We Remade the Original Star Wars VFX with Miniatures

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We rewound to 1977 and tried to recreate how they did the VFX from the 1977 classic Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope!
►Bill Doran at Punished Props - • Repainting the Fastest...
►Kessler Cineshooter: kesslercrane.com/pages/cinesh...
►Sidewinder Award: t.co/cdAobsnamo
►Decentralized Pictures: decentralized.pictures/
►ActionVFX Sci-Fi Planets: www.actionvfx.com/collections...
►Star Wars Making Of's:
Light & Magic: www.disneyplus.com/series/lig...
• The Making of Star War...
• Inside ILM: Creating t...
» 0:00 - Intro
» 0:44 - Shooting with Miniatures
» 5:22 - Lickd
» 6:55 - After Effects Tutorial
» 13:54 - Decentralized Pictures Info
» 14:27 - Outro
#FilmRiot #StarWars #miniatures
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[@punishedprops]

You made it look so good! It was a pleasure working with you fine humans again.=D

[@AnthonyRose]

Fancy seeing you here Bill! Killer work man.

[@WarGamerGirl]

It's always fun seeing two channels I watch collaborating =)

[@punishedprops]

@@AnthonyRose Thanks Anthony! =D

[@pierdylll]

Guys, if you are looking for cool star assets then please visit my channel, you will find here a lot of assets in very high quality, including planets, galaxies, stars, nebulls, explosions magic packs and many more

[@deadplthebadass21]

​@punishedprops wait a minute... it's all starting to make sense, you're part of the Illuminati, or my cheese fell off my cracker (The Green Mile reference)

[@neonmammals]

When you broke out magic bullet looks it felt like film riot jumped back 10 years. Almost felt retro. OG fans represent!

[@hjewkes]

I miss OG Film Riot so much. Like I get why they don’t do it these days, its just too bad

[@neonmammals]

@@hjewkes I like what they’ve done, I am nostalgic for the old film riot but also they’ve grown as filmmakers over the years as you’d expect, getting bigger and better just as any fans may have done too. I personally became a freelance filmmaker about the same time they started so my journey has advanced as their’s have so I’m no longer wanting to know how to build light stands out of PVC pipe but am interested in how I can do things like possible use unreal engine etc. learning about different tools I haven’t consider could be in my tool kit.

[@seanfleetham6733]

I still use magic bullet haha

[@radelvishnevski9745]

It threw me WAY BACK! like I forgot that magic bullet look even existed!

[@tylerb3]

takes me back to Revision3 days. Other gems on there like Scam School as well

[@priyonjoni]

This looks so much more realistic to my eyes. While ILM has really pushed CG realism, nothing has been able to touch practical effects.

[@GuitarLessonsBobbyCrispy]

When I as ten years old, my next door neighbour friend and I made a cartoon version of The Empire Strikes Back, using custom made cardboard AT-AT's and snow speeders, as well as Lego men and a lot of flour, lol. And an 8mm home movie camera. My friend kept up the animation thing and eventually worked for ILM on The Phantom Menace as the supervising animator for Jar Jar Binks.

[@FreshSqueezedLightning]

MY DUDES. 1st 4 seconds: 100% Immediately won me over, although I've been a fan for 13 years. You guys killed it with this one!

[@filmriot]

Thank you!

[@MOVIE-MART2]

@@filmriot It's amazing retro visual effects you recreate here I absolutely adore this, This channel is perfect 👌

[@joehenry9546]

Those models the ILM crew made for the original trilogy were amazing!

[@MrKevin486]

They were, a lost art these days.

[@Ytsssss364]

Battlestar Galactica '70's also rocked w models

[@donaldpriola1807]

Really wonderful. It also highlights how incredible it was to pull off shots like this in 1977, without the advanced tools you have today.

[@Tokiofritz]

I can't believe this was done by one guy, a camera, a model and a computer. ILM level!

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

Except ILM had to make everything including the star field.

[@markiavelli]

well it was not just one guy?

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

@@markiavelli We have many tools to make things easier today, big deal, that in no way makes it okay to compare what we do with those tools, to folks who did not have those tools, and had to actually be creative, and invent things. There is a difference. Anyone today with a computer can make better composites than they could in a studio in the old days, big deal. So no, I'm not going to compare this video to Star Wars, because Star Wars is great work on the highest level.

[@lostintranslation1957]

​@@timsmythfilmsandanimationsOK Karen.

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

@@lostintranslation1957 Wow, that's such a complex answer, let me try to answer. I think modern technology is fine, and I am happy with folks being able to create amazing things with it. Being able to use technology, designs, ideas, all developed by the Star Wars people simply does not compare as equal to what those folks accomplished. This is not a knock on the work in this video, though one shot does not a movie make, it is just a fair assessment. By the way, insulting someone, with no rebuttal is not really a response. Hope this gives you something to think about. Have a nice day.

