The Filmumentaries Podcast
· Season 1 · Episode 157 · Latest episodeEp 157 | ILM’s John Knoll on The Mandalorian and Grogu — motion control, stop motion and gaussian splats
John Knoll is Chief Creative Officer at ILM and visual effects supervisor on The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first time Mando and Grogu have been on a cinema screen. He describes two forces pulling against each other. It had to feel like it came from the same group of people who made the series, which meant keeping the handcrafted approach — puppets, creatures in rubber masks, motion control miniatures, stop motion.
But roughly forty-five per cent of the film is IMAX, and you compose and cut differently for a hundred-foot screen. Fewer quick cuts, more headroom, room around the frame for peripheral vision. IMAX had sent ILM a document about all this years ago. John decided simulating the room beat following the notes, so they built an Apple Vision Pro app that puts you in an IMAX auditorium, seats and all, looking at the live feed off the video taps.
They used it on set to check composition, and later to check animation and action scenes before they were finished. The stop motion went to Tippett, who spent the better part of a year animating a two-minute fight between Mando and two droids. The Razor Crest is a forty-eight inch miniature, double the size of the one built for the series, and John finally got to shoot it in an LED volume — built in part from panels salvaged off a decommissioned StageCraft stage.
He’d been chasing that since season one, when he tried building a foam core enclosure and projecting onto it. It sort of worked, right up until Favreau wanted the flight path changed. We also cover Rotta the Hutt, who turned out to be the hardest thing in the film. A Hutt who moves fast reads as funny on the page and is difficult to put on screen. Does he move like a snake, an inchworm, a snail? They landed on elephant seals, and then on a barrel roll.
Plus the cameras — a Sony ILX-LR1 for daylight exteriors at the Ranch, and a Canon 5D Mark IV out of ILM’s equipment cupboard for the interiors. Gaussian splats for the Razor Crest interior, shot in twenty minutes and used from any angle he wanted. Keeping a coherent look across five vendors with Doug Chiang riding the designs through post. And two shots containing an original 1976 Y-wing, on loan from the Lucas Museum for a single day, with two museum staff watching the whole time.
This podcast is completely independent and made possible by listener support. If you’d like to help me keep making these episodes, you can join my Patreon community here: https://patreon.com/jamiebenning
Watch more on YouTube:
Check out the Filmumentaries YouTube channel for behind-the-scenes clips and extra content: https://youtube.com/filmumentaries
All my links
But roughly forty-five per cent of the film is IMAX, and you compose and cut differently for a hundred-foot screen. Fewer quick cuts, more headroom, room around the frame for peripheral vision. IMAX had sent ILM a document about all this years ago. John decided simulating the room beat following the notes, so they built an Apple Vision Pro app that puts you in an IMAX auditorium, seats and all, looking at the live feed off the video taps.
They used it on set to check composition, and later to check animation and action scenes before they were finished. The stop motion went to Tippett, who spent the better part of a year animating a two-minute fight between Mando and two droids. The Razor Crest is a forty-eight inch miniature, double the size of the one built for the series, and John finally got to shoot it in an LED volume — built in part from panels salvaged off a decommissioned StageCraft stage.
He’d been chasing that since season one, when he tried building a foam core enclosure and projecting onto it. It sort of worked, right up until Favreau wanted the flight path changed. We also cover Rotta the Hutt, who turned out to be the hardest thing in the film. A Hutt who moves fast reads as funny on the page and is difficult to put on screen. Does he move like a snake, an inchworm, a snail? They landed on elephant seals, and then on a barrel roll.
Plus the cameras — a Sony ILX-LR1 for daylight exteriors at the Ranch, and a Canon 5D Mark IV out of ILM’s equipment cupboard for the interiors. Gaussian splats for the Razor Crest interior, shot in twenty minutes and used from any angle he wanted. Keeping a coherent look across five vendors with Doug Chiang riding the designs through post. And two shots containing an original 1976 Y-wing, on loan from the Lucas Museum for a single day, with two museum staff watching the whole time.
This podcast is completely independent and made possible by listener support. If you’d like to help me keep making these episodes, you can join my Patreon community here: https://patreon.com/jamiebenning
Watch more on YouTube:
Check out the Filmumentaries YouTube channel for behind-the-scenes clips and extra content: https://youtube.com/filmumentaries
All my links
About this show
Twice monthly conversations between film historian Jamie Benning and the craftspeople that helped create the movies we love. From visual effects and editing to sound design and art direction.
Hosts
- Jamie BenningHost
All episodes (165)
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54:45Season 1 · Episode 6666 - Lee Unkrich - Author of "Stanley Kubrick's The Shining" Book from Taschen
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1:11:15Season 1 · Episode 6565 - Rose Duignan - ILM Production Supervisor
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1:12:19Season 1 · Episode 6464 - Steve Williams & Scott Leberecht - Jurassic Punk Documentary
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1:42:49Season 1 · Episode 6363 - Dennis Muren - ILM VFX Legend - Star Wars Trilogy, Jurassic Park, T2 etc
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1:32:17Season 1 · Episode 6262 - Jim Bloom - ILM Producer, Luke Skywalker "Actor", 2/2
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1:27:15Season 1 · Episode 6161 - Jim Bloom - Producer at Lucasfilm / ILM - Part 1/2
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54:17Season 1 · Episode 6060 - John Walsh - Author of "Dr Who And The Daleks - The Official Story Of The Films"
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1:11:27Season 1 · Episode 5759 - Ryan Condal - Showrunner on House of The Dragon
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1:27:25Season 1 · Episode 5858 - Alexandre Poncet - Tippet and Harryhausen Documentarian
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1:38:06Season 1 · Episode 5757 - David Mandel - Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of
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1:08:14Season 1 · Episode 5656 - Gino Acevedo - Make-up and Special Effects expert - LOTR, POTA etc
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58:41Season 1 · Episode 5555 - Daniel Pemberton - Film Composer
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1:12:25Season 1 · Episode 5454 - T.Dan Hofstedt - Bluth and Disney Animator
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1:07:21Season 1 · Episode 5353 - Jon Spira - Reel Britannia - BritBox
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59:04Season 1 · Episode 5252 - Book Announcement With Justin Berger
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1:12:10Season 1 · Episode 5151 - Michael Pangrazio - ILM Matte Painter and Weta Art Director
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1:08:38Season 1 · Episode 5050 - Lorne Peterson - Part Two - ILM Chief Model Maker
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1:08:47Season 1 · Episode 4949 - Lorne Peterson - Part One - ILM Chief Model Maker
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1:21:41Season 1 · Episode 4848 - Paul Franklin - Senior Visual Effects Consultant at DNEG
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30:24Season 1 · Episode 4747 - Sarah Virani - Regent Street Cinema, London
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1:26:33Season 1 · Episode 4646 - Craig Barron - VFX Guru - Ex ILM and Matte World
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1:27:23Season 1 · Episode 4545 - Garrett Brown - Steadicam Inventor
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1:15:44Season 1 · Episode 4444 - Frank Pavich - Director of "Jodorowsky's Dune"
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1:24:47Season 1 · Episode 4343 - Jon Spira - Director of Elstree 1976 and Hollywood Bulldogs
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1:04:22Season 1 · Episode 4242 - Turning The Tables - Host Jamie Benning interviewed by Dan Lanigan!
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