Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

PSW: discuss Star Wars without "versus" arguments.

Moderator: Vympel

User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

Seems like there will be a quarry scene for the upcoming Star Wars film. Let's see if the next movie is actually going to shoot in some interesting locations around the world.

http://www.featurefilmcasting.com/2013/ ... ature.html
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
User avatar
Sea Skimmer
Yankee Capitalist Air Pirate
Posts: 37390
Joined: 2002-07-03 11:49pm
Location: Passchendaele City, HAB

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Sea Skimmer »

All kinds of stuff gets filmed in old quarries that has nothing at all to do with an actual quarry. All one can really assume is 'will have elevated rocky background'.

10 seconds of googling reveals that Doctor Who has used this site for filming. I'm sure in a few years we'll have a fascinatingly drawn out thread trying to match up shot angles.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
User avatar
Lord Revan
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 12236
Joined: 2004-05-20 02:23pm
Location: Zone:classified

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Lord Revan »

and to add seeing that most terrestial (aka earth like) planets would be essentially barren balls of rock and sand a quarry set doesn't that odd.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
User avatar
Darksider
Sith Acolyte
Posts: 5271
Joined: 2002-12-13 02:56pm
Location: America's decaying industrial armpit.

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Darksider »

at the very least it's good to see them using locations. Too much of the prequels were shot on a soundstage.
And this is why you don't watch anything produced by Ronald D. Moore after he had his brain surgically removed and replaced with a bag of elephant semen.-Gramzamber, on why Caprica sucks
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

Sea Skimmer wrote:All kinds of stuff gets filmed in old quarries that has nothing at all to do with an actual quarry. All one can really assume is 'will have elevated rocky background'.

10 seconds of googling reveals that Doctor Who has used this site for filming. I'm sure in a few years we'll have a fascinatingly drawn out thread trying to match up shot angles.
I have no problem with them dressing up the quarry to make it look like some alien planets. It's just that I wanted to see them film in exotic locations like what the OT did. A quarry doesn't allow the cinematographer to depict the planet in a much bigger scope.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
User avatar
Stark
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 36169
Joined: 2002-07-03 09:56pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Stark »

Since it allows them to be standing somewhere grey or yellow and simply replace the entire sky with robot space vikings, I don't really follow you. Shooting at a quarry doesn't mean every shot will be down into a gravel pit.
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

Stark wrote:Since it allows them to be standing somewhere grey or yellow and simply replace the entire sky with robot space vikings, I don't really follow you. Shooting at a quarry doesn't mean every shot will be down into a gravel pit.
They can't really do aerial shots if they are using a quarry as a stand in for some fictional world. Sure, you can recreate an aerial shot with CGI, but it can't be compared to seeing actors running through middle earth/Tatootine/Narnia.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
User avatar
aussiemuscle308
Padawan Learner
Posts: 201
Joined: 2011-01-20 10:53pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by aussiemuscle308 »

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was filmed in a quarry near Sydney. all of Bartertown was built and filmed there. They could have shot the Geonosis battle in a quarry instead of a green screen.

there's not many places on Earth you can go and film and not have some human/technology in the background. (it's not like the 50s, where they could film westerns with great vistas and not have telegraph poles or jet aircraft in the sky).

also helps having places nearby. They had to go past the most northern town in Norway just to get to Hoth.
========================================
If you believe in Telekinesis, raise my hand.
User avatar
Sea Skimmer
Yankee Capitalist Air Pirate
Posts: 37390
Joined: 2002-07-03 11:49pm
Location: Passchendaele City, HAB

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Sea Skimmer »

The Hoth stuff was filmed in southern Norway, east of Bergen, remote but not that remote. Its not really possible to go past the most northern town in Norway and film anything but open ocean, as people live all the way to north cape.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
User avatar
Lord Revan
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 12236
Joined: 2004-05-20 02:23pm
Location: Zone:classified

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Lord Revan »

