Page 65 - Star Wars Insider #175

GRAPHIC DISPLAYS

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ALPHANUMERIC SOUP
Among the many display graphics to be seen in A New Hope are
various examples of written readings, but none are recognizably in
English or any other Earth language. As John Wash recalls, “That’s
because George Lucas didn’t want anything to really relate to Earth
culture. So where there were things that looked like they should have
writing, we used a Letraset typeface that we could cut up with X-Acto
knives and turn into our own alien lettering.
“We discussed it with George, and in the end he did let us use
numbers that were recognizable. I remember I wanted a rangefi nder in
the macrobinoculars, and I got permission to use numbers that didn’t
have any real scale to them. And Jay Teitzell used real numbers for a
countdown in Luke’s X-wing as he is making his fi nal run in the X-wing.
Details like that just help the audience to make some sense of things.”

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laughs Duff, who returned to
Pixar in the mid 1990s and has
twice been honored with the
Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences’ Scientifi c
and Engineering Award. “We
built the editing system that
was the prototype for the Avid
system that everybody uses
now. And we built the digital
compositing system that
“What made it harder was Computer, to Apple co-founder replaced the optical printers.”
that all of the equipment we Steve Jobs, leading to the John Wash, who went on
were using was on the second founding of Pixar Animation to become a visual effects
floor of the building, and the Studios. By this time, the supervisor on TV shows like

floor was springy. People Division had largely established The X-Files and Smallville, also
walking by would cause the the basics for modern marvels at the evolution in
camera to bounce enough postproduction methods. technology. “I’m blown away,”
that you could see it on the “Movies are made he says. “I loved doing scenes
screen, so we mostly shot at completely differently now, where some of the elements
night when there were very few and it’s kind of our fault,” came from reality and then
people around. Even then we you’d make them
had to ask people not to go do your bidding
“A CUSTOMIZED MITCHELL
anywhere near the room!” in the world of
compositing. But
MOVING ON ANIMATION CAMERA WAS the things that
Duff left the Computer can be done these
Division in 1984, and two years LOADED WITH HIGH- days with CGI are
later Lucas sold its services, phenomenally
including the Pixar Image CONTRAST FILM STOCK...” impressive.”

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