[@heckensteiner4713]

Practical Models + Digital Comping = Total Win. Rock on!

[@tylerbarnhoornproductions7506]

I love this! This is Classic ILM techniques. I wish they did more model work. I think that using real things gives the impression that its a real world.

[@elgoogsucks9005]

It is amazing what you can do with a little paint and a lifetime of experience

[@shawn.m.schmidt]

"We remade Star Wars with an inexpensive model, and an insanely expensive state-of-the-art motion control rig."

[@BradFriday]

Well to be honest if you wanted a cheaper way to do the same thing I have a Came-tv 4 ft slider with a motor that's programmable with your phone just like the Kessler unit they're using here. Pick your start and stop points and select your speed, it'll repeat the same distance and speed over and over until you stop it or change it. It's on right now for $265. That's hella affordable and would definitely work for what the effect they're doing here. Don't get hung up on the gear, take the idea of what they're doing and find a way to make it happen with gear that you can afford, or rent in your area.

[@christopherlh4379]

Yes, you, too, can accomplish the same thing if you have money coming out the wazoo! 🤪

[@callwinter]

This is your craziest tutorial yet!! Looks like a Hollywood film! so excited!

[@BrotherBearBarras]

The talent is palpable.

[@districtoneEDM]

Film riot did it again! Still has the best visual effects and special effect on the internet!

[@Shezmen88]

Old school film riot

[@MaxonRedgiant]

Love this! For folks following along with the latest version of Magic Bullet Looks, you won't see the (now-deprecated) Pop tool; you can use the new Clarity tool for a similar effect.

[@YannickFilms]

Very excited for this episode, I made my technical presentation in college about these effects🤓great technique!🔥

[@Lucas72928]

Looks absolutely amazing! The bloom totally made the comp in my opinion

[@Ytsssss364]

And the props guy. Props to him!

[@halhickel]

Super fun. One thing I would recommend is in the shot where the falcon is coming towards camera, you should slide the stars south to north. This will make it feel more like the OT shots you are emulating.

[@laserbeamlightning]

God I love ILM

[@Miniac]

Amazing results! I've always wanted to try something like this with a large castle or a space ship from the 40k universe. Thank you for showing the entire process!

[@jcodol3334]

IMHO film making is truly an art and a science.

[@kairoscreative3650]

It's absolutely ridiculous how amazing this tutorial is?? I mean WHAT!??!? SUCH a fantastic channel. This is HOLLYWOOD legit quality tuts. Thank you.

[@ChrisS-no3ft]

This is what I'm talking about! PRACTICAL EFFECTS! Models, motion control, studio lighting and green screen. Better than CGI any day. Makes me wonder. They can do this, and make a space movie from probably $15 million dollars. This $200-300 million price tags for movies is not necessary. These people who might be "amature" filmmakers (meaning they've probably never made a full-on motion picture before) Do a better job than Hollywood. Great work! I'd hire these guys instead!

[@devinsupertramp]

This is amazing!!! Loved seeing this! Working on another Fortnite video and want to make the Battle Bus practically, so seeing this was super helpful!

[@FoucaultEffect]

I've been watching you since your movie reviews WAY back. Keep up the amazing work man!

[@jimyoung9262]

This is amazing. I used to be a big time Star Wars fan. Before the dark times. Before the empire.

[@FernandoMoreiraR]

Honestly that miniature did it, Im sure a bigger one would of looked better on big screen, but on a laptop that was glorious.

[@AntBangBang]

Mad skills as ever! Amazing Film Riot.

[@danielskorka2365]

Would love to see you try this with some of the CG shots in the modern star wars movies. Just as an experiment in overall feeling.

[@joezollner3387]

This looks so good! Great Job!

[@F34RTEHR34PER]

That is so amazing!! Love seeing how this stuff is done.

[@JoshLange3D]

Nicely done. Loved the through AE breakdown

[@createscifi]

One of the best step-by-step channels on youtube, thanks as always great video.

[@jasonwilcox6637]

Looks EXTREMELY ORGANIC

[@dennisherold7887]

Great tutorial Film Riot! You really hit the Star Wars look.

[@zarnistastudios]

Absolutely AMAZING and inspirational work. It was both nostalgic and educational. Be well.

[@Ytsssss364]

Serious props to model guy! More props - to him!

[@fireironandspice9000]

Doh! this is hitting all the right nostalgia buttons!. I love you guys. would love to work with y'all in the future! You guys rock! Great episode.

[@mattshiel4714]

Fab episode. Loved it

[@SolidBrownRecords]

Your level of chops using AE is absolutely 🤯 Great presentation.

[@PinkgloRadio]

That was amazing. I work on film scores from time to time - something I would like to do more of, but watching this makes me want to be more involved with the entire process.

