“Making the original Star Wars trilogy, Lucas was forever frustrated that existing technology could not translate all his notions into compelling, realistic imagery. Today the whole palette of digital technology is much more subtle and supple; if you can dream it, you can see it. And you can play with a scene--keep reshooting it on the computer, so to speak, until it's perfect. As Lucas puts it, ‘An artist working on fresco had to paint everything before the plaster dried. Then oils were invented. That's what digital is to movies. You can go out in the real world and paint, then come back the next day and finish it.’ To makers of fantasy films, this is a pipe dream come true. ‘People have been talking about a digital back lot for years,’ says Dennis Muren, the grand wizard of the ILM staff and a senior visual-effects supervisor on Episode 1. ‘But George has done it.’”
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