Dan Brooks at StarWars.com takes at look at how the 5-minute sequence for the Empire State Building, which lit up the skies of Manhattan on Thursday night, was created by the technical wizards at Industrial Light & Magic.
“The need to think about it differently is that there are many unique things that need to be taken into account to make sure that what gets put on this facade will actually translate correctly and will work correctly, visually and as part of the overall story,” Khatsho Orfali, ILM visual effects supervisor, tells StarWars.com about a week before the event. “What may look good as a composition and a scene that plays out in a movie theater or on a regular TV screen may not necessarily directly translate in the same way, to work well, once projected onto the facade of a building. It’s a very unique canvas.”
Orfali led the effort on the light show, which took four months total to complete. This included working with Lucasfilm Video Production, particularly senior editor Jeff Pickett, in developing a framework for the experience and then selecting scenes to showcase. The most critical piece, however, was deciding where ILM might create new VFX shots to take advantage of the huge vertical “screen,” as it were. “We came up with ideas and created concept art for what would look the best, have the most impact, and know that the fans are going to love seeing,” he says. “Once we got selects from those frames, we went into shot production and got to where we’re at today.” Once the show was complete, ILM collaborated with creative agency SUPERBIEN, who adapted the imagery to filter through 46 projectors and display properly. Skywalker Sound, Lucasfilm’s sound design and mixing firm, handled the audio.
Though Orfali — who has worked on similar initiatives, including Star Tours and Hyperspace Lounge on the Disney Wish — couldn’t give the light show a run through on the actual building, his own hi-res displays were more than adequate. “Because of my experience with special venue projects, I’ve got tool sets that I rely on to help me visualize media in such a way that will allow me to see, as close as possible, what the end result will be without actually being there in person.” Still, on Monday, Orfali and his team did visit the Empire State Building for a final test — using non-Star Wars imagery to keep their work a secret.
The finished dynamic light show, projected near the top of the Empire State Building, opens as we make the jump to lightspeed and John Williams’ immortal “Imperial March” kicks in. We reach the lava world of Mustafar, and the skyscraper itself turns Sith red (throughout, decorative lights change to reflect the on-building action), and the journey takes us to more Star Wars worlds and locales, where we’re treated to classic moments from across the saga.
Read the story in full here and watch the spectacle for yourself.
