Here’s a great find from 1980 on the special effects on the first 3 Star Wars films as well as a few other films. Mark Hamill at one point explains that on Empire Strikes Back “some shots contain 38″ blue-screen elements. Put this up against today’s FX shots for blockbusters containing hundreds of elements if not more and you are reminded of how much you actually need to tell a story.
It’s great to see all the miniature sets and models they used. Oh and beards must have been mandatory at ILM in 1980.