The Optical 002 - The Empire Strikes Back, Howie Weed, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941, Cinefex 2

Complete show notes (with links) are available at http://opticalpodcast.com/episode/002

In our second episode, we chat with passionate fan Rob Rhyne about The Empire Strikes Back, interview modelmaker, creature creator, and digital artist Howie Weed about his career and work on The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition, and we quickly chat with Duncan Boszko to get a perspective on Greg Jein’s physical miniature models in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941, and The Hunt for Red October from someone who was born after the advent of CGI.

Also listen for your chance to win a free 1-year print subscription to Cinefex magazine.

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* Cinefex magazine — The journal of cinematic illusions.

Features

* The Empire Strikes Back

* Greg Jein’s model work in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941

* How are miniature models made?

Guests

* Howie Weed — Model maker, creature creator, digital artist, long-time ILM-er, and the guy inside the Wampa suit in The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition.

* Rob Rhyne, Empire Strikes Back superfan, Developer, Designer, and CEO of MartianCraft.

* Duncan Boszko, writer, aspiring filmmaker, and with a play in the 2014 Young Playwright’s Festival at the Young Playwrights Program at ACT.

Music

All tracks by Aaron Cherof:

* 0:35:05 — Crowd Clout

* 1:43:42 — A Foe Pause

* 2:02:00 — Mamnae

Research Materials

* Cinefex 2 — August 1980

* Cinefex 3 — December 1980 — article “Tauntauns, Walkers and Probots” by Paul Mandell

* The Making of The Empire Strikes Back (Enhanced Edition) by J.W. Rinzler

* Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back by Alan Arnold

* Building Empire: A Filmumentary by Jamie Benning — a fan documentary, where he edits behind-the-scenes, alternate footage, and trivia track information into the film itself.

* The Making of 1941 by Glenn Erickson & Mary Ellen Trainor

* Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film by Ray Morton

More bits

* The Empire Strikes Back: Despecialized Edition — a fan edit that keeps as much of the HD releases as possible, but reverts the effects and cut to the original look, even going so far as to re-build the effects from available sources when necessary.

* Lucasfilm confirms that the original editions on the released DVDs are taken from the 1993 Laserdisc masters.

* Dick Smith’s Do It Yourself Monster Make-Up by Dick Smith, introduction by Rick Baker

* Stage Makeup: Fifth Edition (1975) by Richard Corson

* The original wampa suit footage can be seen starting at about five minutes into Building Empire

As ever

* The Optical theme by Digital Droo

* The Optical “aperture” logo by Mike Gower

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