Entering the Trenches of Coruscant: Wilson J. Tang Talks About His Work on Attack of the Clones' Stirring Chase Sequence
Welcome to the vibrant heart of the galaxy! In this interview, Visual Effects Concept Artist Wilson J. Tang takes us deep down into the trenches of Coruscant.
Early on in Attack of the Clones, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker pursue a bounty hunter who was hired to kill Senator Pamdé Amidala. What follows is an exhilarating action sequence that immerses you in speed, as if George Lucas were telling a dystopian sci-fi version of American Graffiti. However, it's not just the characters and what's at stake that takes your breath away; the surrounding environment plays an essential role in the unfolding events. The chase takes us through the myriad lights of Coruscant.
After a brief visit in The Phantom Menace, Lucas thoroughly explores every corner of the confineless city. Canyons, towering high-rises, and an overwhelming number of spaceships serve as a backdrop to a captivating cityscape. How do you create such a complex environment in a time where computer-generated imagery makes anything possible? It all begins with an idea and a ton of concept art. To delve deeper into this process, I interviewed Wilson J. Tang who worked as a Visual Effects Concept Artist on Attack of the Clones.
How did you get involved in the production of Attack of the Clones?
Wilson J. Tang: In 1997-1998, I was working with a small team in Tokyo on pre-production on one of the first full 3D anime projects around that time called Tekkonkincreet. When I heard that someone from ILM was doing a talk at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, I got myself invited and gave them my portfolio. By the end of 1999, I was hired as CG Layout Artist on a new digital feature that ILM was developing. Unfortunately, it was canceled within a month of me arriving. Luckily, because I had both traditional concept art skills as well as CG experience, I ended up at the ILM Art Department as a concept artist and the rest was history.
How much did you know about Star Wars and the prequel trilogy back then?
I joined ILM between Episode I and Episode II. So of course all of us knew that Episode II was going to start at some point and probably keep everyone pretty busy for a while. As for the specifics, none of us down at ILM knew much about the story of Episode II beyond what we can piece together based on live action footage that was coming in and the amazing concept art that was trickling in from Doug Chiang’s team up at Skywalker Ranch.
On IMDb you’re credited as a visual effects conceptual artist. What was your role in the production process? What were your responsibilities and tasks?
Yes, on Attack of the Clone I was Visual Effects Concept Artist at ILM which meant Lucasfilm was our client. Because the VFX needed was so large - for its time - it meant the work had to be divided into a few sub-teams, each headed up by a different visual effects supervisor. While the concept art from the Ranch was already so great, certain sections needed further refinement. Since the ILM Creative Director at the time knew about my production design and architecture experience, I suspect that led to me being handed the Coruscant sequence. My responsibilities were to create both concept art and production art to help guide both ILM CG and modelshop artists in order to fully realize the VFX needed for Episode II.
If I understand this correctly, then as a visual effect concept artist you’re part of the special effects team, while concept artists like Doug Chiang are part of the art department. Can you break down the differences? Do you work separately from each other or are there many points of contact?
Despite ILM being a part of Lucasfilm, the way it operates is similar to any other film project that ILM takes on: Lucasfilm would be our client and most design communications were funneled through ILM Visual Effects Supervisors for anything creative, and ILM producers on the logistics and schedules. The scope of the work was so large that the film was divided into a few teams, each headed up by a VFX supervisor - I was lucky enough to be assigned to John Knoll’s team, and most of my communication was with John. He was amazing to work with - super nice and super talented and a wonderful leader.
You’ve been a part of projects like A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and Hulk (2003). What was the biggest difference between working on Star Wars and any of the other films?
I think the scope of Star Wars and the world building required to realize George’s vision really sets it apart. Remember, designing Star Wars prequels happened at the dawn of the CG era, which led everyone to believe that they could put ANYTHING on screen, no longer limited by the physical and budgetary constraints of physical sets. That combined with George’s vision for a complete universe set a precedent for what we now call “pre production design dept.” - the scope and sheer epic-ness of the concept art from the Ranch was unlike anything else that we got from other film projects.
Additionally, unlike the other films I worked on, Star Wars was an IP which is to say, it had a unique design language that had already been established in Episodes IV, V and VI. All of the amazing new designs by Doug Chiang, Ryan Church, Erik Tiemens and the others had to be thought of in the context of a more holistic Star Wars design philosophy that spanned the entire Star Wars IP. This is very different compared to the other films that I worked on which were stand-alones as far as the design language goes.
When you started working on the concept art of Coruscant, what was your starting point?
