Bluescreen requires that an object or actor be photographed in front of a blue screen. When light from this screen illuminates the object and is seen by the camera, it’s called bluespill. Uncorrected during photography, these contaminated areas may become transparent during the optical compositing process and create an undesirable matte line wherever the blue light fell on the object. This condition usually occurs when the subject is glossy or white or placed at an undesirable angle to reflect light. Certain lenses are more susceptible to bluespill than others. An experienced bluescreen cinematographer is often able to eliminate or minimize bluespill through special lighting techniques.
FRONT PROJECTION
Also known as the Alekan-Gerard process and the Scotchlite process. A highly reflective screen is placed behind the subject being photographed. A projector is next to the camera with its optical axis at ninety degrees to the camera. A beam splitter reflects the projected image toward the screen while allowing the camera to see through; thus the camera sees the projected image on the highly reflective screen with the subject in front of it. The screen is so reflective, in fact, that only a very dim projection light is used; consequently, the foreground objects do not reflect the projected image.
GARBAGE MATTES
Animated mattes that serve to block out “garbage” in shots, such as unwanted lights, cables, C-stands, and so on. Often there are large areas of the shots in special effects elements that are not used and need to be “plugged up,” as it were, with garbage mattes. Usually they are quickly made with pieces of black paper placed above a light box and photographed with an animation camera.
OPTICAL COMPOSITE
A finished special effects shot, made up of two or more images that have been combined on an optical printer. An optical composite can be as simple as a flash of lightning in the sky or as complicated as fifty individual spaceships in a space battle. The most common optical composites place actors, photographed on a stage, into imaginary environments that combine actual live shots with matte paintings.
ROTOSCOPE
A technique in which individual frames of a movie are blown up and traced, one at a time, onto animation cels. Thus live action can be turned into animation (when the cels are rephotographed), ghostly effects can be added to live action, technical marvels can be put into real people’s hands (the lightsabers), and so on.
Rebel soldier sketch by Ralph McQuarrie.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ADDITIONAL AUDIO/VIDEO INTERVIEWS
1977 (circa): Alec Guinness (audio publicity tape)
1999: Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Roos, Martin Scorsese (Omnibus interviews, Lucasfilm Archives)
2003: Bunny Alsup, Hal Barwood, Steve Gawley, Howard Hammerman, Paul Huston, Lucy Wilson (Lucasfilm History Project, interviews by Pamela Glintenkamp)
2003: Carroll Ballard (interview by Paul Scanlon)
2003: Frank Darabont, Willard Huyck, John Korty, Matthew Robbins (THX 1138: The Director’s Cut DVD, interviews by Gary Leva); James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Ken Ralston, Norman Reynolds, Ridley Scott, John Singleton, Steven Spielberg, Gareth Wigan (2004 DVD release; Lucasfilm Bonus Disc documentaries)
2004: Charles Lippincott (by Pete Vilmur)
2006: Colin Cantwell (by David Nakabayashi)
CHRONOLOGY INTERVIEWS (BY J. W. RINZLER)
May 3, 2006: Ralph McQuarrie
May 5, 2006: Lorne Peterson
May 5, May 18, and June 13, 2006: George Lucas
May 31, 2006: Warren Hellman
August 8, 2006: Robert Tong
August 2006: Fred Roos
ADDITIONAL PRINT SOURCES BY SUBJECT
de Aragon, Maria, is quoted from Scott Chernoff, “Bar Room Blitz,” Star Wars Insider, April–May 1998.
Baker, Kenny, is quoted from Dan Madsen, “The Real R2-D2,” Star Wars Insider, summer 1994.
Blake, Paul, is quoted from Matt Yeo, “Lounge Room Lizard,” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, October–November 1998.
Brown, Phil, is quoted from Scott Chernoff, “The Man from Uncle,” Star Wars Insider, February–March 1998.
Cushing, Peter, is quoted from Starlog magazine, July 1985.
Daniels, Anthony, is quoted from Anthony Daniels, “Bonfire of the Utinies,” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, August–December 1998.
Diamond, Peter, is quoted from Iain Lowson, “The Star Wars Stooges,” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, April–May 1997.
Fisher, Carrie, is quoted from Judy Stone, “Debbie Reynolds’ Daughter Has Grown Up,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 26, 1977; and Elaine Welles, “Star Wars Star Loved Her Role,” Philadelphia Tribune, June 28, 1977.
Guinness, Sir Alec, is quoted from Philip Oakes, “World Enough and Time,” The Sunday Times, May 2, 1976; staff writer, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 25, 1977; and The New York Times, January 2, 1978.
