S.S. Death Star?

Nah, just a painting for high altitude, then of course there was the "skim the surface" trench model, newly assembled (probably a lot of ROTJ surface panels left over, perhaps poured some new castings)
 
Hi again Mike,

I was thinking about your Death Star analysis and was wondering if the distortion that you noted might be due to some sort of lensing phenomenon such as barrel distortion? And does the compositing process gum up the works at all? We can't guarantee that the position of the Death Star in the frame was in fact where it was when it was originally photographed, complicating the barrel distortion issue even more so in that we can't predict any sort of distortion falloff based on the Death Star's final position in the frame.

Thoughts?
 
Actually, in the case of the 65mm VistaVision plates shot for ANH, more often than not the objects had to be positioned properly in the frame, because the optical compositing process didn't have the same flexibility and freedom we do today. For a given filmback and focal length, "undistorting" the lens distortion is not that big a deal. But that's also why it's useful to see corroboration between multiple images to see if the photogrammetric solution is accurate. In this case, it's very, very close, though I will have a definitive answer later this year as adjunct to another project.

_Mike
 
I would agree that for the most part the elements that were shot needed to live in the frame as they were recorded, but I could see how it would be compositionally useful (and photochemically trivial) to compose these static Death Star establishers after the fact. As for the barrel distortion, I'd love to see some grid tests for their cameras and lens packages, but that would be too good to be true. :)

Again, great stuff Mike.
 
mverta said:
Actually, in the case of the 65mm VistaVision plates shot for ANH...
_Mike
Click to expand...

Hey Mike, I suspect a typo in your post, as I believe that you are quite aware that VistaVision is a 35mm format.

As for Vista plate and element optics, standard practice was (and often still is) to use stock, off-the-shelf Nikkor primes. As the VV frame and the standard 35mm "still" format are almost identical, Nikkors offer(ed) the greatest selection of focal lengths, easily available and inexpensive. Of course, these are not cine lenses and suffer from a number of less-than-desireable qualities.

I would imagine that every effort would have been made to properly position and size stage elements, however, optical printers were (are) very sophisticated tools and the ability to re-position elements would not have been an unknown luxury.

Wow. I really miss the old photo-chemical days!

Marcus
 
Wow, I had no idea the guy that ran Neato Coolville was the guy that saved the Death Star. Just started reading that blog a few months ago.

What a great story, too. Best of all, it has a happy ending.

That Death Star must be one of the luckiest models on Earth - to have survived multiple trips across country and repeated attempts at destruction.

Wow.

Thanks.


-Mike
 
Sith Sheriff Brody said:
That Death Star must be one of the luckiest models on Earth - to have survived multiple trips across country and repeated attempts at destruction.
Click to expand...

Frankly, I find it amazing that likely the single most important piece of physical film history* was trashed, wound up in HICKSVILLE USA, and eventually wound up in the best Sci Fi museum yet known...


*Think about it. Then know that this very board has polled for the Most Important Prop Of All Time at least two or three times, and the Death Star always ends in the top five.
 
PHArchivist said:
Frankly, I find it amazing that likely the single most important piece of physical film history* was trashed, wound up in HICKSVILLE USA, and eventually wound up in the best Sci Fi museum yet known...

Not really amazing, pretty much par for the course for film props unfortunately. Even ones that are supposed to be safe, look at what happened to the 'hero' 1:1 spinner. Dang glad this survived though.

Edit: obviously the "trashed" bit, I mean, not the saved and museum-ised parts. That was probably obvious I guess. :)

Cheers,
Martyn
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I got a public dressing-down from Star Wars Magazine years ago. I wrote in to verify this story I found on the web (pre-blog), and I got the equivalent of a public laughing-at in the editorial section. I don't have issue in front of me but basically I was told "...there is no conspiracy theories, and we're not hiding the truth". Then they went on to suggest that they had everything archived and in order and all was "right" in Skywalker ranch. Never once answering the original question of whether this was the real Death Star or not!
 
Has it been mentioned that the armature of the original is not entirely steel?

It bears circular rings that the emispheres are screwed into for support. These rings are acutaly wood, painted silver. The actual floor stand that supports the rings is in fact welded steel.

This was discovered/determined by a friend of mine (and fellow RPF member) while examining photos I took f the model in Seattle.
 
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