For Coruscant, I had some pretty great painted key art pieces from Ryan Church and Eric Tiemens, and of course the work of Ralph McQuarrie to start with. Since the sequence was meant to be almost ten minutes long as originally planned, it meant we needed A LOT of architecture to fly by. Pulling from my architectural background, I referenced everything from Hugh Ferris, Shin Takamatsu, Art Deco, and early 20th century skyscrapers. In order to build it efficiently, all of it was designed as a set of KitBash-able set of parts so the CG team can mix and match to fill out this massive city without too much repetition. For the industrial area, my main inspiration was the work of Italian Futurists like Antonio Sant’Elia.
We had already seen Coruscant in The Phantom Menace. What were your thoughts and goals when you were expanding the world of the planet?
At a high level, given that the sequence was planned to be almost ten minutes long, my goals were to make sure that there would be three to four distinctive zones for the camera to fly through, and that the zones did not just “mush together” with too much repetitive micro details and no “macro” personality. The zones I was responsible for were roughly: Upper City, The Dive, Lower City and the Industrial Zone. Design wise, both Doug and McQarrie had already established very well the architectural scale and language for the massive buildings that made up the Upper City on the surface of Coruscant, so I was really keen on expanding the look the Coruscant in other areas that had been less explored - zones deep down within this layered city-planet.
Okay, let’s take a look at this piece of concept art:
Was this part of a specific scene?
It's been a while but I don’t think this was meant to be a specific scene, nor did I get any instructions for this beyond just wanting to do a first piece that was right above the “trenches” of Coruscant. The idea was to pick a single POV that will show what the various architectural zones can look like, and close enough to feature details of the buildings - any higher and you’d mostly see individual building towers and sky; any lower the camera views would be closed in by the walls of the “trench”. This was the “goldilocks zone”.
Did you look at other films or series for inspiration?
Nothing specific but I did want to give the architecture a slightly less futuristic feel than the more massive buildings that towered over the surface. I think I did have some of the Art Deco sky strappers in my mind when I was doing this piece, and when I was designing the “dock” I had it in my mind that it would have a similar vibe to the Golden Gate Bridge - like this monumental piece of utilitarian structure that just had a little ribbing that hinted at Art Deco and elevated it from pure infrastructure to something that a Coruscantian Architect/Civil Engineer might have designed.
For the Lower City, I referenced some early American skyscrapers to give it rhythm, and added a lot of “sky docks” to give the scene a human scale. For the Vertical Drops, I wanted some very recognizable shapes to break up the journey; for the Industrial zone, it was the concept art from the Ranch mixed with giant machine-like buildings inspired by the work of the Futurists and my old Architectural mentor Shin Takematsu.
One of the most important things of this concept art is the interplay of architecture and light. How did that come about?
I love the work of American architectural illustrator Hugh Ferris who did a series of drawings for a book called The Metropolis of Tomorrow in the 1920s. It inspired Fritz Lang for the design of Metropolis. I suppose I had his illustrations in mind - like his drawings, I wanted an upward “wash of light” to show the forms of the rectilinear silhouettes in the foreground, contrasting with the rounded silhouettes of the background buildings.
How did you bring this to life?
Despite being pretty experienced in 3D CG when I was working on Episode II, I almost always start these perspective drawings the old school way: pencil on paper. If you look carefully you can still see the pencil drawings. Once I was happy with the design, I scanned and brought it into Photoshop for shading, lighting and details.
What was the most difficult part of your work on Attack of the Clones?
I wouldn’t say difficult but certainly the most challenging part about working on Episode II was trying to art direct both CG environments as well as physical miniature environments while aiming for stylistic consistency. Episode II one of the last Star Wars films with a substantial amount of both CG and miniatures. Due to cost, creative flexibility, availability of talent etc. it was the beginning of the end for large practical miniature sets which was a shame. Since my responsibility was to work with the artists and model makers directly, it was challenging - in a good way - to switch between the two modes of creative processes as well as two very different types of artists - one more technical and linear, the other more artistic and craftsman-like.
How did it feel to see this moment on the big screen for the first time?
It was a very rewarding moment indeed. The best. To have contributed even a small part to a Star Wars film is a dream come true.
How do you feel now about your work on Attack on the Clones looking back more than 20 years later?
Looking back after so many years, even more important than having a credit on a Star Wars film, were the friends that I made while working at ILM. When you are “in the trenches” with some of the nicest, smartest, and most talented people you’ve ever met, all united towards a single massive creative project, you come out the other side with something that is really priceless. It was a unique era in VFX, when CG was capable of realizing thousands of shots per film but still required in house artist-slash-computer-geniuses to figure out how to achieve the impossible on time, but before those CG tools had become so accessible (and cheap) that the whole idea of CG has become a little devalued... I look back to my time on Episode II and I think it was the golden era for CG for VFX.
You can follow Wilsons’s work on Twitter and on his Website.
Image credits: Lucasfilm/ILM