How Star Wars Legends Brought Matte Paintings & Models to ‘Skeleton Crew’

John Knoll & John Goodson recently chatted with StarWars.com about bringing their legendary modeling and effects techniques to Skeleton Crew!

StarWars.com

True legends:

• John Knoll and John Goodson are no strangers to Star Wars with Goodson creating models for iconic pieces like the podracers and Republic Cruiser in The Phantom Menace and Knoll being a visual effects supervisor for the Prequels and a writer on Rogue One. He also created Adobe Photoshop with his brother. Really.

• The pair also prides themselves on their ability to integrate physical craftsmanship with digital skills and have remained on top of the latest digital effects technologies throughout their careers.

• When it came to Skeleton Crew, the pitch of a Goonies-style pirate adventure was reportedly just too good to pass up - especially for Knoll who previously worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as well!

StarWars.com

Zoom in:

• Goodson has built a number of legendary ships from The Mandalorian’s Razor Crest to Ahsoka’s T-6 Jedi Shuttle from her titular series, so it was only natural that he did the same for the Onyx Cinder for Skeleton Crew.

• The model was built alongside Dan Patrascu, a machinist and fellow model maker, and the three men spent countless nights creating the pieces in their respective garages - dubbing themselves “Three Garage Productions”

• The ship was then filmed with a motion control camera, and in order to stay under budget using this technology, the creators donated multiple nights working inside those garages to achieve the final product.

StarWars.com

Branching out:

• Showrunner Jon Watts loved the idea of using practical models, puppets, prosthetics, and miniatures on the show, but as production was wrapping up, he wanted to add one more classic Star Wars touch…a matte painting.

• Knoll recruited Caroleen “Jette” Green, an ILM matte painter from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, who created a full size matte painting to represent At Attin’s barrier on Masonite

Be sure to check out the full article that dives even deeper into the design process undertaken by Knoll and Goodson, and tune in to Skeleton Crew for new episodes every Tuesday only on Disney+!

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