Beyond any doubt, the effects and compositing techniques used in the first three films of Star Wars trilogy were the game changer in VFX world. Although there has been a rapid improvement in the VFX technology for the last 40 years, we can say that Star Wars was one of the pioneers. So, how was that possible to achieve realistic results in a movie produced in 1980? Mark Vargo explains the mathematics, optics, engineering, and software behind the blue screen photography and compositing in detail.
Award winning special effect artist and cinematographer Mark Vargo, published a special video last week: "Blue Screen 1980." Approaching as a personal project, he has gathered rare information about blue screen photography, that is hard to find on the internet, through his own hands on experience. The process may sound complicated, but the diagrams and the explanatory examples make this video an archival piece of work.
In this ten minute video, he shows a brief history of the fundamentals of compositing techniques in movie history, with samples from Georges Méliès, King Kong, and many others. All the more amazing, Mark Vargo explains in detail the intricate matting process used for the first three films in the Star Wars Trilogy.