Stewart Gardiner leans away from Ballardian nightmares and into a galaxy far, far away with a look at Landry Walker’s Moviemaking Magic of Star Wars

A behind the scenes Star Wars book aimed at younger readers may not appear to be the most natural fit for Concrete Islands. All bets are however off when it comes to the “books / film / other” section of the site. Therein we like to follow where our interests take us and one of those destinations happens to be a galaxy far, far away. My tastes in SF do not only run to Ballardian nightmares and the like, lighter fare is also in the mix. As for Star Wars itself, that has been a constant in my life since my first cinema trip to watch Return of the Jedi with my dad at age six. Star Wars is also something we can share today as a family, unlike Ballard (my kids are six and ten). We are all currently watching The Mandalorian (essential Star Wars that taps into the franchise’s roots and inspirations, particular the Western) and the final season of The Clone Wars on Disney+. If that wasn’t enough, my kids have been making clone costumes out of paper and the first thing I was asked the other morning, apropos of nothing, was how Chewbacca’s voice was done (all down to Ben Burtt of course). Which is another way of saying that Star Wars is a part of everyday lockdown life at Concrete Islands HQ.

I’ve been digging back into my love of Mo’ Wax and nineties hip hop, and it is striking how often Star Wars comes up as an influence. It’s a b-boy thing and comes down to the age of the participants; Star Wars had serious cross-cultural appeal back in the day. The Moviemaking Magic of Star Wars: Ships + Battles would make for an interesting throwback for headz and fascinating primer for their kids. It doesn’t skew too young and rather takes an all-ages approach – curious adults will get a lot out of it too. Obviously it doesn’t go into the same conceptual and developmental detail as the art of or making of books, but Landry Walker unveils some real gems of easily digestible information inside. The basics of “making movie magic” introductory pages, with their break down of key terms is itself an invaluable guide for discussing filmmaking with your children. Deeper Star Wars cuts follow.

The book progresses movie by movie and is sensibly ordered by production rather than chronology. This isn’t to appease Original Trilogy nerds (although it will), but rather reflects the developing technological means of production, from models and matte paintings through the addition of CGI. It is clear that artistry has never been abandoned in the making of Star Wars pictures and whatever techniques are employed take a great deal of skill and thinking beyond the confines of what is thought possible at the time.

Early on, Landry highlights a happy accident on Star Wars (later known as A New Hope) where the model work infected the storytelling in a vital way. The Death Star prototypes were made with polystyrene and there was some “shrinking at the edges of the casting”, resulting in “a gap between the two halves along the equator separating the hemispheres.” A workaround suggestion later and the Death Star trench was born. Although the equatorial trench itself became the hangar bay trench, another trench was added wherein the exhaust port – the Death Star’s Achilles heel – was placed. It seems strange to consider the ending of the movie without that particular thrilling sequence. Although it doesn’t have an on-screen impact, I was also intrigued to learn that the large sail barge set on Return of the Jedi had offices and a 150-capacity commissary constructed underneath. Nearby medical facilities were disguised as sand dunes. This really speaks to the scale of the project. It still amazes me that such unseen practical elements went into making the magic that blew my six-year-old mind.

With the special effects advances that had been made in the years since the completion of the first three Star Wars films, George Lucas saw an opportunity to fix certain mistakes he perceived in the work. “The original Star Wars trilogy had been filmed almost as a series of experiments”, writes Landry and this ties into the idea of Lucas as experimental filmmaker. It bears remembering that Lucas emerged from avant-garde filmmaking and was considered the most experimental of his contemporaries. It wasn’t until Attack of the Clones that Lucas completely embraced digital filmmaking however – The Phantom Menace was shot on film and employed a massive amount of practical effects. Lucas was always an early adopter, which has set him up for equal parts praise and criticism over the years. “The process was not without risks” explains Landry, before quoting Lucas himself: “‘In order to get anything to happen you have to take a certain amount of risk, and you have to sort of go into an area where you’re not sure you’re going to be able to pull it off’”. Lucas’s words here should inspire kids and adults alike. In fact, he could be talking about the creation of much of the music covered by Concrete Islands, so perhaps reviewing this title was more appropriate than I thought.

The Moviemaking Magic of Star Wars: Ships + Battles by Landry Walker is published by Abrams Books For Young Readers. Lucasfilm Ltd © Abrams Books, 2019.

Stewart Gardiner
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