http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/sw4take2.html
Yesterday's Vancouver Sun newspaper
ran a story about a digital artist named Kevin Braun. Braun was raised in Fort
McMurray, and his local newspaper, the Today did an article in the
"local boy makes good" vein that was picked up by the Sun.
However, what is of exceptional interest to Star Wars fans is what is
revealed at the conclusion of the piece, which was sent to us by the sharp-eyed
'E Man':
McMurrayite making his mark in Hollywood
By ROB PETKAU
Today staff
If you've watched movies like The Mummy,
the restored Wizard of Oz or Blade, you've seen a little piece of
Fort McMurray in Hollywood and probably didn't even know it.
Kevin Braun, who grew up in the oil sands
city and worked at Syncrude Canada for a time, is now a digital special effects
guru in Tinseltown, and he's worked on some high-profile movies.
"We do digital visual effects: all
the camera shake stuff, the hits and sparks are done digitally, and those are
some of the things we do here," said Braun, technical director at Pacific
Title and Arts studio.
"You can't have stunt people swinging
real metal swords around so they use rubber and it looks incredibly hokey when
it hits a wall or something and bends. So once it's shot we have to go in and
make the blades look like metal, adding sparks and stuff."
Braun attended Father J.A. Turcotte school,
St. John's school and Father Patrick Mercredi high school in the city before
graduating in 1988, and going to work for the oilsands giant.
"I worked at Syncrude as a mechanic
and computer graphics was always my hobby. And when there was a computer
database restructuring I asked if I could work on it, and learned a lot,"
he said on the phone from his Los Angeles office.
"I liked it so much and I was so
interested in movies that I sold my home in Fort McMurray and attended film
school in Vancouver."
He came up with a sample of the type of
effects he could make using computers, and headed to La-La Land to try and make
it in showbiz.
"I took a course in a type of Kodak
software used for this, and the head of Pacific Title noticed me and liked my
attitude. I graduated at the top of my class and he gave me a chance."
His first assignment was a doozy of
intergalactic portions.
"Lucasfilm made a lot of money on the
(1997) re-release of the Star Wars trilogy, but there were still 17 shots
George Lucas wasn't happy with. That was stressful thing: you don't want to do
a half-assed job with Star Wars.
"I got to work on the shot where Ben
Kenobi (Alec Guinness) is killed. Originally Lucas had planned several ways to
do it but he was never happy with any of them because the technology wasn't
advanced enough. To work on that scene and hear that Lucas was happy with it
was mind-blowing."
Braun's scene will appear in a future
cinematic release of the 1977 space epic, as well as on DVD copies of the film.
June 3, 1999
Our friend 'Forcekin' comes back with
interesting info about the all-but-confirmed new Special Edition of Episode
IV:
"I spoke with my pal at ILM last
night and he was able to confirm some things. First, those scattered reports
about ongoing revisions to Eps. IV, V, and VI - and plans for a 'final edition'
- are *correct*. Here's the low-down: <
"Apparently Lucas originally only
planned to do a SpecEd of Ep. IV, in limited release. He made the decision to
do so around 1992. He wanted to test out new cgi/cad software and test the
limits of digital characters interacting seamlessly with original film-stock
characters. (Apparently, he was convinced it was doable.) When he sought out
Fox's okay on a SpecEd revision and re-release, and showed them some of ILM's
wizardry, they were *so* impressed, they asked him why not re-release all
*three* films, with updated effects? Lucas scratched his beard and was
originally unconvinced. Apparently Fox reminded him of the potential revenue
stream such a new exposure could generate, interest in the franchise, improved
tie-in receipts, etc., etc., etc., and Lucas eventually agreed. So - the rest
is history. But it's interesting to note that one of Lucas' arguments *against*
SpecEds of the entire original trilogy was that, he wanted to do 'so much more'
to bring Episode IV into the 21st Century. He was concerned that putting
new scenes and stuff into Eps. V and VI, just as an excuse to re-release them,
would take time away from the ILM crew he was tasking to touch up Episode IV.
He worried that all the things he wanted to do to improve Ep. IV - which was,
to him, the most 'antiquated' of the original trilogy -- just wouldn't be done
in time for the scheduled 1997 re-release. This is apparently exactly what
happened. Lucas ended up putting much less updated material in Ep. IV than he
originally envisioned for the SpecEd. He had to pull ILMers off other projects,
in fact, just to finish what ended up getting modified for the SpecEds in time.
