Friday 30 September 2016

Star Wars: The Force Awakens research 2


Lucasfilm owner
The Walt Disney Company currently own Lucasfilm as of the 30th October 2012

Lucasfilm founder
George Lucas founded Lucasfilm in 1971.

Lucasfilm president
Kathleen Kennedy, a film producer, is the current president of Lucasfilm as of October 2012.

Major films by Lucasfilm
  • Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  • Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
  • Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
  • Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002)
  • Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
  • Raiders of the Last Ark (1981)
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
  • The Land Before Time (1988)
  • Labyrinth (1986)

Lucasfilm purchase price
The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Writers

  • Lawrence Kasdan
  • J. J. Abrams
  • Michael Arndt

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Director
  • J. J. Abrams directed the film, these are other films that he is responsible for:
          -Mission: Impossible III
          -Star Trek Into Darkness

          -Star Trek Beyond
          -Super 8

Star Wars films
  • So far 8 Star Wars films have been released in total, here are their titles, release dates and box office figures:
         -Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) // $775.4 million
         -Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) // $543.1 - $548.4 million
         -Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) // $572.6 million
         -Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999) // $1.027 billion
         -Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002) // $649.4 million
         -Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005) // $848.8 million
         -Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) // $68.3 million
         -Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) // $2.068 billion

The first star wars film release
The first Star Wars film, Star Wars: A New Hope, was released on the 5th of May 1977.

ILM
  • ILM stands for Industrial Light and Magic.
  • Industrial Light and Magic is a motion picture visual effects company that creates the computer generated imagery and special effects for films.
  • George Lucas founded Industrial Light and Magic in May 1975 as a division of his film production company, Lucasfilm.
  • George Lucas created Industrial Light and Magic when he began the production of the first Star Wars. He created ILM at this time to create the visual effects and CGI for Star Wars and any other films he planned to produce in the future.

Casting directors

  • The casting directors work with the producer and the director to assemble a cast that will be right for the film. They need to retain up-to-date knowledge of current acting talent to ensure that the cast they create is perfect for their film.

First Star Wars: The Force Awakens scenes location
The first scenes for the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens were set on Rey's desert home planet of Jakku, they were filmed in The U.A.E emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Camera and film format
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens was filmed on tape; this format was used so that the film could be captured using the same method used to capture the previous Star Wars films.
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens was filmed using a 65mm IMAX camera to strengthen it's atmosphere using ultra-wide high definition.

Main studio used
  • Pinewood Studio was used to film a large portion of  Star Wars: The Force Awakens; this studio was used as it has many large spaces for Star Wars' huge sets.
  • Pinewood Studio is located in Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom.
  • The James Bond film franchise is also famously filmed at Pinewood Studio.
  • This franchise links to Star Wars: The Force Awakens because they both use large sets to create big open settings.

Maz Kanata
  • J. J. Abrams received inspiration for the character Maz Kanata from his old English teacher, Rose Gilbert.
  • Advanced motion tracking technology was used to capture the performance of actress to create the character Maz Kanata. This method was used rather than practical effects because the actions that the character was required to do needed more personal and realistic movements; these are difficult to create while using puppets.
  • Lupita Nyong'o played the character Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she is also famous for these roles:
         -Patsy // 12 Years a Slave (2013)
         -Raksha // The Jungle Book (2016)
         -Nakku Harriet // Queen of Katwe (2016)


General Snoke

  • Andy Serkis played the role of General Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens; his performance was also captured using advanced motion tracking technology.
  • Serkins is renowned in the movie business for his role as Gollum/SmĂ©agol in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films.

Final Star Wars: The Force Awakens scenes location
The final scene of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was filmed on Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of the Republic of Ireland.

Score composer
  • John Williams composed the film score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
  • Williams also composed the film score for every other Star Wars film in the franchise.
  • As well as Star Wars, John Williams also composed the scores for other famous films:
         -Jurassic Park (1993)
         -The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
         -Jaws (1975)
         -Superman
         -Raiders of the Last Ark (1981)
         -Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
         -Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
         -Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

John Boyega's auditions
  • John Boyega auditioned for the role of Finn in the film a total of 9 times, according to J. J. Abrams.
  • Theses auditions occurred over a 7 month time period.


BB-8
  • The puppet model for the character BB-8 was operated by two puppeteers; Dave Chapman and Brian Herring.
  • Three different technologies were used to create different types of models for the character BB-8; physical prop versions (puppets), radio controlled versions and some static prop versions. The type of technology used for the main version of BB-8 were the physical props; this was used because the radio controlled versions did not capture the personal and realistic movements and reactions that J.J. Abrams was trying to portray.
  • The puppeteers of the physical prop version of BB-8 were required to wear luminous green or blue suits while operating the model.
  • These luminous green or blue suits were required to be worn so that the editors could use advanced special effects software to remove the operators from the shot with more ease than if the suits were not worn.

Special effects used on the film
Advanced special effects and computer generated imagery were used in Star Wars: The Force Awakens; this short video presents these special effects in a cinematic way:



Han Solo and Chewbacca's return to the Millennium Falcon
Two hundred people were behind the monitor watching the scene where Han Solo and Chewbacca return to the Millennium Falcon during filming. This is because the scene presented such an iconic moment in the franchise.

Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg was in the credits for Star Wars: The Force Awakens because he played the role of Unkar Plutt, the junk dealer that Rey dealt with numerous times on Jakku.

IMAX filming
  • The film was shot with a 60mm IMAX camera. IMAX is a technique of widescreen cinematography that is used to produce an image approximately ten times larger than a standard 35mm film.
  • The film was available on a total of 392 IMAX screens across the world.

UK age rating
Star Wars: The Force Awakens received a 12 rating from the British Board of Film Classification; it received this rating because it contains threat and moderate violence.

UK government contributions
The UK government contributed £31.6 million to J.J. Abrams for the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens; this is approximately 13.4% of the film's total budget.

Actors and Actresses' payments
  • Harrison Ford was paid $20 million to reprise his role of Han Solo; this is said to be the highest amount paid to any of the actors and actresses in the film.
  • Daisy Ridley and John Boyega were paid an estimated amount of £200,000 - £300,000. They received such a low payment in comparison to Harrison Ford because they had had no experience in bigger films and TV shows previously.