The Magic of Practical Effects in Film

[BluLobsta]

If you can, watch the documentary series Light and Magic on Disney+. It's about how George Lucas created the special effects for A New Hope. I've watched the first episode which is how he assembled the special effects team. Really amazing stuff. These guys were basically unknowns, a loosely bound group who knew each other from comic book conventions, etc. and experimented with special effects when they were children building clay models and animating them frame by frame with 8mm cameras. They basically had a passion for model building and animating them. George Lucas had heard of John Dykstra and they talked about the project and then Dykstra started contacting these people by word of mouth or by flyers on college dorms and they all came together and the rest is history. Incredibly interesting if you are a fan.