[@CinematicChump]

RYAN! WOW! This was so captivating and so nice to watch. thank you for sharing every step of the way! i love this. The average viewer would think this was from the movies! Great Work!!!!

[@ActionVFXofficial]

Looks awesome! We're glad our planets pack was helpful! 🪐

[@danielchamorro76]

You can feel is not 24 fps but more. This makes it have a videoish feeling

[@PixelJoker95]

Hell yes!!! Amazing work guys!

[@blakes5840]

This… Is absolutely incredible. An entire masterclass. GREAT JOB!!

[@filmriot]

Thanks!

[@captainamado]

Great video and excellent breakdown as always. Cant believe i've been following you guys since i was in middle school and now i'm almost 30 years old. Thanks for all the knowledge over the year s

[@SamDiazProducer]

Funny that just yesterday I was watching John Knoll give a presentation on his own Dykstraflex and you guys uploaded this in the same night 😂 amazing work as always and congrats on the incredible results 👏

[@thickdickwad7736]

Wow the narration of the fx pipeline was intense

[@digiscience3508]

I just enjoy every single moment of your videos thank you

[@adamadamson848]

Absolutely outstanding VFX recreation with modern/ OG techniques. However, I didn't understand a word of what you were doing but it was mesmerising to watch. Thanks

[@dyzzyize]

I really love shots / content created practically with little CGI instead of full cgi or God forbid full AI. I appreciate more the fun and passion of the Artists creating things like this rather than anything else.

[@1977TA]

Imagine if these software tools were available in the 1970s. There is no need for CGI when you can make practical effects with models look this good.

[@phizicks]

oh man, watching it more and more becoming the movie shot, the bigger and bigger my smile was seeing my childhood memories come back to me. haha nice work.

[@Validation]

I love this! And it made me instantly want to try out every technique

[@QMPStudios]

Awesome work guys, looks great

[@dannyVTech]

I've followed you for over 10+ years love you guys!

[@harbs_cantina]

In episode 4 (A New Hope) I think they created the Falcon's jump to light speed as they escaped the Star Destroyer's by having a polaroid of it from behind then filming the photo being moved very quickly away from the camera. A very simple idea of conveying the jump but it worked.

[@markoconnell804]

It is mind numbing all the things you had to do to get it to look as good as you did.

[@markoconnell804]

How fast can you do this process after you learned it for repeat. Are you almost as fast as the video played it?

[@DEJAVUCRISTIAN]

Wooowww!!! What a work on it , you are magnificent

[@michaelvarney.]

On the ship approaching camera, you might have tried brining in some light from in front of the Falcon of the same color scale as what would have been reflected from the planet.

[@ChaseSchleich]

I wish Disney would attempt to make one of their next Star Wars movies with miniatures and physical props like this. Not even Lucas has been able to capture the look and feel of the original trilogy and it's because everyone uses CGI which can look great, but it just doesn't look like Star Wars. The closest they've gotten is The Mandalorian (when they're not using The Volume too much), which uses a lot of real sets and props.

[@Lukasek5151]

And that's it! The best VFX skillset! You should make another Star Wars Episode!

[@Preludedraw]

Speechless.. Result is so so so good.

[@deejschrader]

This felt weirdly nostalgic, and I loved that! Also, where did you get that hoodie?? i neeeeed it!

[@Quixoticmusic]

Yes, awesome shots! We also did it like ILM back in the 70s for our "Highway Violence" short. Of course on a way lower budget, but with a pretty detailed TIE fighter 👌 "This is the way"

[@JhreynoldsPort]

Amazing Video! Loved it!

[@coosebozo]

you guys are my biggest inspiration

[@RobGMun]

You should have got the 1/44 scale MF model from Bandi and got your model maker friend to build and paint it. It was have looked almost indistinguishable from the real thing

[@SICRoosterKido]

That looks so sick omg

[@OldFashionedWays]

always amazing videos. so much knowledge. appreciate. cheers

[@desantotony77]

Really impressive! The whole lLM 1977 summarized in one guy, one model, one computer!

[@legacylee]

I'm just listening to you go off on the AE workflow, and I'm all like, YOU GO BOOOOOOYYYYY, nice moves brotha! Crushing it as per usual, everything to see here, stick around. Gotta say, ever since I started watching your channel, I've learned a ton of stuff. keep doing what you do man, it's totally and completely awesome! Big ups to your whole team! I'd love to see what you'd come up with something like Kaiber Ai in your workflow. I saw the MJ one, but can you guys crush a cool movie trailer using something like AI video mixed with traditional video and sick editing, my money is on yes. Now go do it and don't let me down, and don't make me lose my bet. Ya'll got this!!!

[@chillin.films3]

Bro it is just crazy seeing y'all grow. Like bruh I have been watching since those Harry Potter videos, and people ask do I still watch "Film Riot" and I say TILL THIS DAY!...TILL THIS DAY!

