American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 22

Rebels was among the first new Star
Wars content released under the Disney
banner after the company's blockbuster
purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012. To get the
show to air in a timely fashion, its development was decidedly short; as a result, its
workflow bears a striking resemblance to
the one that had been refined over seven
seasons of the animated series Star Wars:
The Clone Wars. Smoothing the transition
between the two shows, Rebels has
reunited much of the Clone Wars production team, including Aron, lighting-concept
artist Christopher Voy, colorist Sean Wells,
and executive producer and supervising
director Dave Filoni, each of whom spoke
with AC in separate interviews.
Aron was a 17-year veteran of Industrial Light & Magic when, in late 2007, he
22

February 2016

was tapped to go overseas and help the
Lucasfilm Animation Singapore team learn
some tricks with Maya to help speed their
output on the nascent Clone Wars
animated series. Shortly after his return
stateside, he was asked to join the show as
an effects advisor, beginning with the firstseason episode "Trespass."
Aron's role would quickly grow to
encompass both effects and lighting, and
he credits Don McAlpine, ASC, ACS for
preparing him for the latter. The two had
worked together when Aron was on set in
Australia, working as the visual-effects
match-move supervisor on Peter Pan (AC
Jan. '04), which McAlpine shot for director
P.J. Hogan. "For that whole year," Aron
says, "I just picked his brain."
As he segued from The Clone Wars
American Cinematographer

to Rebels, Aron's first order of business was
to immerse himself in A New Hope so that
he would be able to infuse the new series
with a similar style. To complement his
repeated viewings of that film, he visited the
Lucasfilm archives at Skywalker Ranch and,
with the help of the archive staff, pored over
the original continuity sheets. Together, they
compiled a document that lists the lens used
for every single setup in the film. For Rebels,
Aron says, "I stick with the same theories
based on what George [Lucas] and Gil
[Taylor, BSC] did on Episode IV."
Aron works with simulated VistaVision optics - the default in Autodesk's
Maya, which is used for the majority of the
workflow, including model construction and
lighting. "We render with [Maya plug-in]
Mental Ray," he adds, "and we use [The

Bottom-left photo by Joel Aron.

Top: Imperial Star
Destroyers and TIE
fighters give chase to
the Ghost, the
modified freighter that
serves as the rebels'
home. Bottom left
(from left): Colorist
Sean Wells, CG
lighting and effects
supervisor Joel Aron,
and lighting-concept
artist Christopher Voy.
Bottom right:
Executive producer
and supervising
director Dave Filoni.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2016

Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 5
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 89
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 90
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 91
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 92
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 93
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 94
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 95
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 96
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover4
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