![]() Ben Burtt, who designed many of the film’s iconic sounds and is a pioneer in his field, went to great lengths to find what worked, mixing bits and pieces from the real world to create the sounds of a galaxy far, far away. ![]() Whether it was the hum of the lightsabers, the pew-pew of the blasters, the roar of the engines, or the incredible music, “Star Wars” sounded different. “Star Wars” also featured cutting-edge sounds. Aliens looked otherworldly but with real facial expressions, crazy appendages, and complex, developed languages, adding to the experience. “Star Wars” was more than you could imagine within your own head. They built a universe that was lived-in, dirty, worn, and completely immersive. Big set-pieces weren’t created in a cubicle by a computer geek, but constructed on location. They had to make each of the costumes, weapons, and creatures, whether you saw them for much of the film, like Chewbacca, or just in passing, like many of the customers at the Mos Eisley cantina. ILM had to create all the robots in the film, filling some with little people to operate the emotive metal machines. That meant making lots of small, incredibly detailed models of spaceships and using matte paintings and camera tricks to give the illusion that these were life-size fighters battling it out in space, or a space station the size of a moon. This was before the age of computers, so nearly everything had to be done practically. Star Wars Revolutionized Special EffectsĪll of today’s blockbusters also owe their special effects to “Star Wars.” Lucas and his team at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) changed the way directors were able to tell stories through special effects. All of that is owed to the birth of modern movie merchandising that began 40 years ago. My son sleeps on “Star Wars” sheets, my daughter has a string of BB-8 night lights in her room, and half of my T-shirts bear a “Star Wars” character of one sort or the other. My office shelves are stocked with a Lego X-Wing, Millennium Falcon, Ghost, and many, many more sets and figures. Lego has risen to be one of the world’s most recognizable toy brands because of their incredibly popular “Star Wars” construction sets. Look down the toy aisles at your local Target or Walmart, and you’ll see Star Wars, Batman, Ninja Turtles, “Frozen,” Harry Potter, and many more movies represented in the action figures, dolls, Legos, puzzles, collectibles, and video games. The toy industry is now built upon major film franchises. Now, however, kids and adults alike line up for “Force Friday” before every “Star Wars” movie to spend ungodly amounts of money on the latest merchandise. #STAR WARS MOVIE EFFECTS FULL#That massive marketing blitz wasn’t standard before “Star Wars.” Target wasn’t full of plush toys, baby clothes, bed sheets, Legos, action figures, and video games tied to every major movie. Today when movie-goers sit down for a blockbuster they expect to be wowed by big-budget special effects, amazing music and sound design, and inundated by cross-promotions for clothes, toys, food, and many other things they hadn’t known they needed. ![]() In fact, as Lucas negotiated a deal with Fox for the sequels in the wake of the original movie’s success, he was able to nab the money from merchandise sales, which made him a fortune over the ensuing decades. One of the biggest changes “Star Wars” ushered in was mass market merchandising, something Hollywood relies upon now for their bottom line but wasn’t as big a deal in 1977. ![]()
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