TFA Graflex Research (That's a Graflex, right? Force Awakens teaser trailer #2)

roygilsing said:
No. They've made a stunt version with black textile covered foam rubber grips for comfort. Not the hero versions of course!
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Actually Reel Fakes had it right. The Cinefx article posted earlier (p. 83 I think?) mentioned the production team making RUBBER grips for the GRAFLEX sabers. This was then deemed so uncomfortable that cloth-over-memory-foam versions were used.

We haven't received any independent confirmation that the real Graflexes in TFA had rubber grips instead of plastic as with the OT sabers, though. Some are skeptical that rubber grips were used, but that is in fact what the article said.

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Serenity said:
That second photo is of the same saber that's been at Launch Bay since it opened. It can't be your clamp card (or Roy's) since the replicas weren't made until after that saber originally went on display.

I'm not seeing any "bend" in the traces though. It just looks like something caused from the lighting and contrast effects.
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I agree, Launch Bay saber, and the "bend" is a different color than the traces and could be a reflection of some sort.
 
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A few more pics.

View attachment big_startfilmru1317033.jpg big_startfilmru1317056.jpgbig_startfilmru1317055.jpgbig_startfilmru1310746.jpgbig_startfilmru1317068.jpg

And some from Launch Bay: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141296299@N03/albums/72157664378503983
 
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The Terminator said:
That is mo capping/motion capture, they use a lot of cameras to track those small round balls. Which in turn animate their CGI counterpart.
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I know. So what I'm saying is that this might indicate that scenes with Maz holding the lightsaber are CGI, saber included, and not a practical prop and thus not useful as reference material. Would be interesting to learn how (and where!) exactly they blended real with CG footage.
 
roygilsing said:
I know. So what I'm saying is that this might indicate that scenes with Maz holding the lightsaber are CGI, saber included, and not a practical prop and thus not useful as reference material. Would be interesting to learn how (and where!) exactly they blended real with CG footage.
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Even the CGI model would most likely be a good reference material. They had to have done an exceptional job on recreating the thing since it has to stand up to such close ups, not to mention be rendered in such a high resolution ;)
 
I agree that the saber was more likely used for tracking for the CGI artists as reference, as we do have set photos of the Maz actress handing off the actual prop with no tracking markers to other actors.

Plus, those shots look to be on a motion capture stage and not the Maz castle set.

The easiest way for a CGI character to pass off an object to a real character is to pass of a real object as the CGI object looks fake as hell in the real actors hand. Remember the CGI fruit Anakin passed to Padme and her 'bite' in EP2?
 
I see it too.
slothfurnace said:
So with the new shots of the maz scene clampcard, I am seeing not only thin traces on the right, but that they bend 90 degrees to the left just before they meet the clamp, and terminate in a possible via, kind of like the ROTJ V2 card, only they're all identical.


http://slothfurnace.com/images/clampcard/finnsabercard_mazscene.jpg

This is what I see, I hate to throw a completely different take in here, but I can't explain away that graphical "bend" I see at the top of the thin trace where it meets the clamp ear. To me, it's one of those "Once I see it, I can't unsee it" kind of things.

Could just be a trick of light and shadow, but I thought I'd mention it.

The wide traces also seem wider than anything we've seen. Not as much gap between the wide traces, or possibly there are more of them.

Also, this just popped up from Disney MGM Studios... Looks like one of Roy's or my cards, to be honest. Not sure which version of the saber this is supposed to be.

http://www.slothfurnace.com/images/clampcard/disneymgmstudiosdisplay.jpg
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Foe Hammer said:
Another variant then. :lol
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If it's one of the lighted bladed sabers, maybe they opened the saber to change the battery pack and put it back together backwards.

Or maybe they're just messing with us.

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Another idea is she was holding the foam wrapped saber, and they photoshopped the clamp over the foam one and got it backwards.
 
James Kenobi 1138 said:
I also noticed in all those pics it is the lighted dueling saber because you can see the antenna sticking out the bottom (except the one in Finns jacket). Not much we can take about the Hero saber from those pics.
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Even the one in Finn's jacket looks like it might have something sitcking out the bottom (the D-ring?).

lkrkf.png
 
An annoyance for us-- but you have to admire their commitment to using the lighted blade for promo pics to cast its light on the actors faces. It's subtle, but the subconscious effect of seeming "real" is killer. Even looking back at PT promo pics the lightsabers seem painted onto still in comparison despite having photoshop.
 
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