British Science Festival: 40 Years of Star Wars

Optical and Photochemical Processes

Digital Hardware and Software

The Photochemical Process

Compositing

• Compositing is combining separate visual elements into a single image.– This is usually to create the illusion that all the

elements are part of the same scene

Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back (1978)

Georges MélièsA Trip to the Moon(1902)

Multiple Exposures

+ =• Two images are exposed on to

the same piece of film

• Equivalent to adding images together

• Can be done in camera Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Bipack

x =• Light is shone through pieces of film packed

together in a post-production process

• Equivalent to multiplying images together.

The Matte

Bipack

Multiple Exposure

Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back (1978)

Matte Painting and Set Extensions

Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back (1978)

Matte Painting and Set Extensions

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

Black Narcissus (1947)

The Travelling Matte and Keying

• Required to mask moving shapes

• Commonly produced using chromo keying

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Keying with Film

xBlue Filter Film

=Exposed onto high contrast

black and white film to desaturate

A negative of the mattecan also be produced

The Optical Printer

The Dykstraflex by John Dykstra

• 63 Separate Elements• 170 Rolls of Film

Shot SB-19Return of the Jedi

Working With Film