Cinema • Streaming • Star Wars
A fast‑paced takedown of the sequel’s wild missteps, chaotic plotting, and gleefully over‑the‑top choices that make this follow‑up both baffling and strangely entertaining to pick apart…
Q: The underwater scenes of Otoh Gunga had a beauty all their own. Were these particularly difficult to create, and what parts were live action vs. miniatures vs. CG?
ILM: The Otoh Gunga Boardroom scene was challenging as we needed to create an otherworldly environment with a backdrop which was underwater. We wanted everything to have a magical feeling, with warm rich colors; that in itself presented problems as we still had to convey that water, which is inherently cold, was beyond the transparent walls. Generally the only live action parts were the actors Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor; they were shot on a partial set, but even that, along with various miniature model elements of the environment, was brought into the CG world and manipulated, before being composited together with other entirely CG elements (the board members, Boss Nass, JarJar, the fish, the exterior spheres and bubbles).
In addition, concept designers need to be world builders. We need to be architects, vehicle designers, costume and creature designers, all in one. Good designers have the ability to see the uncommon in common objects.