One of the biggest reasons Lucasfilm’s “The Mandalorian” was able to be made was the technological breakthrough called StageCraft which has since been adopted by multiple productions.
The approach uses a soundstage dubbed ‘The Volume’ which is surrounded by a high-quality 270+ degree semicircular LED video wall displaying a virtual landscape image rendered in the Unreal gaming engine.
The tech is linked to the camera, changing the light and parallax of the image as the camera moves – allowing for convincing illusions that can be shot ‘in camera’.
When the tech works, it’s seamless and the illusion is fully convincing. However at other times it stands out badly – Marvel Studios especially have made poor use of it in their recent “Thor” and “Ant-Man” films.
“Andor” famously rejected using the tech on all but one occasion on the series, whereas limited series like “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” overly embraced it to the point it became an issue.
The just launched “Star Wars: Ahsoka” has seemingly managed to avoid the criticisms of its various predecessors and has been scoring raves for its visuals. It ultimately comes down to writer and executive producer Dave Filoni knowing what he’s doing.
Speaking with Cinema Blend, Filoni was asked if he plans to use the Volume with his new “Star Wars” film in development. He explains he uses a mixed approach in an effort to avoid the tech’s limitations and get a best of all worlds scenario:
“If it applies, 100% I would. I’m fortunate to have been on the ground floor of that, and having experienced it with my team, I know when it works and when it doesn’t work.
There are certain situations where you absolutely want to use it, and there are certain situations where it’s better to do it on a regular stage with blue screen.
There are certain situations where you just want to go outside. You have to just know and trust your team for when is the right time to use it.
For me, in animation, I like to do a lot of previsualization. I like to work out a lot of things virtually beforehand. I can watch a cut of the film before I’ve shot it. And I brought the [directors of photography] into the process.
So we look at it a lot, up front. Yeah, I would definitely say it’s on the table, but I have no fear of doing it in other ways. I think it’s a different tool that you have in the box to use at this point.”
Behind-the-scenes photos can attest to this with plenty of blue screen sets, and some from location shooting such as a train yard at El Segundo in Los Angeles.
The third episode of “Ahsoka” will air this coming Tuesday night.
