Star Wars Episode 7 News

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Star Wars: Episode 7 to Focus on Story and Characters with Balanced CGI.


Lucasfilm president and Star Wars brand manager Kathleen Kennedy sat down with Warwick Davis at Celebration Europe and gave an update on the production of Episode VII...



On story and characters:

"The story and characters are all we’re talking about right now. We have an amazing team at ILM, who can create fantastic effects, but if we don’t have a great story and characters, the effects mean nothing."

"I do think making huge popular culture – and I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of a lot it – is really hard to do and get right. And if you don’t spend the time you need on developing characters, and finding stories, complicated stories, the audience gets tired because they think they’re seeing the same thing again and again."

On technology:

"There's nothing more exciting than to be involved in that kind of technological innovation. When the story ideas you're working on contribute to pushing the technology, I really think that's what's so exciting about our business. It's when the imagination drives innovation and new design."

On locations and special effects:

"It's a conversation we're having all the time in the development of Episode VII. Looking at all the Star Wars movies and getting a feel for what even some of the early films did, combining real locations and special effects – that's something we're looking very seriously at."

"So we're going to find some very cool locations that we're going to use in support of Episode VII. And I think we're probably going to end up using every single tool in the toolbox to create the look of these movies."

On what the toolbox is:

"It's using model makers; it's using real droids; it's taking advantage of artwork that you actually can touch and feel. And we want to do that in combination with CG effects. We figure that's what will make it real."

7 comments:

  1. Just how many times can they bite down on this apple? Its sad that they beleive there is money for old rope. I can see star wars is a good cash giver to them, but enough is enough. Inovation should be new not a polish for the past, a truley new experiance is hard to find. Please we have seen it before it has evan been made......

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    1. I'm glad they intend not to overuse CGI. What I would really love is if they used the same film stock as the 1977 original (or if they achieved that look with an instagram-like program). I want to see a meta-sequel that looks like it was filmed in October of 1979 (except with more realistic effects).

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    2. True but you can't create a lot of the planets from the Star Wars universe like Coruscant f.e. without CGI.
      I had never had an issue with the amount of CGI the used, not in the first 3 episodes.. but there's good & bad CGI.

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  2. It's not the amount, it's the quality of it. People need to stop making these dumb wishes- no CG is like asking for rotary phone dials to return... not going to happen. Let's not think we know how to make a movie... U don't, none of us do.

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  3. No it doesn't need to be on the same film stock, the story is taking place 30 years later... how dumb.

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