In just 60 seconds, Episode I launched the biggest cinema revolution of the 21st century

Even before young Anakin Skywalker climbs into his Podracer and risks his life in the dangerous Boonta Eve race in the gorges of Tatooine, the spark of rebellion is ignited in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Not the rebellion that later turns against the Empire, but the rebellion that breaks out from the galaxy far, far away and that Film world changed forever.

With the start of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars creator George Lucas once again asserted himself as a visionary, pioneer and rebel who countered Hollywood’s conventional way of filmmaking with a bold idea: What if I made a blockbuster I shoot entirely with digital cameras, instead of using traditional footage? This was unthinkable at the end of the 1990s.

Of all things, the most controversial scene in Episode I marks the beginning of Lucas’ digital image era. Although he was not the first filmmaker to bring digital images to the screen, he accelerated the change significant in the blockbuster sector. On the occasion of Episode I’s 25th anniversary, we take a look back at Lucas’ digital ambitions and how they influenced cinema.

Starting with Episode I: George Lucas wanted to change cinema forever with the Star Wars prequels

It was clear from the start: Lucas wasn’t just interested in expanding his star saga with the prequels. He wanted that next chapters of digital filmmaking that didn’t play a role in Hollywood at the time. Digitally shot films had already existed before – Windhorse (1998) and the early Dogma 95 films from Denmark are considered key works. But for a $115 million production like Episode I, the technology wasn’t an option.

Since the mid-1990s, more and more parts of film production have adapted digital systems. The filming itself was still in the blockbuster cinema anchored in analog processes. While editing, sound and visual effects could be edited on computers, rolls of film were inserted into cameras and negatives were developed. At that time there was no trace of a competitive digital camera.

Lucas and his team around cameraman David Tattersall and producer Rick McCallum also discovered this. The ambition to shoot the prequels entirely digitally became first greeted by defeat. In June 1997, when The Phantom Menace first opened, the crew did not have a digital camera system that could meet the demands of a blockbuster production.

From technical problems to practical handling: digital cameras couldn’t do that back then usual 24 frames per second record, but operated at 30 frames per second. Compared to analogue films, the movements appeared blurry and the image quality was significantly worse. And would the cameras even survive the heat while filming in Tunisia?

Nevertheless, Lucas didn’t let himself be dissuaded from his vision. Experimented since 1995 he with the possibilities of digital cameras. In collaboration with Sony and Panavision, he developed camera prototypes and new lenses that he needed for his work. Mike Blanchard, Vice President of Post-Production at Lucafilm, breaks down specific details in a detailed interview with StarWars.com.

The first digital Star Wars images are hidden in Episode I – you’ve probably never noticed them before

When Lucas returned to the studio in August 1998 for subsequent filming, he finally had a digital camera with him: the Sony HDC-750. The epic lightsaber duel with Darth Maul in the finale could not be filmed. The camera was used for less complex scenes, such as the infamous midichlorian moment on Tatooine, which is still discussed today.

The night before the pod race, Qui-Gon Jinn takes a sample of Anakin’s blood
Midichlorians-Value to find out what determines the boy’s Force sensitivity. The scene made pop culture history thanks to the outrage of many fans. Measuring power in numbers was like demystifying Star Wars. But what few people know is that film history was also written here.

Lucas filmed the scene between Qui-Gon and Anakin using both Sony’s digital camera and a classic 35mm camera. Ended up landing two settings in the film that were recorded with the digital camera – a milestone. Further tests with the HDC-750 were carried out on the Coruscant scenes, among other things. This includes, for example, the scene in which Anakin wants to say goodbye to Padmé.

But what exactly did Lucas hope to achieve from a digital film shoot? At first glance, there were many disadvantages and hurdles, from immature technology to skeptical eyes in the industry. For Lucas, digital images were the next logical stepafter almost all other film production steps had gone digital, especially for a complex blockbuster like Star Wars.

Efficiency and control: Digital change made filmmaking easier for George Lucas on all levels

In order to incorporate computer-generated effects into his film, Lucas had to digitize the filmed footage. So why not go completely digital? For Lucas, who felt more comfortable in the editing room than on set, the digital image meant more control and unity seamless transition to post-production. He was all about efficiency. Last but not least, he financed the prequels himself with his production company Lucasfilm.

In an interview with the American Film Institute in 2009, Lucas explained his reasons for shooting digitally:

The process is significantly more valuable. It’s much easier to use, so much less restrictive. It gave me a huge advantage in the day-to-day process of making films and saved me a lot of money. I am still an independent filmmaker.

