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Author Topic: Custom prop lightsabers changed the way sabers were filmed for The Force Awakens  (Read 7169 times)

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Offline Photonic Bladesmith

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How custom prop lightsabers changed the way sabers were filmed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

By Jason Ward (editor-in-chief) October 29, 2015


How custom prop lightsabers changed the way sabers were filmed for Star Wars:

Offline Drawcut

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Very cool.  Thanks for the link!

Offline Sethski

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Great find! Really pleasing and interesting - thanks for sharing  :smiley:

Offline Psab Keel

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That's really cool, but it would have been even cooler to see behind the scenes pictures of these sabers in use.  I've thought for years that they should have been using Single or multi die LED sabers with polycarbonate blades to get the on set glow on the actor's faces and then they can add the signature glow in post production to further boost the look.  It seems with Abrams desire to shoot as much of it as practically as possible, then this would be the best solution and when you consider that the guys providing R2 units and other droids are members of the R2 builders club you never know, we might even see some of our very own providing lightsaber props for the films!  How awesome would that be?

Offline WEDGE ANTILLES

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George Lucas did it first :P  GL used retail force-FX to shoot the scene between anakin and dooku in AOTC.   
this is the only scene in the six-movie saga where the lightsabers actually cast a glow onto the actors' faces. 

"The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story.
Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned, and Luke doesn't get married..."
- George Lucas

Offline Khepry

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Like Psab Keel says, it would be nice to see footage or pictures of those sabers used and the difference betwwen them.

It's fun to know that the passionate fanbase and saberbuilders have contributed to the realisation of better screen-time :D

Offline Namine

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Yeah, thats pretty awesome that we (saber enthusiasts) as a community had some sort of impact.
Pretty cool aspect, I think.
Thanks for the share.

Offline Psab Keel

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I hope they release closer shots of these in use, and go into detail about what they used for principle photography.

See How Cool the Lightsabers Looked on the Set of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Offline garymorris2

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here is one of the behind the scenes pics they look just like our sabers, I wonder who made them? 

« Last Edit: January 10, 2016, 03:53:09 PM by garymorris2 »

Offline TrypWyr

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Quote
Here's hoping The Force Awakens Blu-ray is stuffed with a special feature on these new lightsaber props 'cause they are way cool.

ROFL, I'm sorry, "new"??  :angel:

Offline oswaldkefo

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Looks Hollywood is finally catching up with the fan-sector here. For real tho, that looks amazing. I can only imagine how much more fun and real it must have made things.
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I came here to conquer the galaxy and drink milk...and I've finished my milk.

Offline Remulos

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VFX SW on Vimeo

There's a good bit at around 8.40 which shows Rey and Ren using illuminated sabers.
Sabers I own:
Currently all imaginary

Offline Psab Keel

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It looks like they are just using standard Hasbro FX sabers.  If they only knew about what the smiths here, man they would look SO much better, and be so much brighter.

Offline Psab Keel

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Looks like a thick walled Polycarbonate blade to me! 

I hope they go into more detail on the extras of the Bluray about these special dueling sabers.

They could very well be multi die LED like many of us here use.  Looking at this footage in slow motion you can clearly see flashes of white of the blades from time to time which looks like a flash on clash effect. 

The Force Awakens Lightsaber Duel BEHIND THE SCENES! - YouTube
« Last Edit: March 31, 2016, 12:38:32 AM by Psab Keel »

Offline Scorpion

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I heard that it was hyperdyne labs who provided the Sabers for use in the movie
They have worked with Disney before on movie props so it could be true

That means they were hyperblades used on screen
However when you see the behind the scenes vid it certainly looks like a single led blade as it dims towards the end of the blade
So I don't know ....
« Last Edit: March 31, 2016, 02:50:32 AM by Scorpion »


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