Apparently a lot of problems really fouled up the whole SpecEd schedule. First,
Lucas was unable to fully digitised the original trilogy, frame-by-frame, which
is something he originally intended to do. Apparently there are now dedicated
Ranch Hands working *only* on that project, and it will be completed sometime
after the Millennium. This will give him a 'full palette' to work on and the
means to digitally correct any damn thing he pleases in the original trilogy at
his leisure. *Not* having fully digitised prints to work with during the tweaking
of the SpecEds was apparently a *major* hassle and one of the things that
really pissed George off.
"Okay, second: They had to totally
rewrite, and keep rewriting, the software for all that cool cgi character
animation. Stuff like skin and muscles and stuff like that took up whole
*months* of time. They'd make really good progress in one direction, then end
up having to totally rejigger the stuff, starting practically from scratch
because the software just wasn't fast enough or the movements weren't realistic
enough. Plus, crowd scenes required computing power ILM simply didn't possess.
George ended up having to purchase incredible amounts of hardware and hire
dozens of software designers just to see the project through. At one point
supposedly he threw his hands up and took a few weeks off, told everybody else
to do the same, because he was dumping so much money and energy into it and the
more he did so, the less likely it became that he was going to be able to do
everything he wanted by the 1997 deadline. He came back refreshed and
determined to pursue all the technological avenues possible to see his dream
come to fruition. It was basically a repeat of the problems he had with ILM in
1976, coming back from Pinewood. He just decided if what was necessary was to
create a whole new industry, well then, that's just what he'd do.
"Third, the more he looked at Episodes
IV through VI, the more he wanted to change. But by this point he
had five different teams going full-speed: One for each of the films, one to
write new software, and one creating conceptual designs for the prequels he was
by now planning to do later in the decade. Finally, sometime in the first half
of 1996, he decided to just stick with what was already in-progress, polish
*those* scenes and elements to a high gloss, and forget the rest of the
improvements which were already sketched out but not yet being worked on. He
told Fox that all three films would contain 'significant' improvements, but
that the total redo he really wanted to do would have to wait awhile. He
decided to dedicate a small staff of Ranch Hands to slowly and methodically
continue making modifications and improvements to Episodes IV through VI,
even long after they were re-released theatrically. This work has been ongoing ever
since, and will not be finished until 2001 at the earliest. (The biggest
changes were made a long time ago. What's left is stuff like matte lines,
colour coordination, and the removal of those pesky effects boxes. And
digitising the prints, frame-by-frame, which should be done sometime in the
next eighteen months and will preserve Star Wars in its original glory
for all time.)
June 12, 1999
Confirmation from the producer of Phantom
Menace? According to our latest scooper, in a Talk City interview
recently held producer Rick McCallum confirmed that more work had been done on Episode
IV after the first Special Edition was released. He said it would be
for the "Archival Edition" to be released when all six movies could
be watched together.
August 24, 1999
In an interview for the German television
network N-TV, producer Rick McCallum stated no new Star Wars Episode
Four edition. TheForce.net has a quote from McCallum's interview:
"It's done, we've done it. That's it."
http://cgi.theforce.net/theforce/tfn.cgi?storyID=3274
Update # 1
And Joseph reminds us to be sure we don't forget the following quote however, from
a recent online chat with Rick McCallum:
A while back, there were rumours of another
Special Edition being worked on over at the Ranch. There was much talk of 17
new scenes, etc. But once again, our Star Wars Insiders contribute some
information for us to clear up any doubt to the rumours.
I can tell you that soon
after the Special Editions of the original trilogy were released in theatres,
people at Skywalker Sound and folks in Editorial at the Ranch continued working
on those films. George was still tweaking the sound overall and the editing of
certain sequences. This was prior to the video release of the Special Edition
and it may be that this additional work (mostly sound work) was done for that.
As far as I know, ILM stopped working on the Special Edition once it was
released. ILM is not currently working on a Special Edition of The
Phantom Menace nor are they doing anything for a Very Special Edition of the
original trilogy. But if George decides to fiddle further with the Special
Editions, let's all hope that he restores the Greedo scene to the way it was to
begin with.
So IS
there a special, special edition coming? The latest information we have says
probably not.
Update # 2
And Joseph reminds us to be sure we don't forget the following quote however,
from a recent online chat with Rick McCallum:
I asked the following Question in the 6-3-99
Chat.
ASKLucasfilm: Jedi-DarkKnight1138 says: Rick, Are the rumours of
the original "Special Editions" being re-done and re-released to the
theatres an actual possibility?
