Never heard that one!
New Elstree Studio documentary with discarded Graflex.
- Thread starter Skelatorious
- Start date
Never heard that one!
I brought that up, remembered seeing it in people magazine as a kid. Somebody else pointed to an article where Hamil said his kid lost it at the park-- but yeah, it was a scratch built ROTJ Luke by the prop guys. Somebody had pics of it.
When Mark Hamill did that birth of the lightsaber video (nice shots of him sitting on a stool on stage) in one clip he is holding a ROTJ style lightsaber with no nipple. Never got a read on what that might be
As for this one, I don't want to look impulsive. I wanted to breach topics of maybe identifying it/parts of it because its a 50/50 shot it being a never used or something we haven't IDed yet. Here are some other ANH shots - it almost looks like some of the "bladed" falcon shots use a real graflex
As for this one, I don't want to look impulsive. I wanted to breach topics of maybe identifying it/parts of it because its a 50/50 shot it being a never used or something we haven't IDed yet. Here are some other ANH shots - it almost looks like some of the "bladed" falcon shots use a real graflex
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That "bladed" Falcon scene screencap is just Hamill holding the static Graflex prop with no blade in the opening shot of the scene, when Luke turns it off after seeing Kenobi fall ill. The animators just guestimated the length and position of where the blade would be, since there wasn't one in the hilt.
Y'know, what someone needs to do is go through the movie's shooting logs and screencaps, then put together a chronological and visual record of the condition of the Graflex props (parts orientation, etc.) from shot to shot in the order that the movie was actually filmed in. That way, we might be able to determine what changes were made and when, and perhaps even how many different props were used.
matty matt
Sr Member
Sounds like you just volunteered! Seth can probably help you. That guy’s not busy at all!
AnubisGuard
Master Member
Original theatrical all the way, baby.
DARTH SABER
Master Member
Odd thing is, even when the “center” placement was discovered on the D-Ring I never thought it was directly in the center.
Always assumed it was just off center but not quite on the edge.
From original thread-
“And If you'll notice the red line also cuts the round bottom of the flash into an almost perfect hemisphere, which would mean its on, or pretty * close to the center...”
The d-ring strap I made for my saver was a qucik+dirty job I cut from a piece of aluminum which is fairly thick and causes the D ring to sit just off center but I need to replace it with something thinner.
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Well, gee, I guess that’s a challenge I’ll have to accept.
Grabbed the relevant screencaps to begin analysis, and did some cross-referencing with some non-screencap photos.
And then I went and looked at Rinzler’s MAKING OF book to determine the chronology of filming. Here are the relevant scenes featuring the hero saber prop(s) in the order they were filmed:
1. Burning homestead (location)
2. Mos Eisley overlook (location, “...a wretched hive of scum and villainy.”, prop not visible onscreen, but appears in behind-the-scenes photos and footage)
3. Sandcrawler/dead Jawas (location)
4. Cantina exterior (location)
5. Selling the landspeeder (studio)
6. Docking Bay 94 interior (studio)
7. Cantina interior (studio)
8. Ben’s home (studio)
9. Emerging from smuggling compartments (studio)
10. Training remote practice (studio, hero prop—with no blade—used in two shots of blade ignited)
11. Sitting down at the holochess table during escape from Docking Bay 94 (studio)
Here are some preliminary observations:
* The clamp lever is sticking out in the “burning homestead” and “finding the destroyed Sandcrawler” location scenes. Those were, of course, the earliest scenes filmed which included the prop. Since the toe pic and the other common publicity photos of Hamill feature the prop with the clamp lever sticking out, they may well have been shot during this period, EARLY in production, rather than POST-production. However, in the photos, unlike the movie, the Graflex’s upper half is rotated 180 degrees...but the lever is sticking out. So, the upper half was rotated before or after the filming of these scenes. If before, then the publicity photos must have been taken prior to filming those first two scenes, and the upper half was then rotated into the screenused position. If the photos were taken after filming of those scenes, then the upper half must have been rotated back into the screenused position after the photos were taken, OR another hero prop (one without the wonky clamp lever that sticks out) took the place of the one used in the earliest filmed scenes. Every other scene featuring the saber has the clamp lever properly closed, so either the lever was tweaked after filming of the first few scenes, or the closed-lever prop is a different hero altogether. Beginning with the Cantina exterior scenes, the clamp lever is always closed.
* The saber’s last appearance during filming (Luke sitting down and buckling up at the holochess table) features the rotated upper half (publicity photos/ESB configuration). We only know this from a publicity photo, since the prop is not visible onscreen during the scene. Nor is it visible in the Docking Bay 94 interior scene, since Hamill is wearing the poncho.