Sea Skimmer wrote:The Hoth stuff was filmed in southern Norway, east of Bergen, remote but not that remote. Its not really possible to go past the most northern town in Norway and film anything but open ocean, as people live all the way to north cape.
aren't a good deal of the wide shot of Hoth miniatures or matte-paintings though?
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
User avatar
Sea Skimmer
Yankee Capitalist Air Pirate
Posts: 37390
Joined: 2002-07-03 11:49pm
Location: Passchendaele City, HAB

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Sea Skimmer »

Yeah a lot of the stuff which is pure walker stop motion action is miniatures and paintings. All the stuff with people on the ground and some backgrounds for the miniature work was filmed on location in south Norway. Finse is the specific location of the filming.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
User avatar
Dartzap
Sith Acolyte
Posts: 5969
Joined: 2002-09-05 09:56am
Location: Britain, Britain, Britain: Land Of Rain
Contact:

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Dartzap »

Filming confirmed for UK

Not a huge surprise, though you may end up with half the cast of Game of Thrones appearing in it.
EBC: Northeners, Huh! What are they good for?! Absolutely nothing! :P

Cybertron, Justice league...MM, HAB SDN City Watch: Sergeant Detritus

Days Unstabbed, Unabused, Unassualted and Unwavedatwithabutchersknife: 0
User avatar
Silver Jedi
Padawan Learner
Posts: 299
Joined: 2002-07-24 12:15am
Location: The D of C
Contact:

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Silver Jedi »

ray245 wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:All kinds of stuff gets filmed in old quarries that has nothing at all to do with an actual quarry. All one can really assume is 'will have elevated rocky background'.

10 seconds of googling reveals that Doctor Who has used this site for filming. I'm sure in a few years we'll have a fascinatingly drawn out thread trying to match up shot angles.
I have no problem with them dressing up the quarry to make it look like some alien planets. It's just that I wanted to see them film in exotic locations like what the OT did. A quarry doesn't allow the cinematographer to depict the planet in a much bigger scope.
Were you disappointed by Utapau in RotS? Idk how much of that was CG, but I could easily see filming in a quarry for a setting like that.
Not a n00b, just a lurker

108th post on Wed Jun 28, 2006 A Whoop!

200th post on Fri Feb 3, 2012 Six months shy of a decade!
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

Silver Jedi wrote: Were you disappointed by Utapau in RotS? Idk how much of that was CG, but I could easily see filming in a quarry for a setting like that.
I would prefer them not to use CGI to create environments and planets. Compositing real actors and props into a digital background is something many visual effect studios are poor at.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
Ekiqa
Jedi Knight
Posts: 527
Joined: 2004-09-20 01:07pm
Location: Toronto/Halifax

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Ekiqa »

ray245 wrote:
Silver Jedi wrote: Were you disappointed by Utapau in RotS? Idk how much of that was CG, but I could easily see filming in a quarry for a setting like that.
I would prefer them not to use CGI to create environments and planets. Compositing real actors and props into a digital background is something many visual effect studios are poor at.
ILM has shown that they are one of the best at compositing real into CG.
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

But even in projects headed by ILM you can still tell whether an actor is digitally inserted into an environment. Compositing is still one of the weaker areas of the special effects industry in general. There are numerous studios that won Oscars in special effects despite the fact that some scenes are poorly composited.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
User avatar
Sea Skimmer
Yankee Capitalist Air Pirate
Posts: 37390
Joined: 2002-07-03 11:49pm
Location: Passchendaele City, HAB

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Sea Skimmer »

Yeah, it really works a lot better if everything up to head level is real, and the ground just has to be real to ever look convincing. Episode I-III really suffered from not even bothering with a real floor in a lot of shots. On the other hand, it is possible to do a crazy amount of post production work on a real background and with real lighting and have that be very convincing.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Adam Reynolds
Jedi Council Member
Posts: 2354
Joined: 2004-03-27 04:51am

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Adam Reynolds »

