Episode III Gets Animated
Scifi.com — Dan Gregoire, the “previsualization supervisor” for George Lucas’ upcoming Star Wars: Episode III, told the official Homing Beacon newsletter that they have begun editing the prequel’s opening sequence, though not a frame of film has been shot.
Gregoire’s team is using animatics, computer-animated moving storyboards, to establish a template for the live action and final animation, he said.
Gregoire leads the team of 11 computer artists who are envisioning and exploring Episode III in animatic form, the newsletter reported.
A veteran of Episode II—Attack of the Clones, Gregoire is applying the lessons from such sequences as the Clone War and the droid factory.
“We’re taking what we learned in terms of developing assets first and getting those loaded up and as well-defined as we can early into the process,” Gregoire told the newsletter.
“Then we go about animating the shots. It lends a lot more continuity to the sequence, visually and creatively, and kind of streamlines the entire process.”
The animatics can include temporary dialogue (read by editor Ben Burtt), music and sound effects, Gregoire said.
“As the shots progress, the animatics artists have a tremendous amount of control over what they put into it, as long as they stick with the essential essence of what is supposed to be happening.”
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