ILM takes us behind the scenes of The Force Awakens
CGI changed the film industry but this is just the beginning, the real revolution is still to come.
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Griffin, M. (2016) 'ILM takes us behind the scenes of The Force Awakens', 311 Institute, 25 September. Available at: https://www.fanaticalfuturist.com/2016/09/ilm-takes-us-behind-the-scenes-of-the-force-awakens/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Earlier this year I wrote an article on technology is, and will, transform the future of entertainment industry and some of those predictions are already coming true. While there's no doubt that the recent Star Wars blockbuster The Force Awakens relied heavily on computer generated effects to create a galaxy full of spaceships, strange aliens and planet wrecking super weapons just how much it relied on CGI might surprise you.
Back in the 1970's when the original films were released George Lucas' favourite tools were rubber prosthetics for the actors and miniature wireframe plastic models but now, just forty years later that entire trade has almost disappeared, giving way to CGI and green screens.
By the time the The Force Awakens hit the cinemas 92 percent of it had been computer generated. Now Industrial Light and Magic has now given us a peek behind the scenes at how some of those visual effects were made, posting a highlight reel to YouTube that shows how First Order bases, TIE Fighters, and even major characters were put together layer by layer.
Water spray kicked up by the low flying Millennium Falcon goes through multiple revisions, going from plastic looking gloop to the final spray, and Jakku's crashed Star Destroyer is similarly complex, albeit for different reasons, built from the frame up with layer upon layer of detail. Each section represents hundreds, if not thousands of hours of work, but most flash by so fast you could easily miss them.
Increasingly there's no doubt in my mind that more of this work will be undertaken and managed more and more by AI systems and platforms. But just as models have given way to CGI one of the next great changes facing the industry, other than AI stepping into the directors chair and drones replacing camera crews will be the digitisation of the actors themselves who'll one day be no more than pixels on a hard drive.
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CGI changed the film industry but this is just the beginning, the real revolution is still to come.
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Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 17-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 25 September 2016. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2016). ILM takes us behind the scenes of The Force Awakens. 311 Institute. https://www.fanaticalfuturist.com/2016/09/ilm-takes-us-behind-the-scenes-of-the-force-awakens/
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