[@hezekia6610]

Looks so real! I think the only thing to add to make it look more cinematic would be a short full screen lens flare right when the Falcon appears on the screen

[@RokDAWG1]

Yeah this is just rad! You did an awesome job!

[@FrameCrafts]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing

[@aresaurelian]

This is exactly how to do it. Well done. Much gratitude.

[@Link3131a]

Would love to see you guys cover the Predator cloaking effect. I've tested before and the Saber plugin works really well for it, but I was never able to find the best method for a smooth cloaking transition.

[@cambulator3769]

Old school tut, loved it!

[@drewthedirector]

soooooo sick 🔥great freakin work

[@GabrielsLogic]

Really well done. 👍🏽👍🏽

[@marcg2106]

It felt almost like you made a lost scene from the original '77 Star Wars (pre A New Hope subtitle).

[@Big_Joe570]

I feel like I just watched a full length advertisement.

[@cabarete2003]

That was better than anything from Star Wars in the last 10 years.

[@ScottBalkum]

Awesome! Nailed it!!!

[@digitalmagicAR]

Good stuff! Thank you

[@4sightfilmsLLC]

Amazing work! I've been watching you for years! You have been a godsend to the film making community, and I hope to cross paths one day and tell you in person.

[@PRO_FV]

Good result guys! 🤩

[@franciscoantonio5306]

This validated me never being a digital effects artist. Jeeeezus. Thats some crazy stuff🤘

[@TheIQProductions]

Any short films in the works? would love to see a new series!

[@leestripp7387]

Star Wars! tick. Real model, tick. very cool. Whats next "Dark Star"?

[@PhoticSneezeOne]

Nothing beats the organic feel of practical effects. But i have to admit that the star destroyers in Rogue One are breathtakingly well made CGI

[@filmriot]

AGREED!

[@GlitchVFX]

Great episode. Did you manage to do the Kessler run in less than twelve parsecs? I'm aiming to recreate traditional-looking 70s-style starship effects for a personal project of mine, and this was a wonderful breakdown of useful techniques. Thanks, guys.

[@KaitainCPS]

Kessel!

[@GlitchVFX]

@@KaitainCPS It was a play on words (They used the Kessler Cineshooter motion control rig to shoot it)

This is stellar

[@shanemiller7543]

looks insane, bit of an odd request, could we get a tutorial on the best way to oder a film production I.e the order you do vfx, sequencing, colour grading ect. and keep the high quality, i find a lot of my clips retain 4k quality however the cg shots have dropped in quality due to the amount of times i have to export them. would love a tutorial on the most practical way to do it, cheers guys,

[@DanielS2001]

In the documentary Sense of Scale, one of the model effects makers that was interviewed stated that when it came to CG, it came in and basically took the models away. However, one of the things about model effects that they're probably cheaper to make now than they were back in 1976 when they started filming Star Wars. When it comes to Escape from New York and the model of New York seen in the film, all the buildings were made possible with wooden blocks, photocopied pictures of building exteriors colored in with color pencils and model parts to kitbash things like AC units and fire escapes. After the city shots were done, the model was modified by being painted black and then pinstriped with white paint to create the wireframe models of the city seen in the scene where Snake enters into New York (and John Carpenter himself has said that the effect was so simple, you could literally recreate it in your living room). Honestly, for years, I always wondered why Star Wars fans who were doing fan films didn't use model effects instead of going full-on CG (yes, it may be easier to do, but for a lot of the fan films, the CG quality of them from that time were not great, while something like a model effect would have aged better. And even in that time, buying off the shelf models would be easier than trying to learn Blender). However, there's some filmmakers who still use model effects (Christopher Nolan is a great example of that as he used them in his Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception and Interstellar). A lot of filmmakers should consider model effects once again. And with technology nowadays, it's easy to do almost as good of quality as ILM did with the first Star Wars film and for a lot less. I'm one of the few who are holding out a major return of model miniature effects in TV and movies (granted, there's been some like The Orville using a shooting model and a CG model for some scenes, The Mandalorian using models for The Razor Crest in Season 1, and a few movies using them too, such as Coraline and Frankenweenie). But I'd love to see some filmmaker fully embrace model effects once again to make a movie. Sometimes, there's no school like old school. And I'm glad you guys at Film Riot are showing budding filmmakers how it's possible to do and how well it looks. Thank you for making this video, and I hope you consider doing more of them on the topic of model miniature effects.

[@valueofnothing2487]

Looks fantastic.

[@64jcl]

Looks good, although one problem that always comes with many shots like this is that the digital planets added have too high fidelity compared to the rest - a common problem I see in many movies that mix practical effects with VFX. They need to blur or lowres them more to make them more believable when used with models to make the impression that they are models too.