A breakdown and a split screen of The Force Awakens visual effects from iamag.co. (via)
Fair warning: The split screen is pretty low res.
Voice actors of The Force Awakens revealed
On StarWars.com, Matthew Wood reveals the familiar voices behind the various troopers and pilots of The Force Awakens.
A look at The Force Awakens’ motion capture
Today in The Force Awakens: A familiar inspiration for Snoke
Supreme Leader Snoke’s appearance in The Force Awakens was inspired by the Lincoln Memorial and he is indeed a hologram, Roger Guyett and Pat Tubach confirm to Cinemablend. (Wait, people actually thought he… Wasn’t a hologram? Oh, internet.) And here are a few more new interviews with Guyett, Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould. The two half-hour interviews are a must-listen.
→ Industrial Light & Magic received the Genius Award at last night’s Critics Choice Awards, and BB-8 made an appearance during John Knoll’s acceptance speech.
→ The Force Awakens has passed $1B internationally, even as it fell to #3 domestically for the weekend.
→ The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at the Altus Sports Institute, which Bad Robot turned to to help get – and keep – the cast of
Discourse with Kanjiklub: Best #StarWars and #TheForceAwakens tweets for January 1-17
In January, we got to witness the ultimate confrontation, figured out The Force Awakens’ biggest mystery, broke some more box office records, angsted over the casting of young Han Solo and (probably) made too many Kanjiklub jokes. Oh well.
Rey’s bread was real, and other things we learned about The Force Awakens VFX today
Given the visual effects nod from the Oscars and yesterday’s leak of the VFX reel, it’s not so surprising that The Force Awakens effects talk is all over today.
At MTV, we learn that the film’s really most talked-about effect – Rey’s green instant bread – is practical. It does, however, taste terrible. They also look into BB-8’s thumbs-up. (It might be time to release an official GIF of that one.) Neal Scalan talked about how Rogue One’s approach to aliens will be different. Also: Easter eggs!
/Film has an interview with Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett, including the tidbit that The Force Awakens had more CG than The Phantom Menace, and more about how and why Kylo Ren’s helmet was added digitally.
Over at Collider, Scanlan, Guyett, Chris Corbould and Patrick Tubach talk about some of The Force Awakens’ cut scenes, including one with Maz.
5 Oscar nods for The Force Awakens include music, VFX
The Force Awakens received five Oscar nominations this morning, all in technical categories. John Williams got his 50th nomination for the score. ILM’s Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould are up for the film’s Visual Effects. Matthew Wood and David Acord are nominated for sound editing, with Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson for sound mixing. The biggest surprise is Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey for editing.
the 88th Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, February 28.
Video: The Force Awakens VFX reel
Check out this extensive, ten-minute effects reel for The Force Awakens. It gives us a look at the entirely digital parts of Jakku, Maz Kanata, the lightsaber battle and more. Recommended additional reading: Studio Daily’s interview with ILM VFX Supervisor Roger Guyett. (via)
Upcoming books focus on Star Wars front lines, propaganda
Jedi Bibliothek was first to spot two upcoming Star Wars coffee table books from Becker & Mayer. Both appear in the book producer’s 2015 autumn catalog (PDF) so we can probably expect them in the fall.
The first, On the Front Lines: Notes on Tactics, Armor and Valor from Galactic Conflicts is a look at warfare in the GFFA from Daniel Wallace. Here’s the blurb:
From the Clone Wars and the Rebellion to the clashes with the First Order, the galaxy is defined by war. Star Wars: On the Front Lines chronicles the tactics, weapons, and armor used in pivotal battles along with profiling acts of valor. By focusing on elements of the battles that occurred “off screen,” this collection brings the struggles faced by ground soldiers and starfighter pilots to life like never before and places the reader on the battle lines.
The second is the “in-universe” Star Wars: Propaganda from Pablo Hidalgo.
Whether it’s a Star Destroyer hovering over a planet or an X-wing delivering a message of resistance, propaganda images have become synonymous with life in the galaxy far, far away. This in-world art book explores the creation and stories behind these images of power and persuasion—where the images appeared, why particular planets were targeted, and who were the in-world artists behind the works.
Also featured in the catalog are a trade edition of last year’s Star Wars: Costumes and several crafting titles.
Earlier, Jedi Bibliothek also discovered covers and details for The Force Awakens Storybook (among others) and Landry Quinn Walker’s Tales From A Galaxy Far Far Away: Aliens. (Aliens collects the eBook short stories released last month, and is supposed to contain two new stories.)
These last two scheduled for early April releases, which lines up with the Blu-ray evidence.
The Force Awakens novelization shoots to #1
The Force Awakens novelization by Alan Dean Foster has made it to #1 on the the New York Times bestseller list, Lucasfilm’s Jennifer Heddle announced today.
The novelization was released in two phases – as an ebook on December 18th, with the hardcover not debuting until January 5.
(Pablo Hidalgo’s The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary has also been doing well, and is probably the most helpful resource out there right now.)
Despite over 20 years of the current publishing program, only 3 previous Star Wars novels have topped the NYT list: Timothy Zahn’s Heir the the Empire in 1991, Terry Brooks’ The Phantom Menace novelization in 1999 and Sean Williams’ The Force Unleashed novelization in 2008. Quite a few have made the top ten, with Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath recently peaking at #4.