Before the exuberant use of CGI and greenscreens in big films and series, filmmakers had to trick and work with practical effects: masks, miniatures, or self-built sets. A cool trick was used in Star Wars: Episode 1 during the Podrace.
What is it about? Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, and despite many effects and the use of CGI, there are still some practical effects used here as well. One of the most interesting tricks happens during the Podrace with Anakin.
Anakin must win the Podrace for Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi as a little boy. The race has a large audience, which celebrates the victory of young Anakin in the end. However, the audience is made neither of real actors nor CGI. It consists of cotton swabs.
Another science fiction movie revolutionized CGI but was penalized for it: This film revolutionized CGI in movies, yet did not receive an Oscar because computer effects were considered “cheating”
450,000 cotton swabs instead of real spectators
How were the spectators simulated? In a short YouTube clip, the channel @EuphoricMovie explains how the spectators in the Podrace were made. First, they built the stage and scenery as a miniature. Then they inserted 450,000 cotton swabs into the miniature.
They painted these in various colors. To prevent the spectators from standing still like stiff statues, they placed hairdryers under the cotton swabs that blew air upwards, causing the cotton swabs to move and create the illusion that the audience was celebrating.
You can see scenes of this in the YouTube clip:
In the first trilogy, painting was used to create effects. In the first trilogy, the emphasis was primarily on the brush. Flicks And The City shows on YouTube how the images of large stormtrooper armies were created.
They relied on painted backgrounds and characters. There were only a few real
stormtroopers on set, while the rest of the army was drawn. In the clip, you can also see that the sky of the Cloud City was painted by Lando. This achieved picturesque settings without the use of CGI or massive sets.
Does Star Wars still use practical effects today? Despite the significant development of CGI, Star Wars films and series still regularly use practical effects in the form of animatronics. BB-8, for example, was a built prop, and Grogu from The Mandalorian was not CGI but an animatronic. More behind-the-scenes content about Star Wars can be found here: Star Wars: “Anakin Skywalker” particularly remembers a specific situation during the filming of Episode 2
