Episode V Update: Different Stages, Different Worlds
April 1, 1979 -- Shooting a Star Wars film requires a great deal of
coordination, as different stages at Elstree Studios become different
worlds on concurrent schedules. While the main stage is still under layers
of fake ice, transformed into the Rebel's snowy hangar bay on a frigid
planet, another world is being constructed on Stage 2.
Like the various locales of the Star Wars universe, this new world
is firmly rooted in images and concepts of our own. "George Lucas gave us
our terms of reference on Star Wars and we have abided by them,"
says Production Designer Norman Reynolds. One of Lucas' mandates is that
everything relate to Earth somehow. "This prevents us from getting carried
away into realms of science fiction. The Star Wars pictures are not
science fiction. We're making adventure stories for which the terms of
references are in the here and now. Although it is fantasy, you can feel
home in the distant galaxy."
As a perfect example, this new world hearkens back to the art deco boom of
the 1920s. The style that superceded art nouveau, art deco is the result
of designers attempting to fuse mechanical and technological influences
into a decorative motif. Since the new planet is one with an advanced
cosmopolitan and varied culture, it fits well with that style.
With simulated marble floors trimmed in gleaming white and chrome, this
new planet is a bold contrast to the undeveloped and war-torn worlds seen
elsewhere in the series.
In other stages, the Rebel ice base undergoes attack not only from the
Empire, but from natural predators, as realized by effects technicians. A
full day was spent trying to perfect a scene involving a snowy-furred
creature.
"In this scene, we're trying to suggest more than will actually be seen.
We need to use the audience's imagination as a means of giving color to
our coloring book," says director Irvin Kershner. "It's no good just to be
literal in a shot like this. The effect must be one of illusion, a slight
of hand, a conjuring trick. So we're trying again."
Executive Producer George Lucas, meanwhile, has returned to California to
examine effects tests at Industrial Light & Magic. He will keep in close
contact with the production in England using the latest in telex
technology.