Financial questions have accompanied Lucas since the beginning of his career as a filmmaker:

I pay all my bills myself so I have to be careful. I don’t have unlimited resources of the major studios and having to worry about where the money will come from for my next film if the one I’m working on either goes over budget or doesn’t do as well as I’d hoped. That is always a factor. We try to shoot in the most cost-effective way and that’s where digital has really made a big difference.

In his testing, Lucas wanted to find out whether the digital image would fit in with the rest of the film. The result was convincing: “It fit so well that it no one noticed is.” Unfortunately, there is no complete list of which shots in Episode I come from digital cameras. Paul Duncan, the author of the Star Wars Archives, only verifies the midichlorian moment in his research.

Lucas’ unbroken digital ambitions: Hollywood hadn’t experienced this since sound and color films

Although only a few digital seconds ended up in Episode I, the message behind it was clear: Lucas was serious about his plan. And Hollywood couldn’t ignore this message.

Lucas summed it up to the American Film Institute:

I now knew I had the camera and the objects and could shoot the next film completely digitally and no longer have to jump back and forth between the medium.

After this success, Lucas immediately initiated the next step in cinema digitization: Episode I became the first blockbuster shown with digital copiesspecifically in two cinemas in Los Angeles and two in New York, which was an absolute novelty at the time, as the Los Angeles Times noted in a report from June 1999.

Nowadays, digital projections are a given. Before the turn of the millennium, Lucas was faced with the challenge of creating moving images with digital tools – and also the placeswhere these are performed. In 1977, for Star Wars, he attached great importance to ensuring that Dolby sound could be adequately reproduced in cinemas. In the prequels it was the projectors.

From the digital production pipeline to the digital distribution system: Episode I’s attempts weren’t enough for a major retooling in the cinema industry, but the message behind it remained unmistakable. If the future of Star Wars was digitalit could only be a matter of time before other filmmakers followed suit.

Three years after Episode I, George Lucas fulfilled his digital cinema promise with Attack of the Clones

As with Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones 2002 first Hollywood blockbuster shot entirely digitally took over the screen, the digital rebellion had already become an entire revolution. The Festival (1998) gave the Dogma 95 movement a rough digital coat of paint, while Nouvelle Vague legend Agnès Varda made her digital debut with The Collector and the Collector (2002).

Thanks to digital cameras, Aleksandr Sokurov was able to shoot the 96-minute Russian Ark (2002) in one take, while Danny Boyle was in the digital image noise the zombie apocalypse of 28 Days Later (2002). Regardless of whether he is an established Hollywood great (Robert Altman with The Company, 2003) or a screen rebel (Robert Rodriguez with Spy Kids 2, 2002): In the end, Michael Mann with his digital borderline experiences Collateral (2004), Miami Vice (2006) and Public Enemies (2009) outran everyone.

Digital cinema was unstoppable.

25 years after Episode I, digitally shot films and digital projections have become the new standard. Without Lucas’ preparatory work on a blockbuster level, this development would be rapid would not have been imaginable. An industry that is over 100 years old has been completely transformed within a decade. In 2013, digitally shot films made up the majority in commercial cinemas for the first time. Today it is over 90 percent.

Which makes it all the more ironic that the cinematic revival of Star Wars has turned its back on Lucas’ greatest legacy. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was the first Star Wars film since Episode I shot again on film became. Director JJ Abrams and cinematographer Dan Mindel chose 35mm and 65mm film. Star Wars should look like it did in the 70s again and not like the cinema of the future.

Star Wars has moved away from George Lucas’ digital legacy, but it’s felt everywhere in cinema

Had the digital image with its zeros and ones just like the midichlorians (Cinematic magic demystified? Digital and analog have often been played off against each other in recent years. Vibrant images with rich texture vs. flat, soulless shots. Things aren’t quite that simple. More and more films are blurring the boundaries and showing how diverse digital cinema can be.

When we look at the Oscar-nominated The Holdovers, we see a film that uses digital tools to emulate the grainy film look and look like it’s straight in a forgotten film canister been found. In contrast, there is a science fiction blockbuster like Avatar: The Way of Water, which reveals never-before-seen 3D worlds of images with incredible colors and movements.

It is impressive evidence that here – also thanks to Lucas’ pioneering work on the Star Wars prequels – one of the cinema’s most powerful tools was created. Digital cameras and all associated film technologies can produce a wide variety of types of images. As with all filmmaking tools, the crucial question is how they are used.

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