Filmmakers and Industrial Light & Magic married old-school modelmaking and cutting-edge digital technology to bring Din Djarin\u2019s iconic ship to life.<\/p>\n
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/a> doesn\u2019t just mark the return of the Razor Crest<\/a>. It also resurrects an old-school filmmaking technique, one used decades ago to bring the original trilogy to life.<\/p>\n In The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/a>, Din Djarin<\/a> (Pedro Pascal) acquires a new version of his iconic ship, after the original Razor Crest (RIP) was destroyed in a shootout. As a thank-you for Mando\u2019s service to the New Republic<\/a>, Colonel Ward<\/a> (Sigourney Weaver) gifts him a pristine, factory-condition Razor Crest, one seized from the collection of an ex-Imperial warlord.<\/p>\n Bringing back the Razor Crest meant that the film\u2019s visual effects team also wanted to bring back physical modelmaking, a classic technique that was also used in The Mandalorian Disney+ series. In addition to building a highly detailed digital asset for the ship, the Industrial Light & Magic team painstakingly built models of the ship, using a motion-control rig to shoot the miniatures. It\u2019s exactly how the original trilogy crew filmed X-wings or the Millennium Falcon<\/a> in Star Wars: A New Hope<\/a>, using the pioneering camera system known as the \u201cDykstraflex.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such an old school Star Wars thing,\u201d animation supervisor Hal Hickel says of working on The Mandalorian and Grogu. \u201cI was just absolutely in nerd heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n Here, members of the film\u2019s visual effects team from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) reveal how they made the Razor Crest fly, marrying historic techniques with cutting-edge digital tech.<\/p>\n Model behavior<\/p>\n In development of TheMandalorian series, the Razor Crest was intended to be solely depicted with a digital model. But early on, director Jon Favreau suggested building a small, physical model of the ship to use as a lighting reference. (The Razor Crest\u2019s shiny exterior makes it particularly difficult to light \u2014 more on that in a minute.) Once the model was built, the ILM team began wondering: Why not shoot the model for real, the way it was done on the original Star Wars?<\/p>\n \u201cWay back on Season 1, we had a good-looking CG version of the ship, but in some ways, the finish and the actual look of the metal felt a little conventional somehow,\u201d Hickel explains. \u201cJon wanted to keep exploring. So, we thought, \u2018Well, let\u2019s build a simple metallic version and put it outside in a bunch of different lighting environments to see what it tells us about reflectivity.\u2019 That led to: \u2018Well, let\u2019s make it more than a lighting model. Let\u2019s make it a nice-looking model.\u2019 And then: \u2018Let\u2019s actually shoot it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n John Goodson constructed the original Razor Crest model, which was about 24 inches long. Production Visual Effects Supervisor and ILM Executive Creative Director John Knoll then designed and built a motion-control rig for the camera, allowing him to film in gorgeous detail.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a really shoestring guerilla operation,\u201d Knoll remembers of filming the model for The Mandalorian Season 1. \u201cWe had John Goodson working out of his garage and building the model, and I was working out of my garage, putting together a camera system to shoot it.\u201d<\/p>\n The original version was a success, but for The Mandalorian and Grogu, Knoll wanted to up the scale \u2014 literally. In addition to building a new version of the 24-inch model, the team also built a much larger 48-inch version. Each served a different purpose: The smaller model made it easier to shoot fast fly-bys through space, but the bigger version allowed for detailed closeups.<\/p>\n The 48-inch version was also built with removable ramps and landing gear, allowing Knoll to photograph the ship both in flight and on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to just do shots of it that were flying shots,\u201d Knoll explains. \u201cWhen we first see the Razor Crest, when Mando is introduced to this new model, we come around the corner, and there it is parked at Adelphi Base<\/a>. I wanted to be able to do shots like that with the 48-inch model.\u201d<\/p>\n Each miniature shot required meticulous preparation. Before Knoll and the team could shoot a single frame, animators would mock up each shot digitally, mapping out every miniscule camera move and every light source.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would effectively create a 3D scene that would replicate what we\u2019d photograph in reality,\u201d Visual Effects Supervisor Jeff Capogreco explains. \u201cWe\u2019d put the same constraints so the animators couldn\u2019t over-crank the motion or do things that wouldn\u2019t allow the miniature to effectively work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the challenge is always to make sure that the shot design has the kind of old-school vibe that Favreau likes,\u201d Hickel adds. \u201c[I did] a deep dive into why the spaceship shots in the original trilogy look the way they do. Design-wise, the way the ships move through the frame or the stars move, it\u2019s a very particular look. If you look at Star Trek movies from that era, for instance, it\u2019s a totally different aesthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n After each shot was mapped out digitally, Knoll could use that computer graphics blueprint to film the actual miniatures. Later, ILM artists would clean up the footage digitally, adding star fields, planets, and other key environmental details. In all, Knoll estimates that he completed about 36 different shots with the models, ranging from soaring space scenes to closeups at Adelphi Base.<\/p>\n Shiny and chrome<\/p>\n Because the Razor Crest seen in The Mandalorian and Grogu is a new model, it differs from the original in several key ways. It\u2019s the Star Wars equivalent of a retro car, one that rolled right off the assembly line and has been kept perfectly preserved in a garage.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s meant to be clean and new, and it hasn\u2019t been hot rodded the way Mando has customized it \u2014 like what Han Solo<\/a> did with the Millennium Falcon,\u201d Knoll explains. \u201cThis [new ship] is more in factory condition. The paint on the yellow stripe is fully intact. The finish on it is cleaner, so it\u2019s a more shiny, bare metal finish \u2014 not quite as oxidized and aged as the one from Season 1.\u201d<\/p>\n