The Look of Episode I: A Talk with Doug Chiang

A sample from Doug Chiang's non-Episode I portfolio.

But Episode I is yours! What kinds of influences can we expect to see in your Episode I designs?

George Lucas influences, to start out with! After I had spent all that time studying the Star Wars style, George came in and told me he wanted something as fresh as Ralph's original work, but different. We've been saturated in designs derived from the original Star Wars look for twenty years now, and George wanted something really new. He said, "push the envelope, discover new things." It was a surprise, but really exciting. He said, "I want chrome, sleek shapes, Art Nouveau, and Art Moderne." That's when I realized that this was going to be something new and not just a rework of the earlier material.

How would you describe the look you've developed in Episode I?

A sample from Doug Chiang's non-Episode I portfolio.

This film takes place a generation earlier than the classic trilogy, and in it you see vehicles and ships treated as art forms. Many of them are romantic and elegant. It is a craftsman's era. Every detail is given care. It is kind of like the 1920's and 1930's compared to the later 20th century. Towards the later times of the classic trilogy, designs become more assembly-line like, with mass-produced aesthetics, hard angles, and a machined look. More utilitarian. The era of Episode I is more polished, more individualized, even overly-designed, but very refined. You see artistic values expressed in vehicles that are pure craft and aesthetics. Some elements are purely visual statements. Something simpler could function, but the design statements turn them into works of art.

Are there deliberate links between Episode I designs and those seen in the classic trilogy?

Absolutely. There is one ship in particular that very much foreshadows the look of a design from A New Hope, and there are other conceptual links as well.