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I did some experiments today making a clip out of aluminum from a beer can. It worked out well. I followed Drew's measurements. It turned out good, but it was a little tight and one edge teared when I wore in the D ring with simulated wear. This was interesting as the elstree clip shows stress and some signs of tearing at the edges. I first just made a loop and riveted it down just shy from center. It easily folded back further.
This seemed to be too thin, .12mm. I found some .5mm sheet and tried again. This time I allowed for the slight drop of the d ring much better.
If the promo shots were first, then this would just have been a simple strip looped and riveted. Next I pushed back the loop to see if it matched the elstree clips dimensions. I only took the dimensions from Drew's post for the width of the clip . Now I pushed the clip back, it could be done by hand, but it was difficult enough to use pliers. I used a small block of wood though.
I then measured the elstree clip from the inside rim line which seems to stop at the 'A' of Graflex. I used a spare 2 cell bottom to measure out this distance.
This supports the clip could have been bent back at some point. An this is my theory for you all to consider.
Promo shots, clip is not bent back.
The Schedule supports Mark is wearing the prop in some scenes before Ben's cave.
The scene I think is most important, is the dead Jawa's at the sandcrawler, just before Luke rushes home to find his dead Aunt and Uncle. In this scene Luke runs to the land speeder, the saber is bouncing all over the place so much, that Hamil actually grabs onto it to hold it down as he is running. How many times did he shoot the scene? How sore was his leg? He may have complained and the prop guy may have made an adjustment to the clip in hope to stop it from bouncing around as much. Regardless, I do not think it would have helped much. Another interesting point in this scene, is the saber has also lost a grip. Did the elstree lose its grips, or were they removed? If the clip was a bit thinner than.5mm, it way also be possible just wear and tear had caused the clip to fold back. The strip from the can was still plenty strong, but it folded back easy enough, that running with it would have done it.
This seemed to be too thin, .12mm. I found some .5mm sheet and tried again. This time I allowed for the slight drop of the d ring much better.
If the promo shots were first, then this would just have been a simple strip looped and riveted. Next I pushed back the loop to see if it matched the elstree clips dimensions. I only took the dimensions from Drew's post for the width of the clip . Now I pushed the clip back, it could be done by hand, but it was difficult enough to use pliers. I used a small block of wood though.
I then measured the elstree clip from the inside rim line which seems to stop at the 'A' of Graflex. I used a spare 2 cell bottom to measure out this distance.
This supports the clip could have been bent back at some point. An this is my theory for you all to consider.
Promo shots, clip is not bent back.
The Schedule supports Mark is wearing the prop in some scenes before Ben's cave.
The scene I think is most important, is the dead Jawa's at the sandcrawler, just before Luke rushes home to find his dead Aunt and Uncle. In this scene Luke runs to the land speeder, the saber is bouncing all over the place so much, that Hamil actually grabs onto it to hold it down as he is running. How many times did he shoot the scene? How sore was his leg? He may have complained and the prop guy may have made an adjustment to the clip in hope to stop it from bouncing around as much. Regardless, I do not think it would have helped much. Another interesting point in this scene, is the saber has also lost a grip. Did the elstree lose its grips, or were they removed? If the clip was a bit thinner than.5mm, it way also be possible just wear and tear had caused the clip to fold back. The strip from the can was still plenty strong, but it folded back easy enough, that running with it would have done it.
Yes, and I always remembered it from the thread and never permanently secured mine for this reason.
Wow, went through and fixed my horrible lack of capitalization on my posts from 2002...
This is detective work of the year right here!! Wicked job buddy!!
Drew Baker
Sr Member
That's great work, Aison. Thanks for sharing.
I also wonder if the clip might have gotten bent back by whatever drop, fall, or impact dented in the bottom of the flash. The deformation is pretty focused on that side/edge/area.
Hamill can be seen holding the prop steady so it doesn’t smack him in the leg during some of the later Tunisia scenes.
And I’m not sure how any bending or adjusting of the clip would have helped with that. The basic d-ring/belt hook connection would lend itself to bouncing no matter how tight the bracket clip was friction-fit against the d-ring, or if the bracket was bent backward or forward.
And I’m not sure how any bending or adjusting of the clip would have helped with that. The basic d-ring/belt hook connection would lend itself to bouncing no matter how tight the bracket clip was friction-fit against the d-ring, or if the bracket was bent backward or forward.
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