September 09, 2003; Hyperspace webchat with Dan Gregoire - A Summary
The animatics for a scene involving clonetroopers on speeder bikes have been developed. It is up to George whether or not it makes it into the final film.
There is a larger Animatics team for this film which means the standards are higher and almost half of the film has already been completed in regards to the animatics for ILM to realize digitally.
In terms of scale and scope, the opening space battle of Ep3 is bigger than anything we have seen before.
When asked what color Anakin's lightsaber will be during the duel with Obi-Wan, Dan said to watch Ep4.
Including Dan, the Animatics team consists of 12 people.
Dan and the team are not upset when some of their work does not make it into the final film. They understand that it is the essential ideas that start the shots that make it to the big screen.
For the pre-visualization of Ep2, the Animatics team used this software: Alias Wavefront's Maya, Adobe's After Effects, 2D3's Boujou.
The different fights involving Yoda, Dooku, Mace, and Palpatine (not necessarily linked to one another) are all very interesting and Dan is working on one that is "really cool."
There are some scenes that are so cool that Dan wishes he could reveal them.
The process for pre-visualizing Ep3 starts with the heaviest effects sequences and then immediately replace the bluescreen elements with digital sets and creatures to establish a rough draft to see if the shot is working and how to see the potential for future digital scene enhancement. The team does this process approximately 2-3 times per day.
The standards of the animatics were set pretty high by the end of Ep2 and the team picked up where they left off and have worked to maintain that consistency for Ep3.
Generally, from start to finish it takes about 1-2 weeks to get a scene exactly the way it is supposed to look. However, with Ep2 they did one scene at a time, and with Ep3 they are working 5-6 scenes at once, all in various stages of revision or development.
Animatics have done pre-visualization for the new bad guy and "he is one bad mother".
Overall, Ep3 is more action-oriented but will still have its fair share of quiet, character-driven scenes.
Animatics do preliminary work on the lightsaber duels with digital doubles. Nick Gillard choreographs the actual live fights and after the fight is filmed, Animatics then adds the lightsabers, digital environments and any other effects as required.
In regards to new aliens and designs, the Art Dept out-did themselves and we will see a lot of cool stuff.
Currently, there is no digital version of Darth Vader but there may be one designed in the future.
In one word, Dan describes Ep3 as "Dark".
Animatics are currently working on the scenes being filmed in FOX Studios Sydney, which is most of the film.
There is an entirely new digital environment that will be bigger than anything seen in any Star Wars film and will be very challenging for ILM.
Dan believes Ep3 will be better than Ep1 and Ep2 due to the fact that it is "dark and moody".
Ben Burtt adds the temporary sound effects and orchestration to the animatics sequences.
We will see huge fleets of starships.
Yoda will be featured in a spectacular action sequence.
While the main goal of the Animatics team is to make sure the shots are working, they also take care to light and texture the environments to capture the atmosphere and look that George wants to see.
It was tough to answer if "good guy ships" are damaged or destroyed. After all, "who are the good guys"?
Dan shares the excitement of Ryan Church over the script and the number of new planets/environments seen in Ep3.
Dan is unsure whether he will continue to work for Lucasfilm after Ep3.
The entire movie is one big special effect. There will not be a single scene that is not touched by effects in some way.
If the Jedi that die in the film are "real Jedi" then they will take some clones with them.
Technically speaking, Animatics have done a rough version of the entire film. But certain segments are never really done since George tweaks things until the last minute.
Yoda will not have a beard in Ep3.
The last 10 minutes of the film will definitely pull some emotions.
Dan agrees that there are some elements of the movie that push the limits of a PG rating but it is too early to tell what the final film will be or how it might be rated.
There will not be any "Star Wars profanity" in Ep3, such as "sithspit".
The ultimate film will be George's vision but the Animatics crew does have influence over some little pieces.
We will see some brand new vehicle designs. The Art Dept had to move forward from the Ep2 designs and moved in the direction of merging with Ep4.
The clones were Dan's favorite character(s) in Ep2.
The reason the space battle in Ep3 will be bigger and more challenging than the ROTJ space battle is because this new space battle will be a journey and not a single event.
Even though every idea has been used before, the Animatics team focused hard to be as unique as possible in their pre-visualization work.
The most difficult part of the pre-visualization process is to faithfully interpret written or verbal instruction.
The favorite part of the pre-visualization process is to see the scenes fully developed and finished by ILM and the scenes looking conceptually the same as the pre-vis work.
Dan's favorite StarWars film is ROTJ.
Generally the entire pre-vis team works on one sequence together but several other scenes that may overlap are also given attention so the team can move to the next sequence. While scheduling and managing the most recent tasks, the team is always developing new shots, revising old shots, and adding to previously done sequences.
We will see wookiees in action and Dan thinks "it is something to see".
Obi-Wan will become "General Kenobi" and the great hero of the Clone Wars.
Dan's other goals include cinematic theory and good movie-making techniques
