American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 72

◗

Force Perspective

Top, from left: Storyboard artist Kurt van der Basch, Carter, director J.J. Abrams, Gilford,
visual-effects supervisor Roger Guyett and executive producer Tommy Harper survey a model
of Maz's castle exterior, which would be built on the back lot at Pinewood. Middle: Models
and maquettes were an important part of the design process. Bottom: Abrams reviews
creature designs with creature-shop supervisor Neal Scanlan (left) and creature concept
designer Jake Lunt.

72

February 2016

American Cinematographer

physical card model, because it's so much
easier to communicate what the set is.
The more you can do that, the better the
film will look, because it will ground [the
designs] in reality."
As the conceptual development
continued, designs were constantly revisited. "You design something when it's
just words on paper," Alzmann muses.
"Then you hire an actor or you build a
set, and suddenly that design isn't quite
vibing in juxtaposition with the new
thing. J.J. would feel it, and then we
would do another round of design. There
was a lot of caution on this project, where
we would go back to the drawing board
- if nothing else, just to make sure we
were happy with the original design."
"J.J. and I would discuss what
made things quintessentially Star Wars,"
Gilford notes, "and we'd think about how
iconic a lot of the shapes were. You think
of the X-wing fighter, you see the 'X.'
The TIE fighter has that really distinct
'H' shape. The Millennium Falcon is a
disc with mandibles. These aren't overly
complicated silhouettes."
In designing the personal shuttle
of villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the
artists were particularly inspired by the
Imperial shuttles seen in Return of the
Jedi, including the stolen shuttle
Tydirium that the Rebels use to infiltrate
the forest moon of Endor. "The [shuttle's] tri-wings are such a strong graphic,"
Chiang observes. "We were trying to
figure out, 'How can we imbue the same
personality, but not copy it literally?' It
finally came out where we get a similar
graphic, but [based on] a TIE fighter and
extending the wings so they become
super tall. You get the classic 'H' of the
TIE fighter, but it bridges the gap with
the Tydirium shuttle."
The filmmakers also faced the
daunting task of bringing the Millennium
Falcon forward in time. "That was a delicate process, figuring out how far we
could push that," Gilford observes.
Chiang adds, "What we discovered is
that you really couldn't add more to make
it better. There are certain things you just
can't improve on, and the Millennium
Falcon is one of them!"



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2016

Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 5
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 86
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American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 90
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 91
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 92
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 93
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 94
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 95
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 96
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover4
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