Apple Vision Pro let Jon Favreau preview Star Wars at IMAX scale
He and ILM’s John Knoll walked through virtual sets before construction and checked how each shot would fill the giant screen.
Apple Vision Pro helped Jon Favreau and Industrial Light & Magic plan The Mandalorian and Grogu before some of its sets were built.
The headset let them enter virtual sets, scout camera positions, and sit inside a virtual IMAX theater to judge each shot at the size moviegoers would see it.
Apple showed the process in a new behind-the-scenes post (opens in a new tab) featuring Favreau and ILM production visual effects supervisor John Knoll.
Walk through a set before it exists
Favreau and Knoll could move through virtual versions of the sets long before the production team finished building them. That gave them a way to find camera angles and see how the space would work around the actors.
The headset gave the filmmakers another view of the world while there was still time to change it.
See the shot at IMAX scale
The movie was filmed for IMAX, which made the size of the final frame important. A monitor on set can show the picture, but it cannot make the filmmaker feel how that picture will fill a giant theater screen.
With Vision Pro, I could sit in a virtual IMAX theater and observe the framing of any shot.
Jon Favreau
Favreau said that view helped him judge the proper scale and shape of the frame. Knoll also praised the headset’s bright, sharp, and synchronized 3D image.
Vision Pro behind the camera
This is a different kind of Vision Pro story. The audience never sees the headset in the finished movie, but it helped the team make decisions about the world and the camera before filming was complete.
That could be useful far beyond Star Wars. A director could walk through a digital location, a designer could review a set before it is built, and a crew could test how a large-format shot will feel without leaving the stage. Apple says Wicked director Jon M. Chu used Vision Pro to edit and produce parts of the movie. (opens in a new tab)
The Mandalorian and Grogu is now available to buy or rent in the Apple TV app (opens in a new tab).
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