s comments about practical effects actually meant.
Sorry, perhaps you could explain to me, someone who has worked in digital character animation, what “practical effects” means then.
They mean molding Storm trooper armor out of plastic and putting people in suits, instead of digitally creating every single clone trooper ever on screen for basically no reason at all.There was obviously a huge amount of digital work in TFA, but it looks so much better than the lions share of wierd stuff in the prequels. There is obviously stuff in the prequels that needed to be cg. watto needed to be cg, the battle for geonosis needed to be cg. Jar Jar probably didn’t, he’s basically a human form. The Clone Troopers definitely didn’t. Thats what they mean. You are being obtuse.
That’s not what they meant and you know it. They meant “look, fanboys! You hate everything about those prequels, right? Well we’re doing…we’re doing the OPPOSITE of that!”. To very very, very clear, I have no objection whatsoever to CGI, or digital character work (though I’d rather see it keyframed than mocap, but that’s simple economics sadly) – I object to the bullshit Disney and LFL was spreading around prior to the movie coming out.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BLUkgRAy_Vo/maxresdefault.jpg
Okay, there is a lot for me to digest here.
First, no one can know what they meant except for JJ or KK or whoever it was that came up with it. We can infer based on context (OT and PT) and evidence (TFA Trailers and now, the movie itself). They were being tight lipped about the story, but they have to do interviews, so they have to say something. It makes sense to tell people about the novel approach you are taking with regards to the effects. No rational person can see TFA and say the effects are approached the same way as they are in say, Pirates of the Caribbean or Transformers (or the PT). There is a lot of additional practical work being done. It does set the movie apart. At the same time, to say that they were just lying and must have meant that there was going to be no cg in the movie is a leap, considering that it would not make sense for them to do that in the first place and as soon as the first trailer came out it was obvious that there would be cg. They are proud of their cg. The video that came out after the movie for effects awards speaks to that.
Second, how can you think you can speak for me, or any other person? I know what I think they meant. I said it in my previous comment and again above. Thats what I think they meant. You can think something entirely different, but you can’t tell me what I think.
Maybe I, being someone who has edited both fiction, non-fiction, trade journals, and technical writing for the past two decades, should explain to you what context is.
Doing it all practical – there’s no way to read that ‘in context’. And your twilight-flinstones slash-fic doesn’t count by the way.
Where/when did you ever see, read, or hear any member of the cast, crew, or production team use the phrase “all practical”? And before you point me in the direction of one of those bullshit edited YouTube clips, I already know the answer is nowhere.
LOL. You haven’t done anything of the sort.
Enjoy your rich fantasy life – cause, while I’m not getting into a dick measuring contest with ‘some dude on a star wars fan site”, has stuff you’ve worked on been shown theatrically? Cause mine has.
Unless you want provide evidence of this the only fantasy I am experiencing here is the one where you think you’re somehow apart of the film industry.
And the only thing you do is get into dick measuring contests on this Star Wars fan site, where you typically declare yourself the winner in the first response to any post you choose to address.
Wait, were you the one responsible for the dancing concessions? Let’s all go to the lobby? I loved that one. Very impressive work.
No need to drop the F bomb Slazenger7. Control your anger, you must.
Why’d you single me out? I was just parroting him.
Oh, Carrie, I love you, but your dog, your DOG! I’m sure he has a lovely personality.
Love how Mark and Carrie are apart of Episode 8. It’s just exciting. Also, I get the feeling they’re going to be much more open with Episode 8 than they were with The Force Awakens. I still appreciate JJ’s secrecy though, I enjoyed the movie that much more with the anticipation that they built up throughout the promotion
Man I LOVE Gary! I wish there was a way He could be in one of the movies.
Maybe paint his tongue green or purple and stick him in a foam costume. (JK)
I was thinking they could make Gary a little motion capture suit of some sort and make Leia some exotic alien pet using his movements.
They could stick him in Artoo and let him control the dome with his tongue.
It’s a droid that SERVES as technical equipment!!
I love this cat. Very much.
I want to sneak into Daisy’s trailer and steal her spandex…..
Less than 300 days till Rogue One is released….. And still no trailer.
Disney has a handful of big releases coming over the next few months. Patience!
The only trailer for EP7 in this timeframe we had was the really early 88 second on Black Friday, and that was earlier for a SW trailer, even George Lucas kept the earliest ones about 6 months from the release date, that one was over a year away. we still got almost 10 months to go.
poe and finn on the set of the new assassin’s creed movie…
What’s with John’s Tuvok eyebrows though?
nice