RickMcCallum: It is true that George did additional work after the
"Special Editions." George would probably wish that those
"Archival Editions" may someday be seen in context with all six
films.
The plot thickens. . . any Ranch or ILM insiders care
to comment?
Update # 3
This just in:
There is a strong possibility that there will be a TPM Special Edition
in the future. Understand that nobody is working on it now. It's something that
is not a current project, but will most likely happen down the road.
Rick is also correct about additional work
done to the Special Edition of the original trilogy. Work will be done in the
future (like if/when TPM gets overhauled) on the original trilogy.
Basically, there is a possibility
of a TPM Special Edition and of more stuff being done to the original trilogy,
but no work is being done at this time.
http://cgi.theforce.net/theforce/tfn.cgi?storyID=11964
Rebel has proved
their worthiness before, and now they chime in with something we cannot even
come close to have confirmation on. Here's what we do know: After Episode III,
there will be a definitive version and complete set of DVDs of all of the
movies. In the meantime, there may be versions of the films on DVD, but nothing
like this final set.
Something to keep in mind as you buy a few
different versions now and then have to buy the final one in 2006. But here's
where it gets interesting. What possible changes could be made to tie in the
entire series into one seamless twelve-hour marathon? There's an official list
starting somewhere, which may include some of the following:
Episode 3 won't be the last time you'll
see a lot of the main characters from the prequels in a Star Wars film. They'll
also be in some of the sequels. Let me explain.
I believe it is called "The Archival
Editions"...The re-release of all six films after a break following
Episode 3. My source is good and I know this is happening, and frankly George Lucas
is beyond a genius to think of this to make more money. Also this may explain
some of the reasons episodes 4-6 haven't hit DVD yet. So here is some of the
cool stuff you'll see.
During production on Episode 3 they will
also be filming stuff for episodes 1, 4 , 5 and 6 to add into the Archival
Editions.
Bail Organa senate scenes in Episode 1 to
be shot added later to where the other Bail's lost scenes were supposed to be.
Also the last time you see Bail Organa
won't be escorting Padme and baby onto a starship and blasting into the stars
in E3. An older Bail will have some scenes added into Episode 4 prior to his
planet being blown up by the Death Star.
Those being added into E4 will be a senate
scene where The Emperor will make a cameo. Arguing with you guessed it ...Bail
Organa... Plus a scene after the senate hearing where The Emperor contacts
Vader and orders him to "Wipe out" Senator Organa's planet.
A holographic photo of Qui Gon will be
added to Ben Kenobi's house in ANH. Also other little Jedi Tidbit's from the
first 3 episodes will be added in his house. "Old friends long gone."
A scene on Coruscant in Episode 5 showing
a demolished Jedi Temple. Cutting to the Emperor speaking with Vader about the
son of Skywalker.
D. 11/16/01 – Virtual Edition forum
http://pub9.ezboard.com/fvirtualeditiongeneraldiscussion.showMessage?topicID=414.topic
Hey people...I just heard it on good
authority (in other words a reliable source anyway) that while filming ATTACK
OF THE CLONES, Lucas did 2 additional scenes for the OT including The Emperor
and one for Episode 3. One is a remake of the scene from TESB where Vader
speaks to the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid's voice included of course), plus there’s
a scene on Coruscant also involving the Emperor too... info on this is sketchy
but its probably for JEDI as he heads out for the Death Star, but could also be
for A NEW HOPE I suppose? The 3rd additional scene (for Episode 3) I've heard
about was filmed in Tunisia, it involves Anakin & Padme (possibly holding
something) as well as Obi-Wan. Could this be the final scene of Episode 3 where
Luke Skywalker is brought to his hew home?
The end result is probably why we've not seen the movie on DVD thus far;
they're still working on the last ever edit. A New Hope: Ultimate Edition will
make its appearance in 2006 (!) after the release of Episode III in cinemas,
with a possible theatrical release, and word is that fan reaction means that
certain Special Edition scenes will be removed. Hopefully, Greedo will no
longer shoot first.
FROSTY
SKYWALKER: We all know that he’s doing these “Final Editions,” and I am
curious...
MORIARTY:
You know that he says he’s not doing them, right?
FROSTY SKYWALKER: He is. There is fifteen minutes
being put back into STAR WARS [Episode IV: A New Hope]. That’s an absolute
certainty. I’m interested to see what he does as the quote-unquote Final
Editions and after seeing him talk at The Egyptian, I actually gained...