Before the exuberant use of CGI and green screens in major films and series, filmmakers had to use tricks and practical effects: masks, miniatures or self-built sets. A cool trick was used in Star Wars: Episode 1 during the pod races.
What is it about? Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace was released in 1999 and despite many effects and the use of CGI, there are still some practical effects that were used. One of the most interesting tricks happens during the pod race with Anakin.
As a young boy, Anakin has to win the pod race for Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The race has a large audience, which also celebrates little Anakin’s victory at the end. But the audience is neither real actors nor CGI. It consists of cotton swabs.
Another science fiction film revolutionized CGI, but was punished for it: This film revolutionized CGI in films, but did not receive an Oscar because computer effects were considered “cheat”.
English trailer for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
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450,000 cotton swabs instead of real spectators
How were the spectators simulated? In a short YouTube clip, the channel @EuphoricMovie explains how the spectators in the pod race were made. First, the stage and scenery were recreated as a miniature. 450,000 cotton swabs were then put into the miniature.
These were painted in different colors. So that the spectators don’t just stand around like stiff statues, hairdryers were placed under the cotton buds, which blew air upwards so that the cotton buds moved and it looked as if the audience was celebrating.
You can see scenes from this in the YouTube clip:
In the first trilogy, painting was used for tricks. The first trilogy relied primarily on the brush. Flicks And The City shows on YouTube how the images of large stormtrooper armies were built.
They relied on painted backgrounds and characters. Although there were few real stormtroopers on set, the rest of the army was drawn. In the clip you can also see that the sky of the Cloud City was drawn by Lando. This achieved picturesque scenery without the benefit of CGI or huge sets.
Does Star Wars still use practical effects today? Despite the great development of CGI, Star Wars films and series still regularly use practical effects in the form of animatronics. Among other things, BB-8 was a built prop and Grogu from The Mandelorian was not CGI but animatronics. You can find more behind-the-scenes about Star Wars here: Star Wars: “Anakin Skywalker” particularly remembers a certain situation during the filming of Episode 2