Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Cinematographer Explains How They Created Moving Light

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters just over two months ago, but some of the film’s cast and crew are still sharing fun behind-the-scenes videos and images. John Boyega, who plays Finn in the latest trilogy, has been posting tons of content lately, most recently a BTS video featuring the Millennium Falcon. A recent post by Dan Mindel, the film’s cinematographer who has shot many of J.J. Abrams’ films, shared an on-set look at Billy Dee Williams (also known as William December) driving the Falcon as Lando Calrissian. In the post, Mindel explains how they created moving light in the scene and answered some interesting questions in the comments.

“So…. The great William December (Lando) driving. With Chewie assisting. We have a 50 ft Techno which has a power pod sporting an arri M8 (I think) in order to create moving light. The 30 has the camera on board a libra. Poor man’s process at its best,” Mindel wrote. Here’s what someone wondered in the comments: “Curious as to why this set up was used as opposed to the LED screens used on Solo?” @adamjmiddleton asked. “Motion picture cameras see the pixels that digital cameras don’t. Therefore we cannot photograph the screens without expensive rotoscoping,” Mindel explained. In the post, Mindel tagged @pinewoodmbslighting, @thelibrahead, and @panavisionofficial. You can check out the image below:

Currently, The Rise of Skywalker is up on Rotten Tomatoes with the worst critics’ score for a live-action Star Wars movie, earning a surprising 52%. However, the film is fairing better with moviegoers and currently has an 86% audience score. ComicBook.com’s own Patrick Cavanaugh called the movie “a mixed bag of delights and frustrations that largely succeeds” and gave it a 4 out of 5 rating.

Despite the mixed reviews, The Rise of Skywalker still managed to walk away with three Academy Award nominations this year. The movie was up for Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Sound Editing (Matthew Wood and David Acord), and Best Visual Effects (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy).

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released on Digital on March 17th, and on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 31st.