Behind The Scenes Of Empire Strikes Back

When Star Wars came out in 1977 I was 9 years old, the perfect age to be warped for life. I can remember scouring every issue of Starlog, Cinefex, Cinefatastiqe and every other magazine and book I could find. Images like this scene, brilliantly recreated by Konrad Aksinowicz fueled my imagination and ignited my passion for visual effects and filmmaking. The creative geniuses at ILM have always been heroes of mine, and paved the way for me and entire generation of anonymous craftspeople making movie magic behind the scenes.

View fullsize

View fullsize

This Week

I do love a peek "behind the scenes", and that's what builder Missing Brick is giving us. Welcome to the set of This Week, a BBC political discussion show with hosts Andrew Neil and his guests Michael Portillo and Diane Abbott. But who cares about those people, we're really tuning in to see Molly the dog.

Han Solo Takes A Break

I'm loving this series of Star Wars behind the scenes pictures from builder storm TK431. I'm a sucker for a peek behind the scenes anyway, plus it's Star Wars, plus it's LEGO. It's sort of a perfect storm for me to squee. This one captures Harrison Ford between takes while attempting to fix the ever-dysfunctional hyperdrive.

"I'll Never Join You!"

Hopefully your browser and screen is just the right size that the bottom of this picture by storm TK431 is cut off, because it's a really fun reveal (yeah, those are guys holding mattresses). I don't know about you, but I've always been absolutely captivated by behind the scenes photos. Even though I've worked on dozens of movies, I still get a thrill stepping on set and seeing the sausage being made, it's just how I'm wired. This classic scene from ESB doesn't look quite so perilous huh?

BB-8 Behind The Magic

Oh man, there's so much about this I love. It's Star Wars, so it's instantly got my attention, it's by Pete Reid, my best mate across the pond, and it's behind the scenes, where the real movie magic happens. Here we see one of the secrets of BB-8's endearing performance in The Force Awakens, his puppeteer. I assume it's Brian Herring, but it's hard to tell, he's wearing a mask.

Behind The Scenes

Here's a builder after my own heart. Not only is this large diorama Star Wars inspired, it's behind the scenes as well. Burglarhobbit brings us a little taste of what it takes to make a blockbuster movie, in this case The Force Awakens. There's tons of fun little details here, but my favorite has to be the cockpit on the motion base, awesome.

Awesome LEGO Animated Short

Stop motion is not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for the impatient. I've spent a great deal of time in the last couple years working in this medium and it gives me an even greater appreciation for this brilliant short by Rogier Wieland. It's charming and funny, and worth a watch. And take some time to watch the behind the scenes after, see what goes into making such an ambitious project.

It's Bigger On The Inside

Despite several attempts by friends I still haven't really delved into the world of Dr. Who, but I can truly appreciate the world's affection for the good doctor. And I can appreciate outstanding building skills as demonstrated on this excellent recreation of the TARDIS interior by Xenomurphy. The attention to detail not only from a show standpoint but also from a production design and set construction point of view just makes me happy.

Kaboom

This MOC by BMW_Indy is one after my heart. Not so much for the nuclear explosion (but really, who doesn't appreciate a super big bang?) but for all the gear depicted. My late father-in-law was a government camera guy. He was in charge of shooting space launches for the 30th Space Wing and dealt with all this gear. And of course my connection to the motion picture industry and being a camera gear nerd is no secret. The attention to detail and accuracy here is splendid. I love the "behind the scenes" feel of this, and the humor. This just might be the best thing I've seen in weeks.