Obi-Wan Kenobi TV Show Will Use Same Tech As The Mandalorian
Ewan McGregor says the upcoming Obi-Wan TV show for Disney+ will use the same revolutionary visual effects techniques as The Mandalorian.
BY CHRIS AGAR
The Obi-Wan TV show for Disney+ will use the same visual effects technology as The Mandalorian. Since its beginnings more than four decades ago, the Star Wars franchise has always pushed the boundaries of moviemaking, revolutionizing the visual effects industry in the process. While spearheading The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau looked to continue the tradition by pioneering an all new way of shooting: virtual production. Dubbed "the Volume" by the crew, the method uses a game engine to instantly render environments on a soundstage, allowing the team to film on desert and snowy "locations" on the same day. By seamlessly blending the Volume backgrounds with practical effects, most viewers can't tell what they're looking at is CGI.
It's a truly innovative way of handling production that will likely change the way films and TV shows are made in the future. Lucasfilm has to be very pleased with the way the Volume turned out, as the studio has several more Star Wars shows in development that can take advantage of this technology. One of those is Obi-Wan, and it unsurprisingly is going to make great use of the techniques introduced on The Mandalorian.
In an interview with ACE Nation, Obi-Wan star Ewan McGregor talked about his upcoming Star Wars return, discussing some cool behind-the-scenes details. He contrasted The Mandalorian approach with what he dealt with on the Star Wars prequels:
“[The prequels] were all blue screen and green screen and it was hard to imagine, but nowadays I think things have moved on so much, and I think a lot of what you see is gonna be what we see on the set. I don’t know if you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes of The Mandalorian series, but they employ that incredible screen…it’s pretty amazing. It makes you feel like you’re in the place, it’s going to feel realer for us, as actors. And I think we’ll be using some of that technology on our show.”
The Star Wars prequels were very innovative for their era; Jar Jar Binks was the first main CGI character in a feature film and Attack of the Clones was the first major Hollywood movie shot on digital. Still, they had some limitations. As McGregor notes, shooting in front of a blue or green screen makes it difficult for the actor to give a truly authentic performance because there's nothing to react to. The Volume eliminates that problem by putting the cast right in the location for any given scene. The actors have a better idea of what they're supposed to do, and there isn't as much imagining going on. It's easy to see how filming in the Volume would be beneficial. McGregor's performances as Obi-Wan were already a highlight of the prequels, so perhaps he'll be able to take things to another level thanks to the Volume.
It'll be interesting to see if Obi-Wan does anything to help The Mandalorian's visual effects techniques evolve. The show is expected to be a more smaller, character-driven drama when compared to other Star Wars projects, so it probably isn't going to be so reliant on spectacle. At the same time, there will undoubtedly be action sequences and visual effect shots, giving director Deborah Chow and company opportunity to push the envelope further. Given her background on The Mandalorian, Chow is very familiar with how the Volume works, so she might try to figure out some fresh techniques to try out on Obi-Wan.
https://screenrant.com/star-wars-obi-wan-tv-show-mandalorian-visual-effects/
tvline.com
and Star Wars “prints money” this is probably not accurate but take a look at this:
