A fan of the original trilogy, Chiang carefully studied the Star Wars style before beginning work on Episode I. But Lucas had something very different in mind: he wanted to create new designs, worlds, cities, costumes, creatures and vehicles. "We've been saturated with designs derived from the original Star Wars look for over twenty years," Chiang points out. "So I was really pleased when George asked for something new, such as chrome, sleek shapes, Art Nouveau and Art Moderne. That's when I realized that Episode I was going to be something new and not just a re-working of the earlier material."
Lucas, Chiang and the Episode I art department began meeting in the very early stages of pre-production. During these initial discussions, which were held while Lucas was still writing the script, he described his philosophy on how the new film's look -- color palettes, shapes and designs -- would differ from the original trilogy. In the earlier films, it was very easy to determine, through observation of colors and shapes, which vehicles and characters were part of the heroic Rebellion and which represented the Empire. The latter was marked by black, white and red, and its ships were clean, angular and sharp. In contrast, the Rebels tended to have vehicles that had a more shopworn look. For the designs of Episode I, Lucas went in a completely different direction. "George wanted to blur the lines," Chiang explains, "so when moviegoers see a spaceship, they won't easily recognize which side the vehicle represents."
Many of the differences between the vehicles of Episode I and its predecessors are a result of the distinct eras in which they were produced. According to Chiang, the original trilogy's designs had an assembly line-like feel, with mass produced aesthetics, hard angles and a "machined" look. But in the new film, set a generation prior to the events of Star Wars, the vehicles and ships are treated quite differently, reflecting the priorities and values of a different time. "The era of Episode I is polished, individualized and refined -- perhaps even overly designed," says Chiang. "It could be called a 'craftsman's era'. Great care is given to even the smallest detail." In this period, function, while important, takes a back seat to form. "Many of the vehicles are quite elegant and have a romantic feel," Chiang points out. "Some might even be considered works of art. There are artistic values expressed in these vehicles that are pure craft and aesthetics. Several elements make purely visual statements."
But Chiang was very careful not to take this artistic feel too far. "There's a fine line between a hand-crafted look and a design that is too 'sci-fi' or too 'design-y'," he says. To keep his designs unique looking, he avoided projecting contemporary aesthetics into the Star Wars universe, instead opting to anchor the designs to a strong foundation in world history. He eventually drew on, as a starting point, everything from 1950s American car designs to traditional African art. He also invested some of the vehicles with hints of animal forms. "This helped me in my efforts to give the designs some personality," says Chiang, "which is one of the hardest things to do."
These new designs often resulted from combinations of forms that, at first, didn't seem to fit together. "But that's where George's design genius lies," says Chiang, "in the odd juxtaposition of unrelated images. We ended up with some of our best designs by wrestling with direction that seemed impossible."
The usual process for designing a ship took about three weeks. The Naboo starfighter, piloted by several of Episode I's heroic characters, took somewhat longer to complete, as the design shifted radically. Chiang and his team came up with over three dozen drawings for the spaceship. Eventually, two starfighter designs evolved from the creative meetings between Lucas, Chiang and the art department. The final starfighters have a sleek, soft shape (with a socket for its droid) that helps them speed into battle, and carefully reflects the artwork and culture from which it evolved. The ship's design artfully brings together purpose and form. "It's like a fully functional piece of jewelry," says Chiang.
The Queen's ship also needed to be very sleek. To that end, Chiang took a conventional design and took away the fins, smoothed out the cockpit, and made the ship out of chrome. Its bold visual style is very different from anything previously seen in the Star Wars universe, but fits well into the elegance and style of the Queen's home planet, Naboo.
One of the great action sequences in the film is a Podrace that takes place on the desert planet Tatooine. Lucas' initial concept of the Podracers -- two large jet engines tied together with a cockpit in the back -- did not change significantly when the design was finalized. "We tried to go in different directions," Chiang remembers, "but would always end up with the original concept. Taking the engines out of the context of a jet and putting them in the deserts of Tatooine resulted in a unique image."
Each pod engine was also tailored to its pilot and respective culture. The champion, Sebulba, has the highest budget, so his vehicle is sleeker, more refined and a little more menacing; other pilots had clumsier, or more elegant pods. Anakin Skywalker's Podracer engines had a simple design, resembling two small aircraft engines with three flaps in the front.
In coming up with the variety of Podrace vehicle designs, Chiang and his team always were mindful that the Podracers were racing at very high speeds and would have to be identified very quickly and easily. "That's where adding the bold shapes and dramatic fins and details really helped," notes Chiang. "It made each very distinct."
