https://vimeo.com/151728142
One thing we can agree on when it comes to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is that the film certainly looked great. No doubt the usual army of visual effects wizards were employed to bring director J.J. Abrams’ vision to life, and a new video sheds light on how a lot of that happened technically.
What strikes us most when watching the 10-minute reel full of green screens and computer-generated spaceships, is just how many practical effects are revealed, where scenes were physically produced without any post-production gimmickry.
At the :50 mark, for instance, Finn runs up to a crashed and burning TIE fighter on Jakku, screaming for Resistance pilot Poe. Actor John Boyega steps into a very realistic crash scene constructed in the desert location. When the spacecraft gets sucked into the sand, well, that’s where we get the green-screen effects.
Also on Jakku, Finn and Rey are seen running from explosions as they try to make it to the Millennium Falcon. The explosions were real, the Falcon … not so much.
Elsewhere in the video, the full artistic force of visual effects is on display with a revealing look at how Maz Kanata and Supreme Leader Snoke were both created.