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Rogue One Event at Skywalker Ranch and LucasFilm HQ

In 1983 my grandmother took me to my very first movie in the movie theater – Return of the Jedi. I was 5 years old and it started an obsession for me. I am not sure how many hundreds of times I have seen the movies, but I love them and I love the the whole Star Wars Universe. Had you told the 5 year old me that I’d one day set foot on Skywalker Ranch I probably would not have believed you – heck, I wouldn’t have believed it last year.

But that’s exactly what I did this past weekend. I (along with 24 other bloggers) headed to Skywalker Ranch to watch 28 minutes of footage from Rogue One. I was excited to see the movie before and now I am even more excited. If you have not purchased your ticket yet, you can grab them here. Rogue One hits theaters on Dec 16th. Director Gareth Edwards introduced the footage in the theater that George Lucas uses to preview the films. It was surreal.

Then I hung out with storm troopers – at Skywalker Ranch! I can still hardly believe it.

I was able to visit the gift shop and drive by the house. It was so cool.

And if that wasn’t enough I was able to visit LucasFilm Headquarters the following day.

The history there was amazing. Everywhere I turned there were statues, posters, knick knacks and more from films.

While we were there we interviewed cast from Rogue One (make sure to check back for those interviews that will be posted this week and next). We also were able to tour the property and learn about the film.

They showed us how they reconstructed the original ships from the original trilogy by a fusion of reconstructing the model sets and computers. They were able to recreate the ships with greater detail which allowed them to make sure they were true to the era the movie portrays.

One of my favorite sessions was learning about motion capture. The gray suit pictured above has little tiny balls all over it.

There are numerous cameras around the room that pick up those balls and help create the character of K-2SO. Fun fact: The man in the suit showing us the technology actually played Blue in Jurassic Park.

It just amazes me that rather than having Alan Tudyk dress up in a droid outfit he wears this motion capture suit then they’re able to give him a totally different design.