The Empire Strikes Back (also known as Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back) is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner, with a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas. It is the sequel to Star Wars (1977), the second film in the Star Wars film series, and the fifth chronological chapter of the Skywalker Saga. Set three years after the events of Star Wars, its story follows the battle between the Galactic Empire led by Emperor Palpatine and the Rebel Alliance led by Princess Leia. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker trains to master the Force so he can confront the Sith lord Darth Vader. The ensemble cast includes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and Frank Oz.
The development of the film began in 1977, shortly after the release of Star Wars. Lucas's own special effects company had effectively ceased to exist following the production of Star Wars and he decided to re-establish the company, moving it from central to northern California and building a new facility as its base. Construction began in mid-1978, and the crew operated out of the incomplete building to keep pace with Empires filming schedule. Up to 100 people worked on the nearly 600 effects required for the film, which included miniatures, matte paintings, stop motion, articulated models, and full-size vehicles. Special effects-related expenses totalled $8million, and the team was led by Richard Edlund and Brian Johnson to complete the effects.
Development
Founding an effects studio Development of The Empire Strikes Back began in 1977, shortly after the release of Star Wars in May. Creator George Lucas planned to use his earnings from that film to independently fund the sequel. However, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a makeshift special effects company formed by Lucas exclusively for Star Wars had shuttered after its release because Lucas had no immediate use for its equipment or staff. Most of the staff and equipment were used to found a separate effects company, Apogee, Inc., under Star Wars effects supervisor John Dykstra. Lucas had to re-establish ILM and completely re-staff it while managing his burgeoning production firm Lucasfilm. He also wanted to move ILM from southern California to San Rafael in the north. He liked the area, but it was a substantial distance away from the busy film activity and experienced crew in Los Angeles.
Recruitment occurred over several months from late 1977 onwards. Fewer than 20 Star Wars special effects crew members followed ILM's move to San Rafael, seven of whom were key, including Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren. Empires producer Gary Kurtz hired crew including production designer Norman Reynolds, consultant John Barry, makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, and first assistant director David Tomblin. Lucas brought back artists Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston to maintain visual consistency with Star Wars, and the trio began to conceptualize the snow battle in December. Lucas found concept work easier for Empire because the crew did not need to create completely new cultures or worry about "what sort of coffee cups they would use". Even so, pre-production progressed slowly because Lucas operated out of north California and the crew had not moved closer to him, which made it difficult for him to check their work.
Construction of the ILM facility began in mid-1978, and crew began to work out of it from September while it was still in progress. Muren recounted that the walls were still being installed and there was no electricity. It took eight months to complete the facility, while crew operated the only two cameras available for filming under makeshift lighting. By late 1978, Phil Tippett, Nilo Rodis-Jamero, Paul Huston, and Steve Gawley were added to the team. The facility was eventually staffed with 90–100 people sometimes working 15-hour shifts as they attempted to meet Lucas's shifting design ideas. Tippet admitted that he and many of the crew were burnt out towards the end of the project.
Muren, Ken Ralston, Don Dow, and Jim Veilleux, among others, began filming effects work in full from February 1979 while ILM's electricity was being installed. Work on the film's approximately 600 special effects shots (compared to 360 on Star Wars) had to be completed by March 31, 1980, ready for the film's May release. In total, ILM accounted for $8million of the film's $30.5million budget.
