
A lamp was positioned to the side of the taking camera and reflected towards the subject through 45-degree angled glass so that the sword would appear to glow from the camera's point of view. The blade is a three-sided rod which was coated with a Scotchlite retroreflector array, the same sort used for highway signs. The full-sized sword props were designed to appear ignited onscreen, by later creating an "in-camera" glowing effect in post-production.
#Sharp mini katana movie#
Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic įor the original Star Wars film, the film prop hilts were constructed by John Stears from old Graflex press camera flash battery packs and other pieces of hardware. It's the same material used for reflective road signs. Prop construction Ĭovered with millions of tiny glass beads, has the property of reflecting light directly back to its source. In 2008, a survey of approximately 2,000 film fans found it to be the most popular weapon in film history. The lightsaber has become one of the most widely recognized elements of the Star Wars franchise. Bringing the blade into contact with another lightsaber's blade produces a loud crackle. An active lightsaber gives off a distinctive hum, which rises in pitch and volume as the blade is moved rapidly through the air. Some exotic saber-proof melee weapons have been introduced in the Expanded Universe as well as later episodic films. Other times, the lightsaber has been shown to cause bleeding wounds in the flesh, sometimes accompanied by burns.

The blade has even been used as a tool to weld metal. It leaves cauterized wounds in flesh, but can be deflected by another lightsaber blade, by energy shields, or by the metal beskar (found in Mandalorian armor). There are several variations outside of the traditional single-bladed lightsaber, such as the double-bladed lightsaber (most famously wielded by Darth Maul), crossguard lightsabers (used by Kylo Ren), and the Darksaber, forged by the Mandalorian Jedi Tarre Vizsla, but primarily wielded by the non-Force-sensitive Mandalorian rulers of Mandalore (including Pre Vizsla, Maul, Bo-Katan Kryze, Sabine Wren, Moff Gideon, and Din Djarin).Īs presented in the films, a lightsaber's energy blade can cut, burn, and melt through most substances with little resistance. A lightsaber's hilt is built by its wielder and is, therefore, unique in design. The color of a lightsaber's blade is given by its power source, the kyber crystal, which is influenced by the wielder and the Force as they connect with and tune the crystal. The Jedi use different colored lightsabers (predominantly blue and green, though purple, white, and yellow have also appeared in canon media), while the Sith wield exclusively red-bladed sabers to distinguish themselves from the Jedi.

However, the lightsaber can also be wielded by non- Force-sensitive characters as an ordinary weapon or tool. In the Star Wars universe, the lightsaber is the signature weapon of the light-side-wielding Jedi Order and the dark-side-wielding Sith Order. The lightsaber's distinct appearance was created using rotoscoping for the original films, and with digital effects for the prequel and sequel trilogies.

First introduced in the original Star Wars film, it has since appeared in most Star Wars films, with at least one lightsaber duel occurring in each installment of the " Skywalker saga". A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about 3 feet (0.91 m) in length emitted from a metal hilt around 10.5 inches (27 cm) in length. A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the Star Wars franchise.
