In anticipation of the digital HD release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Friday, April 1 via the brand new FandangoNOW VOD platform, we sat down with Force Awakens sound editor Matthew Wood and visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett to discuss some of the cooler things that went on behind the scenes while crafting one of the most successful films ever made.
Like what is the best visual effect in the movie... according to the guy who was nominated for an Oscar for the visual effects on Star Wars: The Force Awakens?
"It's like choosing between your children!" Guyett jokes when we asked what his favorite visual effect in the movie is. "We did something like 2,200 effects shots in the movie, and I think part of my job is to love them all equally, and try to make them all interesting in their own way."
Guyett described their approach on The Force Awakens as being this combination of "very old-school and very contemporary technology meeting," stressing that the idea was to make the audience feel as if these events actually happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. "The underlying spirit of it all was to create this feeling that you were really witnessing these events; feeling like you were there in these spaces seeing it all happen," he says.
Part of that had to do with shooting on location in a real desert and building a real Millennium Falcon, but then also sprinkling some striking visuals on top thanks to Guyett and his team. "Everything you see visually in the Millennium Falcon chase is actually created [with visual effects]," he reveals.
And when it comes to his favorite shot, of course he has one -- letting slip that this early moment where Rey slides down a sand dune as the wreckage of a Star Destroyer looms over her is of particular importance to him.
"There's a shot where Daisy, playing Rey, slides down a sand dune and you see the back of a Star Destroyer up there [at the top]," he says. "That was one of the first things we did, and there was just something about that shot that made me think, Okay, this is what we're doing. This is where we're heading on this. And if we can somehow hold on to that notion, then we're on the right path. It was just a very simple shot, but to get to that place required a tremendous amount of work."
It's a fantastic shot, and it sets a tone early on, showing the audience that as much as Star Wars is now moving forward, it'll never forget its past.
Stay tuned for more from Woods and visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett in advance of The Force Awakens arriving on Blu-ray April 5 and on Digital HD (including FandangoNOW) on April 1.
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