Kristin Baver over at StarWars.com brings us an absolutely fascinating and in-depth look at the magic of StageCraft and the ways that its early inception is already changing the face of visual effects and TV production.
Behind the scenes on the set of The Mandalorian, the storytellers and unprecedented visual effects engineers creating the first live-action Star Wars television series collaborated to crack the code for what has become a game-changing creation: StageCraft, a technological marvel that immerses the cast and production crew inside their CG environments in real time with the help of a massive wraparound LED screen.
“We’ve been experimenting with these technologies on my past projects and were finally able to bring a group together with different perspectives to synergize film and gaming advances and test the limits of real-time, in-camera rendering,” showrunner Jon Favreau has said.
“Jon Favreau found the breakthrough that George [Lucas] was always looking for when he first explored the idea of a live-action TV show,” adds Richard Bluff, the visual effects supervisor on the acclaimed series. Known as StageCraft, the innovators at Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm, and their collaborative partners on the project have achieved the planet-hopping magic of Star Wars storytelling that transports viewers to the galaxy far, far away by settling The Mandalorian in a largely computer generated, photo-real environment that wraps around physical sets and real actors to create a seamless effect.
Listening to tomorrow’s 38th studio episode of Making Tracks where we reveal who our forthcoming special ILM guest is.
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