Season 2 of the hit Disney Plus Star Wars series The Mandalorian was easily one of the most-watched and talked about shows of 2020. The series has garnered high praise for its authenticity and high production value, and now fans can take a look at the behind-the-scenes magic involved in bringing the show to life through visual effects.
A video posted to ILM’s official Youtube channel breaks down the various visual effects used throughout Season 2 of The Mandalorian. The three-and-a-half-minute featurette breaks down the detailed process of putting together visual effects shots, showing how backgrounds were placed in shots during the post-production process, and how a mixture of both practical and digital effects was used to create the world of The Mandalorian. While the video is a detailed look at the visual effect process, it only begins to encompass the scale of this work. According to the video description “The season's 8 episodes encompassed nearly 5,000 visual effects shots in addition to all of ILM's real-time effects work done for use during principal photography.”
ILM is a renowned visual effects company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas himself back in 1975. Along with their work on every Star Wars movie, the company's other credits include the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the Harry Potter franchise, and Jurassic Park. ILM is one of the most groundbreaking visual effects companies in film history, having achieved many milestones for the industry, including the creation of the first entirely computer-generated character in Young Sherlock Holmes. ILM has gone on to win numerous awards and nominations over the years, including 13 Visual Effects Society Award nominations for their work on season 2 of The Mandalorian.
Star Wars has always been at the forefront of visual effects. The franchise has constantly pushed the boundaries of digital cinema, helping to invent new technology and techniques along the way. While Star Wars has received its share of criticism, particularly for George Lucas' overreliance on digital and visual effects, it’s impossible to overstate how much the franchise and ILM’s work has influenced modern-day cinema.
One of the most impressive contributions to the world of visual effects is ILM’s recent groundbreaking virtual filmmaking environment ‘The Volume,’ which is used on The Mandalorian to create add-in backgrounds using giant LED screens. This advanced technology allows for more detailed and realistic backgrounds, and may one day replace the use of the green screen and chroma key techniques, which have been the standard for years.
Ewan Mcgregor has stated that the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series will be shot using the same technology as The Mandalorian. Set to begin production in 2021, Obi-Wan Kenobi will follow McGregor's exiled Jedi in between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
You can watch both seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney Plus now.
Source: YouTube | ILMVFX