A look at old-school filmmaking improvisation
Post date: Jul 19, 2021 6:23:38 PM
The seemingly massive starships shown in the opening sequence of the “Star Wars: A New Hope” in 1977 was in many ways, a triumph of cinema. The extremely detailed craft was the first time the audience ever saw spacecraft that impressive, a far cry from the saucers and rockets that dominated years and decades before. Joe Cianciotto. The only ship perhaps as impressive as Princess Leia's Tantive IV and Darth Vader's Devastator of that opening sequence was the Enterprise from “Star Trek.” These three spacecrafts were miniature models set in a studio. And as a fun bit of trivia – Darth Vader's personal space limo was, in fact, a last minute hack job that ended up creating some of the most impressive visuals in cinematic history. Joe Cianciotto.
Before green screens and CGI dominated special effects, science fiction films and television shows were pretty much running on next to nothing. Because of the need to create a futuristic fantasy, the constant demand for special effects ate through their budgets. To cut costs, sometimes creators quite literally decided to go to the toy store and told their creative team to take things apart and get to work. Joe Cianciotto. Known as kitbashing, this form of bargain bin special effects allows filmmakers to create impressive models on the cheap by mixing and matching elements from preexisting models. And in the hands of a particularly skillful design team, the results can be brilliant. “Star Wars” remains the shining example of impressive kitbashes, with the trenches of the Death Star being the most triumphant expressions of the art. Joe Cianciotto. Kitbashing and other off-the-shelf props continue to be popular today due to budgetary constraints and are often the first course of action for science fiction indie filmmakers.