Crew The film crew for The Empire Strikes Back included:
Nick Allder (Mechanical effects supervisor) Jon Berg (Stop-motion animation) Doug Beswick (Stop-motion animation) Ben Burtt (Sound design/supervising sound effects) Leslie Dilley (Visual effects art director) Richard Edlund (Special visual effects) Harrison Ellenshaw (Matte painting supervisor) Michael Ford (Visual effects art director) Stuart Freeborn (Makeup and special creature design) Wendy Froud (Yoda fabrication) Steve Gawley (Modelshop foreman) Jerry L. Jeffress (Electronic systems design) Brian Johnson (Special visual effects) Joe Johnston (Visual effects art director) Michael Kelly (Visual effects editor) Peter Kuran (Animation/rotoscope supervisor) Harry Lange (Visual effects art director) Ralph McQuarrie (Design consultant/conceptual artist/matte painting artist) Dennis Muren (Miniature/optical effects photography supervisor) Bruce Nicholson (Optical photography supervisor) Michael Pangrazio (Matte painting artist) Lorne Peterson (Chief model maker) Ken Ralston (Optical effects cameraman) Norman Reynolds (Visual effects editor) Nilo Rodis-Jamero (Assistant art director) Tom St. Amand (Stop-motion animation) Peter Sutton (Sound design/supervising sound effects) Phil Tippett (Stop-motion animation) Alan Tomkins (Visual effects art director)
Sets and technology Real locations were scouted for the film, including Central Africa and Kenya for the bog planet Dagobah, and Scandinavia for Hoth. To avoid the difficulties of shooting in distant locations, Lucas invested in practical sets; he funded the construction of a "Star Wars stage" at Elstree Studios, London. Construction began at the end of August 1978 at a cost of $2million. As principal photography was about to begin in January 1979, a fire on Elstree's Stage 3—where The Shining (1980) was being filmed—destroyed the planned space for Empires sets. The impact was significant: it removed essential space and the production was forced to give up two more stages so The Shining could continue filming. Sixty-four sets had to be moved through nine stages and the timeline had to be rescheduled. Construction of the Star Wars stage was also impeded by poor weather, delaying construction of sets and necessary props. Sets were the single biggest budget expense at $3.5million. The production was so expansive that by June 1979, the executive team had to ration the labor they could expend on building sets as there were no other tradespeople available in the industry, and it considered bringing workers in from Italy or Spain.
There was little equipment left to bring to the new ILM facility, including an optical printer, tracking camera, and a matte camera. About $1million was spent setting up the facility, including $180,000 for construction, $27,000 for a high-speed VistaVision camera, and $50,000 for the design and construction of optical lenses. A further $1million and about a year was spent on designing and building a state-of-the-art optical printer. Edlund believed it was essential to work on Empire and an investment in ILM's future technology, and he worked with George Rando and David Grafton to design the custom printer which is used for compositing images—for example, if there are three ships chasing the Millennium Falcon, all four crafts are filmed separately and composited together into a single scene. Edlund said that standard printers did not offer the visual quality they wanted and were more designed for basic effects like fades and dissolves. The printer's main feature was the four projector heads it had instead of the normal two, allowing more elements to be composited at once, which saved time and reduced the loss of quality over multiple passes of the same image. The printer lenses presented a clearer image than expected and they had to intentionally degrade about 35% of the shots to hide the now obvious effects.
There was a custom VistaVision camera built by the Mitchell Camera Corporation dubbed the "Empireflex" that produced footage twice the size of normal 35mm systems without the need to use 65mm film, which required more cumbersome equipment. Edlund said that starting with a larger image meant less quality was lost during compositing. It was small and portable, and could be programmed for certain motions, such as panning and tilting. It also had a specific stop motion mode that could hold on the current image and advance a frame while the shutter was open to create a blur effect. The majority of still shots or those with slight pans or tilts were performed with the Empireflex, while those with a lot of movement were done with a Dykstraflex because it had a mechanical arm that let the camera capture footage as if from the point-of-view of the Rebel spaceships.
Various techniques, including miniatures, stop motion, articulated models, full-size vehicles, and matte paintings, were used to create Empires various effects. McQuarrie was responsible for over half of the matte paintings used in Empire, with the rest provided by Ellenshaw and Pangrazio. These were often done on glass and were being worked on as late as January 1980. The crew often worked up to 11 hours a day on mattes alone to generate the nearly 70 paintings required. Explosions were filmed at the San Francisco armory in Mission District. The building offered tall rooms that the crew built custom black ceilings in. The explosions were filmed at a high frame rate and composited into scenes where necessary.
Hoth
On location
To portray Hoth's exterior, scouts looked at areas in Northern Europe such as Finland, Sweden, and the Arctic Circle. The locations needed to be free of trees and near populated areas for amenities. A 20th Century Fox employee recommended Finse, Norway. The recce crew, including Kurtz, Reynolds, and Kershner, flew to Finse on January 25, 1979, to begin receiving equipment containers sent by train or air. The construction crew arrived later, on February 25, to dig trenches for battle scenes. Filming the Hoth scenes on a set was considered, but had been deemed inauthentic. However, location filming coincided with the area's worst snowstorm in half a century, impeding the production with blizzards, winds, and temperatures around . The weather cleared only twice while filming; some days filming was impossible. The frigid conditions made the acetate film reel brittle, camera lenses ice over, and effects paint freeze in the tins. Snow also seeped into equipment. To counter this, lenses were kept cool, but the camera body was warmed to protect the film, battery, and the camera operators' hands. The crew was outside for up to 11 hours, subjected to thin air, limited visibility, and mild frostbite; one crewman slipped and broke two ribs.