sub, 22. siječnja '05 u 13:33
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As most people schooled in Star Wars lore know, the Jedi Knights pay a terrible price for the Clone Wars. The ancient order does not survive the birth of the Empire, and their greatest warriors, scattered on many different fronts, are cut off from the Temple, forced into hiding or worse.
Recently, a stint of greenscreen photography was required to shoot the final on-screen moments of several Jedi extras, characters whose names are never spoken in the films. Nonetheless, these background Jedi have grown to become favorites among some Star Wars fans who read about their adventures in the Expanded Universe, or those who craft new stories with their toy incarnations.
On the twilight plains of Saleucami, in the stretching shadows of monumental bulbous plantlife, Stass Allie rockets ahead of her clone trooper wingmen aboard a BARC speeder, a sleek speeder bike with a frame more robust than the slim models seen in Return of the Jedi. Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll refers to a production painting of the planet, explaining the virtual environment that surrounds the Jedi.
For this brief shot, Stass Allie is played by Nina Fallon, Production Coordinator at ILM. This marks no less than the third performer to fill Stass Allie's tall boots (including Lily Nyamwasa and Tace Bayliss). If you factor in that Stass Allie is essentially Adi Gallia recast, then that number jumps up to four to account for Gin, who played Gallia in Episode I. It's nothing new. There are at least three Plo Koons, four Saesee Tiins, three Luminara Undulis, three Shaak Tis and four Kit Fistos scattered throughout the prequel trilogy if you know where to look.
The speeder bike is a green-painted wooden placeholder, providing the correct ergonomic structure for Nina to adopt the attentive speeder biker position. Her directions are simple -- she just needs to look around as she patrols the landscape. "There's a big battle on this planet, but it's over for now," describes Knoll. "So you're flying around still aware of potential trouble. Yeah, that's it."
Fallon follows orders, but her robes don't. Despite the presence of a wind machine, the gusts aren't big enough to billow out her cloak. They still drape over the end of the fake bike, something that wouldn't work in the reality of the universe. The stage crew brings in a much larger fan to properly blow out the robes. "It's a wonder we don't see speeder bike pilots spitting out bugs," I point out to John, getting his take on the remarkably windshield-less universe our heroes and villains occupy.
"You got to figure there's a forcefield or something there to help them out," he says. "I remember saying that in Episode I, Anakin's head would have been ripped off by the 600 mile-per-hour winds in the Podrace. We tried to bring in bigger fans to blow at the thingypit, but it didn't work. Jake couldn't hear George when we were shooting it."
Though Allie was played by a reasonable facsimile, the next day, two Jedi and a Senator showed up for filming, played by the real deal. Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin required close ups for their grim final moments, something that necessitated bringing in the real faces -- in this case, Tux Akindoyeni as Kolar, and Kenji Oates as Tiin.
A look at post production notes reveals that a workaround solution to Tiin's closeup was attempted -- using existing footage of the character and digitally crinkling the eyes and mouth into a rather unpleasant scream. A low-res work-in-progress version of this resides in the animatic of the scene -- looking all the world like a creepy Clutch Cargo type animation. That vintage cartoon show used its heralded "vox-synth" process, where live action lips were superimposed onto static artwork. Pulp Fiction or Conan O'Brien fans should be able to mentally picture this.
That ultimately was not the way to go, so Kenji endured a lengthy makeup session for a shot that takes less than 30 seconds to occur. Lucas directed the IT-Support-Tech-turned-Jedi-Master by closely comparing what had been shot in Sydney during principal photography and what was required for the insert. "So, be sure to twist your body this way, swing the lightsaber back that way, and shout out as you go down. Don't be afraid to scream," he explains. Oates' fake alien teeth and the blurring action make a nuanced performance difficult, and he manages a few strangled "agh!"s and "gah!", if not an ear-piercing wail. Tux does the same, and both performers fall into crashmats during their takes, Kenji flopping sideways while Tux is more of a face-plant.
Less exhausting but no less meticulously planned is Matt Rowan's addition. The towering Australian performer is covered in latex, a fat suit and robes to transform into Orn Free Taa. The brawny Rowan has actually lost noticeable weight since principal photography, but it's not an insurmountable challenge since the majority of the Twi'lek Senator's girth was movie magic. His role? Standing in the background of a Senate landing platform shot. When pickup photography in Shepperton reworked Mace Windu and Chancellor Palpatine's first meeting last fall, the over-the-shoulder action of the background Senators needed a bit of reworking as well, so Rowan returned to fill out Free Taa once more.
In the weeks ending 2004, another candidate was jokingly suggested. "Rick should play him," said Lucas. "Of all the characters you could play, this should be the one." At the time, VFX Producer Janet Lewin was updating Lucas on the status of Orn Free Taa's makeup appliances, since some of the pieces had gone missing.
"Why don't you look on eBay?" deadpanned Lucas. Of course, all the pieces were found for last week's shoot, so don't go bidding on any so-called authentic chins or tentacles.
"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow.
Like fragile, tiny shells,
Drifting in the foam.
Little soldier boy, come marching home.
Brave soldier boy, comes marching home."
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