Thanks to “The Mandalorian’, ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ and ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ are available Star Wars no longer only in the cinema, but now also on the small screen. This was made possible, among other things, by the development of the so-called StageCraft technology (or its use on the set called The Volume), a huge video wallin which backgrounds calculated in real time can be displayed – apparently a significant improvement for the cast and crew over the classic filming in front of endless green screens and blue screens.
Yet with all of the aboveStar Wars” series – and most recently in “Obi-Wan” – the StageCraft technology also brought its problems with it: For example, many fans complained that the backgrounds and sets (such as Tatooine’s desert panoramas) felt kind of flat and fake – and it was noticeable that a surprising number of scenes were set in medium-sized, semi-circular rooms, because that shape suits the volume well.
And here comes the newStar Wars’ series ‘Andor’ comes into play because, as many fans noticed after the first two promising trailers, the look differs from ‘Star Wars: Andor “apparently very different from the others”Star Wars“. And not without reason: As “Andor” creator Tony Gilroy revealed, the series completely dispensed with StageCraft technology.
Of course, computer effects are still used in “Andor”, but Gilroy’s team primarily set the tone practical effects, sets actually built at the legendary Pinewood Studios in England and filming that took place not only in the studio but on real locations – just like the first “Star Wars’ film was shot in the Tunisian desert at the time.
» “Star Wars: Andor” on Disney+*
This is partly associated with some effort: like Cassian Andor actor Diego Luna the film magazine Empire reported they had to walk for hours up a mountain in Scotland just to shoot a scene there. “Huge effort. Very dangerous to get there. All you see are sky, trees, rivers, lakes. Great! Like being on another planet.”
But the advantages of this approach can already be guessed at the trailer, whose dirty-gloomy and (for “Star Wars’ ratios) realistic look strongly reminiscent of ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” – which of course is no coincidence, after all “Andor” is the prelude to it and Tony Gilroy was already in charge of the extensive post-shooting for “Rogue One”.
If “Star Wars: Andor” keeps what the trailer promises, we will find out shortly: The first three episodes will be available on September 21, 2022 on Disney +, then it will continue on a weekly basis.
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