Studio (AOTC)

George Lucas and his film crew used the studios at Elstree for most of the interior shots for Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. For The Phantom Menace he used Leavesden Aerodrome and some of the surrounding woodland. The crew also used Shepperton and Ealing Studios for pick-up shooting for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith after principal photography was complete at Fox Studios, Australia.

FOX Studios, Australia.

MAP

Fox Studios in Sydney , Australia were used for the set shooting for the star wars films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The Actors and crew travelled to Australia to film the last two part in the new trilogy. Combinations of sets, blue and green screen, miniatures and computer graphics come together to make the highly polished final product.

November 3, 1998 – Lucasfilm Ltd. and Fox Studios Australia today announced Star Wars Episodes II and III would be made at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney.

AOTC-blue-screenFox Studios in central Sydney are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Ltd. Since opening in 1998, the studios have become the southern hemisphere version of Universal Studios and are becoming intertwined with Hollywood productions. The state-of-the-art studios have been used to film such blockbusters as The Matrix as well as Mission: Impossible II and kids pictures like Babe: Pig in the City.

Fox Studios Australia is one of the world’s most sophisticated film production facilities, with six sound stages, comprehensive post-production services and tenants drawn from some of the leading providers in the film and television industry. It is a 50/50 joint venture between News Corporation and Lend Lease Corporation.Fox Studios

Fox Studios, showing directions to the Costume dept.

June 26, 2000 – The first day of principal photography at Fox Studios Australia. In their new home Down Under, the production crew once again photographs actor Ian McDiarmid three years to the day after Episode I started shooting.

The Office of the Supreme Chancellor, Padme’s apartment interior ( built twelve feet up from the stage floor to provide adequate green screen coverage), Zam Wesell’s and Anakin’s speeders to the dirty depths of Coruscant’s streets and the tranquillity of the Jedi temple were all filmed in he Fox studios. Many very intricate sets were built; such as the Outlanders club which took a period of two months to build, was filmed in one day and torn down the next!AOTC Blue screen 2Again like all of the Star Wars episodes a combination of elements come together to create the whole image seen on the big screen.

Many miniatures such as the Jedi Library and younglings training room to the Geonosis Arena were built as “bigatures” (something built small on a large scale) and photographed to blend in later with actors or CGI models.

The Final Journey begins, June 30th 2003 at 8:07 am principal photography began on Star Wars Episode III The Revenge of the Sith at Fox Studios Australia. The first scenes shot featured returning actors Hayden Christensen and Ewan Mcgregor as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This marked the start of production on the final episode of the SW saga.
As he did with Episodes I & II, producer Rick McCallum marked the first take with the clapperboard as George Lucas directed.AOTC Blue screen

24413 17 Again like all the proceeding studio shoots, many full size, “bigature” and miniature sets were built to fully convey the vision on this probably the most important, and for fans, the most eagerly awaited episode in the SW saga.

 

Ealing Studios.

MAP

Ealing, still located at Ealing Green in West London, can lay claim to being the world’s oldest movie studio.

Ealing StudiosBritish film-producing company headed by Michael Balcon 1937–58. The studio made a distinctive series of comedies, which had an understated, self-deprecating humour, such as Passport to Pimlico, Kind Hearts and Coronets (which made English actor Alec Guinness an international film star).

Digital cameras rolled once again as Star Wars Episode II AOTC resumed at Ealing Studios in England for the next stage of production as additional shooting was scheduled to take place March 24 to April 8.

“The England shoots will be mostly in front of bluescreen,” said McCallum. “Though we’ve been really busy since we wrapped in September, it’s always exciting to get back in front of the cameras.”

Among the scenes shot the last week in March and the first week in April 2001 were the droid factory sequence, Anakin and Padme in the Naboo Starship Much of the Padme conveyor belt chase was filmed here as Lucas added the scene/s during re-writing sessions. Lucas still felt there were some missing scenes and scheduled to return in October/November 2001.
November 6th 2001 the scene where Count Dooku is given the secret Death Star Plans in the Geonosis War Room and all of the Anakin and Obi-wan arrival to Padme’s apartment including the elevator scene were filmed more than a year after principle photography.

 

(back to top)