Twenty Behind-the-Scenes Angles on the Original Star Wars Films

The archive used production photographs to celebrate the craft behind the original Star Wars trilogy. This edition provides original commentary on twenty of those subjects without republishing photographs whose individual rights have not been established. Official Lucasfilm behind-the-scenes material offers a better starting point for verifying production details than an unattributed caption collection.

Models, sets and the people between takes

1. Model construction reveals how scale, lighting and camera placement can make a small object feel enormous.
2. Alec Guinness between takes reminds viewers that a fictional mentor was also an actor working within a busy production.
3. An unmasked stormtrooper separates a uniform's screen identity from the person performing inside it.
4. Ewok performers and George Lucas highlight coordination between direction, costume and movement.
5. Jawa scenery shows how a fragment of a set can suggest a much larger world.
6. Carrie Fisher and Warwick Davis in production context offer a reminder of the human relationships behind memorable characters.
7. Jabba's construction directs attention toward creature design and the collaboration needed to animate a physical performance.
8. A familiar scene viewed from outside the camera frame exposes equipment the finished image deliberately hides.
9. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher between setups show the contrast between a workday and the story assembled from it.
10. The Millennium Falcon cockpit illustrates how a limited set can become a convincing vehicle through framing and sound.