The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

For many people, Disney+’s debut show, The Mandalorian, was a breath of fresh air for the Star Wars universe. It featured a look at brand new characters in a brand new part of the universe. I enjoyed the season, though I felt it had its weak points. While we wait for season two, which is scheduled to drop on the service later this year, Disney+ is releasing an eight part behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Mandalorian. The first episode dropped on May the 4th, and the series concluded on June 20th.

I love watching behind-the-scenes featurettes for movies and shows. As an aspiring filmmaker myself, there is something utterly captivating about watching creators create. I love seeing the whole process of creating a piece of content, from pre-production to production to post-production. It shows you just how much teamwork and effort goes into making something, and it imbues me with an immense amount of appreciation for the filmmaking process.

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian is eight half-hour episodes taking a look at the making of The Mandalorian.

Episode I: Directing

While this debut episode has a few dry parts, I found it to be largely interesting. The Mandalorian assembled an eclectic group of directors for the season, and it was with this round table discussion that I really processed how diverse their team is. It is mostly comprised of women and people of color. No woman or person of color has directed a Star Wars movie before, which is something that will hopefully be corrected soon. With this series, however, they brought together as diverse and talented of a team as they possibly could.

If you were to talk about a science fiction movie that changed Hollywood forever, most people would assume you’re talking about Star Wars (1977) — and rightfully so. Star Wars did change everything (and The Empire Strikes Back just celebrated its 40th anniversary). However, there is another science fiction film that also changed Hollywood forever… nine years earlier. That movie was Planet of the Apes (1968).

In today’s movie culture, it’s easy to overlook the groundbreaking brilliance of the original Planet of the Apes, as we’re faced with the equally groundbreaking new trilogy. Rise, Dawn, and War for the Planet of the Apes changed the game with its use of motion capture technology and its photorealistic visual effects. The new trilogy made huge advancements in CG animation, and have their place in cinematic history.

The original Planet of the Apes, however, completely redefined how movies were made and the place special effects makeup has in the industry. Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film, a documentary directed by William Conlin, tells the story of the makeup artists who brought Planet of the Apes to life. It made its debut at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2019, but became available to stream on Amazon Prime this year.

Making Apes begins by looking back at the history of makeup effects in Hollywood, which was revolutionized by Jack Pierce, the person behind Frankenstein (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941). However, after World War II, the production of movies changed, and elaborate makeup effects found themselves more prominently in B-movies. As it is put in the film, the quality of makeup effects increased as the quality of the movies they were in decreased.