---
title: 'Why The Mandalorian Changed Filmmaking Forever | Star Wars Talk'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=OW8CeRXoy5c'
video_id: 'OW8CeRXoy5c'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 441
---

# Why The Mandalorian Changed Filmmaking Forever | Star Wars Talk

> Source: [Why The Mandalorian Changed Filmmaking Forever | Star Wars Talk](https://youtube.com/watch?v=OW8CeRXoy5c)

## Summary

The Mandalorian revolutionized filmmaking by using stagecraft technology—enormous LED panels displaying real-time game engine renders—to create immersive, interactive environments for actors. This eliminates the need for green screen, reduces post-production work, and allows for in-camera finals, making the process more efficient and authentic.

### Key Points

- **Star Wars Visual Effects Evolution** [0:00] — The original trilogy advanced motion capture; prequels merged CGI with practical elements; sequels used projection screens for realistic lighting.
- **Stagecraft Technology Explained** [0:41] — Stagecraft uses enormous LED panels and real-time game engine renders to create a 'holodeck' for actors, eliminating green screen.
- **Green Screen Problems** [1:10] — Prequels used green/blue screens for 75% of production; Ian McKellen had a breakdown acting against a tennis ball in The Hobbit.
- **Actor Performance Benefits** [2:48] — Actors see the final environment, improving performance authenticity and reducing directorial guidance.
- **In-Camera Finals and Lighting** [3:49] — In-camera finals means no compositing needed; natural lighting is captured on set, saving post-production time.
- **Parallax and Camera Integration** [4:44] — Camera and LED panels sync to create realistic parallax as the camera moves, enhancing immersion.
- **Future Adoption** [5:37] — New stages being built; Netflix's The Midnight Sky used pop-up stagecraft; MCU and Taika Waititi's film will adopt the technology.

## Transcript

one of the most important and integral
aspects of star wars has been
pushing the boundaries with visual
effects and filmmaking techniques
the original trilogy did wonders for
what people could achieve with
motion capture the prequels introduced
the idea of mocap performance in merging
cgi with practical elements and sets
especially with the phantom menace and
while the sequel trilogy
and anthology films did a few novel
things such as using
gigantic projection screens to capture
realistic lighting cues
as well as more authentic reactions from
actors to the situations at hand it was
the mandalorian which truly became the
next
star wars product that literally changed
the way filmmaking was done forever
the mandalorian with the aid of
stagecraft technology has essentially
created its own hollow deck
and i want to explain why this is an
amazing change in how stories can be
crafted
as well as explaining why this new
process eliminates so much tedious
post-production work in that it allows
people to focus on the story
rather than being engulfed with worry
regarding if this will all look real
in the end when this all goes to
post-production with this technology
you are already 90 of the way there in
regards to the final shots that you want
and you are inside of this gigantic room
with enormous led panels the entire time
now to go back in time the biggest hang
up that the prequel trilogy had
were actors interacting with
non-existent objects or
in fully green or blue stages for
arguably
75 percent of the production if you
happen to remember the stories coming
out during the production of the hobbit
movies
which heavily utilized green screen and
blue screen you would recall the actor
ian mckellen having a
kind of breakdown on set because of how
frustrating it was
to act across from a tennis ball versus
actually acting across from a human
being
there was no frame of reference to what
was happening around the actor
and with the prequels in a large portion
of the hobbit films as mentioned
the acting in action feels a bit wonky
and i can only assume
that that's because of being dropped
into an artificial environment being
surrounded by just green and blue
your brain knows that nothing is there
so you have to focus on two things at
once
envisioning the environment that you're
in and then performing your scene the
mandalorian
eliminated needing to visualize anything
it's taken the idea of rear projection
and then ramped that up to ten thousand
now using real-time game engine renders
that the actors can actually see
and react to as if they exist in that
setting in real time
and in real life the realism of these
rooms is truly uncanny when you look at
dinjar and looking at this forest from
episode 5 of season 2 of the mandalorian
dinjarn actually sees that forest
rendered in its final form his
performance in my opinion is therefore
more visibly authentic and you can spend
less time as a director
explaining how your actor should react
to their surroundings
you've eliminated that problem
completely now to be fair as i said not
everything in the mandalorian was filmed
in these gigantic
volume led rooms there were some bits of
green screen as well as fully built sets
for locations
but as i said the bulk of the show took
place inside of these enormous
led stages in order to give the actors a
way to
actually engage in these alien
environments and i think it paid off
tremendously
to my eyes the volume and game engine
renders look flawless
especially in season 2 and while i'm
sure that this room takes a bit of
getting used to as an actor you can't
deny the benefit of being able to
actually see
what your surroundings are rather than
being surrounded by the color green
now in regards to the technical side of
things as an editor myself
and individual who has had to rotoscope
things key out green from footage
and attempt to composite various
elements into one image that looks real
that entire process is tragic and slow
and very outdated
so this stagecraft technology by ilm
dramatically reduced
all of these compositing needs now you
can achieve what is called
in camera finals for the majority of the
shots you can pose on set
and just a quick explainer of what
in-camera finals
really means it's just that there is no
compositing required to make the actor
or set pieces merge perfectly together
what's in front of the camera while it's
recording is the final composite before
you go into color grading
with the background literally
surrounding the actor you already have
all the natural light of the location
that you are digitally creating there is
no more need to artificially create
natural lighting around the subject in a
compositing program
again as i said it's just all there in
front of the lens and to add to this
you can shoot for as long as you want
without worrying about lighting changes
such as the sunset the sunrise etc you
can shoot a sunrise for hours if
necessary
all of these seemingly small things have
huge payoffs because
weather location scouting natural
lighting all of this stuff is controlled
in one room with a render engine
and the most critical aspect to this
beyond how hyper real the led walls look
and how the lighting aids and in camera
finals as we previously discussed is the
fact that the camera and led panels
operate as if the physical camera was in
that virtual environment
being projected on the walls so that
means that as the camera moves with your
subject you get that realistic
background movement which is called
parallax now
in the volume outside of the camera this
actually looks really bizarre
but through the lens in the final
product it looks very natural
so with three brand new gigantic stages
being built
as well as pop-up stagecraft sets which
actually were recently utilized
for that netflix film the midnight sky
it seems that going forward it makes
more practical sense in monetary sense
to use this technology it's going to
look real anyway
and you have complete control over your
location and sets to a degree
never imagined you get to have your
editorial director photography
post-production team all working
together at the same time
as well as ensuring that what you film
on that stage comes out basically
perfect
soon we will be experiencing our first
feature film using this technology
via taika waititi i imagine that the
film will be using one of the
bigger stages available to make sure
that the cinematic experience is as
impactful as possible but i also imagine
that if this film goes extremely well
then all studios will adopt this
technology even the mcu is going this
route with its tv shows in future films
like thor
love and thunder and filming on location
will always be something that exists in
the filmmaking world however
just like people were initially dealing
with the transition to cgi
and movie making or transitioning from
2d animation to 3d animation
the ilm stagecraft tech is the obvious
next step
in filming cinematic experiences when
you can have every stage of creative in
one room working together as shown in
the mandalorian documentary you become
an efficient machine without losing the
heart of what it is that you were trying
to create
so i hope you've enjoyed this video i
know it's tech heavy but it also has to
do with star wars and as an editor
myself
a guy that loves post-production and
editing i thought this would be a cool
video to cover
and just to give you some information on
how the mandalorian is made so as always
may the force be with you
and adapt is signing off
you