Hamill, Mark, is quoted from Harry Tessel, “Star Wars Star Is on Cloud Nine,” Long Beach Independent, June 10, 1977; Pat Berman, “Star Wars Lead Was Unexpected,” The Columbia (S.C.) Record, June 25, 1977; in the Post-Tribune, Gary, Indiana, July 3, 1977; and James Van Hise, “An Interview with Mark Hamill,” Rocket’s Blast Comic Collector, October 1977.
Kurtz, Gary, is quoted from Zofia Smardz, “How They Made Star Wars: Early Doubts, a Fast Finish,” The Washington Star, May 30, 1977.
Ladd Jr., Alan, is quoted from Tom Nolan, “He’s a Twentieth Century Fox,” Crawdaddy, May 1978.
Lucas, George, is quoted from Gregg Kilday, The Boston Phoenix, June 14, 1977.
Marjdi the elephant is described in Eric Shultz, “The Big Secret Behind Star Wars Elephant,” Modern People, Franklin Park, Ill., December 4, 1977.
Mayhew, Peter, is quoted from Dave Horner, Asylum, December 1977; Joe Nazzaro, “Roowarragh!” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, December–January 1997–1998.
Mulholland, Declan, is quoted from David Bassom, “The Man Behind the Hutt,” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, October–November 1997.
Stark, Koo, is quoted from Richard Holliss, “Lost in Space,” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, February–March 1999.
Taylor, Gilbert, is quoted from Jamie Painter and Chris Gardner, “Taylor-Made,” Star Wars: The Official Magazine, February–March 1997.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews, Rena. The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado. December 14, 1977.
Arnold, Gary. “Star Wars: A Spectacular Intergalactic Joyride.” The Washington Post. May 25, 1977.
Barnes, Harper. St. Louis-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri. August 14, 1977.
Benka, Rori. “Star Wars Writer-Director Says Film Was Disappointment for Him.” Daily Trojan. December 9, 1977.
Bozereau, Laurent, ed. Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays. New York: Del Rey, 1997.
Canby, Vincent. “Star Wars—A Trip to a Far Galaxy That’s Fun and Funny.” The New York Times. May 26, 1977.
———. “Not Since Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe …” The New York Times. Sunday, June 5, 1977.
Champlin, Charles. “Star Wars Hails the Once and Future Space Western.” Los Angeles Times. May 22, 1977.
Chuvala, Bob. News-Times, Danbury, Connecticut. November 27, 1977.
Cleveland, Jan. Telegram, San Bernardino, California. September 6, 1977.
Dodds, Pat. Record, Cedar Falls, Iowa. October 20, 1977.
Ford, Stephen. The Detroit News, Detroit, Michigan. June 3, 1977.
Gottschalk Jr., Earl C. Washington Star, Washington, D.C. July 10, 1977.
The Harvard Crimson. June 1, 1977.
Hearn, Marcus. The Cinema of George Lucas. New York: Abrams, 2005.
Herman, Jan. Journal-News, Nyack, New York. November 27, 1977.
Hopper, Ila Grant. Bulletin, Bend, Oregon. September 13, 1977.
Jones, Steven. Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, Tennessee. August 21, 1977.
Kauffmann, Stanley. New Republic. June 18, 1977.
Morgan, Debbie. News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio. December 21, 1977.
Murf. “Star Wars R
eview,” Daily Variety. May 20, 1977.
Newsweek. “Fun in Space.” May 30, 1977.
Oakland, Mike. Olympian, Olympia, Washington. October 18, 1977.
Parks, Jim. Herald, Oskaloosa, Iowa. July 30, 1977.
Pennington, Ron. “Movie Review: Star Wars.” The Hollywood Reporter. May 20, 1977.
Scanlon, Paul. “The Force Behind Star Wars,” Rolling Stone. May 1977.
Simon, John. “Star Dust.” New York. June 20, 1977.
Siskel, Gene. “Star Wars Flashes with Space Wizardry.” Chicago Tribune. May 27, 1977.
Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1988.
Staff writer. Herald News, Hamilton, Texas. November 10, 1977.
Staff writer. Corvallis Gazette-Times, Corvallis, Oregon. July 29, 1977.
Time. “Star Wars: The Year’s Best Movie.” May 30, 1977.
Titelman, Carol, ed. The Art of Star Wars. New York: Ballantine, 1979.
Variety. “20th–Fox Opted for PG Rather than G Star Wars Rating.” June 2, 1977.
Weitzner, Friedkin. “Galaxy Crisis.” The New Yorker. May 1977; “Contrasts” (opposing view, anonymous). The New Yorker. September 26, 1977.
Note: Artwork dates for Ralph McQuarrie’s production illustrations and matte paintings were taken from handwritten (undated) notes by McQuarrie in the Lucasfilm Archives.
Director of special effects photography Richard Edlund at Industrial Light & Magic. (Photo from the private collection of Lorne Peterson)
The Making of Star Wars (Enhanced Edition) Page 55