Sea Skimmer wrote:Yeah, it really works a lot better if everything up to head level is real, and the ground just has to be real to ever look convincing. Episode I-III really suffered from not even bothering with a real floor in a lot of shots. On the other hand, it is possible to do a crazy amount of post production work on a real background and with real lighting and have that be very convincing.
I felt that this was worst on the Invisible Hand, there were some scenes where it had the appearance of a good video game background as opposed to the photo realistic look that is the ideal.
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

Sea Skimmer wrote:Yeah, it really works a lot better if everything up to head level is real, and the ground just has to be real to ever look convincing. Episode I-III really suffered from not even bothering with a real floor in a lot of shots. On the other hand, it is possible to do a crazy amount of post production work on a real background and with real lighting and have that be very convincing.
Sadly, most post-production rarely have the time or money to make a convincing shot look real enough.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
User avatar
FaxModem1
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7700
Joined: 2002-10-30 06:40pm
Location: In a dark reflection of a better world

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by FaxModem1 »

The biggest reason for it to be shot on real locations is not even to fool the audience, but to fool the actors. When actors are in front of giant green screens, they have no idea or scope of what they're doing, who they are, or where they are. Compare the scenes taking place on Tatootine in Episode I, to the Coruscant scenes in Episode I. The performances of being surrounded by sets and real locations vs green screen is enormous.
Image
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

FaxModem1 wrote:The biggest reason for it to be shot on real locations is not even to fool the audience, but to fool the actors. When actors are in front of giant green screens, they have no idea or scope of what they're doing, who they are, or where they are. Compare the scenes taking place on Tatootine in Episode I, to the Coruscant scenes in Episode I. The performances of being surrounded by sets and real locations vs green screen is enormous.
Well, that can be helped by pre-visualisation. They have used that for the production of Avatar, and that really helps the actors in ther performance.

Apparently, pre-vis is advanced enough for the actors to do a virtual walkthrough of the digital set in real time.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
User avatar
Sea Skimmer
Yankee Capitalist Air Pirate
Posts: 37390
Joined: 2002-07-03 11:49pm
Location: Passchendaele City, HAB

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Sea Skimmer »

A certain amount of real props can and often are used in front of the screens that provide cues to locations of stuff, then edited out and replaced by the 'real' thing. Its not the same as a physical set, but it helps as well. Still it gets downright silly to not even have a real floor, that forces a line to be made that is absurdly hard to make convincing, as well as requiring entirely CGI shadows, and this is just too obvious.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
User avatar
ray245
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 7955
Joined: 2005-06-10 11:30pm

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by ray245 »

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/ ... UiuG3lH.99
"I think that the thing is so big and so massive to some many people that the key to moving forward is honoring but not revering what went before," director J.J. Abrams told reporters at today's Produced By Conference when asked about the challenges of helming the seventh instalment in the beloved franchise. He also went on to confirm that the decision to shoot in the UK had been made before he came on board the project and that the overseas shoot "drives me insane" as he would have preferred to film it in LA. "Most likely we are going to be moving to London at the end of the year for the Star Wars movie," the director added, confirming that they are still on track for a 2015 release. Abrams refused to reveal whether or not the new movies will be based on any of the Expanded Universe novels, but did say this about the recent news that creator George Lucas now plans to move on to smaller projects. "George Lucas for years has spoken for years about wanting to make those smaller more experimental films and I hope he does because I’d really like to see them."
Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/ ... F3Pbo05.99
I think it is good that Star Wars is forcing Abrams to move out of his comfort zone.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
malguslover
Padawan Learner
Posts: 155
Joined: 2012-09-21 09:36am

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by malguslover »

i'm calling it right now. KORIBAN!
User avatar
Lord Revan
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 12236
Joined: 2004-05-20 02:23pm
Location: Zone:classified

Re: Quarry shots for Star Wars VII

Post by Lord Revan »

first it's spelled with 2 "r"s and personally I'd like them to stay as far away from the Sith as possible.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
Post Reply