Just recently Star Wars: The Force Awakens bonus materials were released and very soon they will be available on Blu-ray with the movie. So it's a chance to talk about a really great, hour-long “making-of” documentary entitled "The Secrets of the Force Awakens" which explores various areas of the film's production. Blu-ray also contains other bonus features, such as the scenes removed from the film. First of all, I really recommend checking out all of the content but I assume that all the hardcore fans here have already done it.
The deleted scenes include Finn's encounter with a villager when he is still a stromtrooper, Genral Leia receiving a message about Poe, Kylo Ren searching the Millennium Falcon but also a real treat for special effects fans, because there is an unpolished scene of a speeder chase, which would be very interesting to every special effects creator.
"The Secrets of the Force Awakens" shows the creative, planning and construction processes of this huge venture, which cost $200 million and involved thousands of people. It's a great watch for every Star Wars fan but also for everyone who is an artist or is simply interested in movie production.
We get a sneak peek into the art department, both for the old movies and the new one. The documentary talks about the creative process where all the amazing concept art and sculptures were created. I really enjoyed the scenes that showed J.J.Abrams attaching different color post-its with some notes to the concepts which he approved and the ones he didn't. "The Force Awakens" involved a lot of puppets and remotely-controlled robots, and they created and used over 100 creatures. They put a strong emphasis on combing the practical effects with CGI. It's actually amazing to see the huge sets being built for the actors to play in and then witness how those sets are improved and extended with computer graphics. It's really refreshing after all the green screen/fully CGI movies.
Do you remember the final fight in the snowy forest? It is actually a stunning, huge set. The movie shows how they built this breathtaking set with real trees and hundreds of boxes of fake snow.
What I also found very interesting is that there were at least 3 or 4 different BB-8 droids, which were built with different scenes in mind. Some of them were remote-controlled, others were not. What's funny most of the time they seemed to be fine pushing it with a handle – a really classic approach for a high-budget production like this.
"The Secrets of the Force Awakens" shows a lot of interviews with actors and creators and it's really apparent that all of them have a special connection with the project. All of them were really grateful and honoured to be able to work on such an impressive production. Personally, I have always been very interested in movie production and watched a lot of documentaries about it but I was really impressed by the size and scope of this project, not to mention the level of involvement that was put into this movie.
Comments
Speaking of TFA, how did you like the two CGI characters - Snoke and Maz Kanata? I have mixed feelings about those - on the one hand, they were really nicely animated and modeled, but on the other - they made me think of Pixar movies (and doesn't Snoke look a bit like Pale Orc from The Hobbit?).
Personally I wasn't totally convinced by the CGI characters because they stood out too much but I kind of understand why they decided to use them and they are well-made for CGI models. However I enjoyed the character of Unkar Plutt far more. He was played by Simon Pegg in a full-body costume and then enhanced with CGI. In my opinion he looked better that way.
I'm so glad the film industry is so open these days and you can take a peek behind the curtain. Just like you, I'm really enjoying the new-old trend of combining physical designs with CGI. I'm really in awe of all the technical possibilites we have nowadays but, I don't know, I always remember that it's all green screen & computer animation. Obviously, it's not easy to make; it takes years sometimes and efforts of thousands of people. On the other hand, very impressive films (mostly shorts) were made by only one or two people and became successful too. What I mean to say is that the technology had become so common that complicated CGI can be done by anyone and thus loses a bit of its appeal. We've also 'seen it all', so not much can impress us these days. When we think about how people dealt with obstacles in the years before advanced computer technology, their work suddenly seems so much harder and impressive. So seeing creators 'sweating it' a bit more, going back to the basics in modern films is very refreshing to see. I really loved the new Mad Max in this regard. It's really fascinating what people can come up with to make their ideas real :)
Anyway for me the documentary actually didn't "break" the magic at all and I highly enjoyed watching it. It showed a really special experience for the whole crew and the creative process and it actually made me feel a little bit like I was the part of this project as well.
For example I was really surprised after watching a video about green screen use in Boardwalk Empire which obviously got a bit old after 6 years but I didn't notice most of the effects while watching the series then. There are a lot cool videos on youtube about effects use in movies.
This is absolutely a must-watch, I'd love to see that :)
And according to watching documentary stuff - I agree with both of you. Sometimes I just don't want to spoil the magic, but sometimes I am just to curious to see how they made it :D And sometimes it can be pretty shocking :D
The Force Awakens had a lot of cool campaigns to include and connect with the fans while shooting the movie. There is a charity called Force for change which allowed fans to make contributions for various charity projects and in return some of them took part in the movie (as extras), go to the premiere and talk to the actors :)
But of course, I think that someone who enjoy The Force Awakens should definitely watch this documentary :)
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In general it's really awesome they used so many practical effects. It gave the movie it's charm and, for me, made it more believable. I agree with your statement that it's refreshing after so many CGI-pumped movies.
I will watch documentary just because it is interesting for me to see how it was made.
so i decide to start watching Star wars so when the new part will be released i will understand what is going on.
so i start to watch Star Wars 'A New Hope' but sadly after 20 min i couldn't watch more, So i wasn't prepared for last part 'The Force Awakens'.
Maybe one day ))
I'm not a big fan of star wars but it interested me. The world behind the scenes looks completely different than the final production. Often we can’t even imagine how that was made. It sometimes really surprises. The document can learn a lot of future filmmakers and moviegoers how difficult is this job and how movie crew makes their fav films.
Maybe this documentary can show me that the Force Awakening is just like old parts. Actually made. With all of the costumes, props, models and cinematographic tricks that were buried by CGI. The only sad thing right now is that I do not own Blu-Ray reader. But I am almost sure that sooner or later there is going to be projections for hardcore fans with commentaries and stuff like that.
John Boyega auditioned with Finn’s first conversation with Poe multiple times before he got the role. Abrams estimates that Boyega auditioned nine times before he was cast as the erstwhile Stormtrooper. The doc stitches together three of those auditions to recreate the scene in which Finn admits that he’s rescuing Poe because he needs a pilot. (And even at that stage, the British-born Boyega was using an American accent for the role.) I can’t imaging someone else playing this role.