Details on The Previsualization Work Done on THE MANDALORIAN and Storyboard Art
The most recent episode of the Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian put a focus on the behind-the-scenes visual work that was created to help in the development of the live-action Star Wars series before they started shooting.
It’s revealed in the series that every single episode of The Mandalorian was previsualized in its entirety before anything was actually shot. They accomplished this through previsual art and storyboard art along with the same virtual cinema technology that creator Jon Favreau utilized while remaking The Lion King.
Storyboards are used to help filmmakers plan out the sequences and shot set-ups for the scenes they plan on shooting. Then when it comes to big visual effects-heavy projects, there’s previsualization, which is a collection of computer renderings created for big sequences to help the filmmakers plan out what they need shot before hand, turning the footage over to the digital effects wizards.
The Mandalorian used a combination of the two and after every episode was storyboarded, the entire episode was then previsualized. Jon Favreau refers to this as virtual cinema. The process includes utilizing a video game engine to build a computer generated set that allows virtual cameras to be operated within the digital environment. It’s really cool stuff!
By having everything already completed digitally like this, filmmakers can jump right into shooting and know exactly what they need to do in the most efficient way. Shooting projects like this makes for a smooth production. It also helps with shooting in The Volume, which is the virtual set technology that Favreau and Lucasfilm have created.
Below you’ll find some of the previsualization images along with some storyboard art.
