Star Wars Visual Effects, from AT-ATs to Tauntauns

Learn the secrets behind the Star Wars saga’s many innovative visual effects, from the Death Star’s detailed interiors to the towering AT-AT walkers. This vintage featurette opens by detailing the chess game played between Chewbacca and C-3PO in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The creatures in the game were animated via stop-motion then superimposed onto the chess board, with a visual trick giving them a holographic appearance. The scene took place on the Millennium Falcon, itself a model, photographed by a computer-controlled camera. It was shot stationary on a blue screen, which allowed for different backgrounds and other moving objects to be added later. The same technique was used to create the film’s dogfights and Death Star trench run. Matte paintings were also a heavily used form of visual effects in A New Hope. During Obi-Wan Kenobi’s deactivation of the Death Star’s tractor beam, Alec Guinness was shot on-set. A matte painting served as the background, with a spot left open for the footage of G