"The V.T. Op's role was to record everything being filmed to playback to George [Lucas] and also to pull up all the reference material that we were matching to," Whittaker explains. "We had about eight monitors on the set including George's two plasma screens, and we were connected to HD Supervisor Fred Meyers by a ridiculous amount of cables. So as you can imagine, moving set or just moving around the set was a major task. "
Hailing from Brixton, England, Whittaker's introduction to the film industry happened once she realized networking with the right person could get her foot in the door.
"I've always loved movies and spent half my life at the cinema, but although I went to film school I hadn't had much luck trying to break into the film industry," Whittaker recalls. "So I was languishing in a golf club bar wondering why life wasn't more like the movies when I met a man named Oliver Martin who gave me the number of a family friend in the industry. The family friend, Matthew Penry-Davey, turned out to be a 1st Assistant Director on features. I met with him a couple of times and explained my lifelong desire to work on films although I had no idea what exactly it was I wanted to do, and he gave me a chance."
For her first industry job, Whittaker was asked at the last minute to assist with something a bit more musical than a feature-length film.
Whittaker couldn't believe her luck landing a job on the set of a Star Wars film. A fan since childhood, her memories of seeing Star Wars for the first time came flooding back.
"I recently watched the opening of Star Wars again and I suddenly remembered just how much I had wanted a stormtrooper toy when I was a kid and for some reason my mum would never let me have one," Whittaker recalls. "She was always trying to buy me earrings and other girlie things. I only ever managed to get an Ewok doll, but I loved that little Ewok to death."
After working on the set of Attack of the Clones, Whittaker found herself busy on the sets of Agent Cody Banks II, The Upside of Anger, Closer, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Batman Begins and a multitude of low budget short films.
While she began her contract for Batman Begins, Whittaker was asked to help with Revenge of the Sith.
"I was lucky enough to have worked on the re-shoots of Episode II, so I knew Rick McCallum and (Production Supervisor) Brian Donavan from then," Whittaker says. "I was actually only supposed to come in and do two days on Episode III as I was going back to do the last month on Batman. But I have to say that Rick can be very persuasive, and since he and Brian are just such nice guys that I really wanted to stay on. It really feels like you're part of this huge family when you're working with them. I also have a very minor role on the film but I was always made to feel important and needed and it was just a very good feeling."
Unlike many of her previous experiences with other film productions, Whittaker noticed that the role of video was much more important.
As far as the differences between the sets of Episode II and Episode III, Whittaker says the sets were run very much the same, with the exceptions of pick-up shooting in Shepperton.
"Episode III re-shoots had more of a relaxed atmosphere," Whittaker explains. "It was a relatively small crew, many of them had worked on the other films and to me it just seemed that everyone was happy to be back on it. We all got on really well and I just remember having a really great time. It's always great to work with Fred, he's a very relaxed guy who knows exactly what he's doing and he doesn't give you any unnecessary stress. George Lucas is a great director to work for, he knows exactly what he wants and is very relaxed about it all."
A typical day on the set for Whittaker would include watching the cameras, assisting Video Operator Demetri Jagger, logging shots, keeping an eye on which reference shots the crew would need, and even moving monitors and cables on a regular basis.
"Any time we moved I had to disconnect everything, move all the monitors into a new position and then reconnect them all," Whittaker says. "It was physically tiring and could be very disheartening facing meters and meters of tangled up cables with only minutes to move them all. But everyone was very helpful and I really loved every moment."
Of course, on the Episode III set, the atmosphere for the crew wasn't all work and no play. In fact, Whittaker decided to take matters into her own hands and impress the crew with her other talent -- handcrafting prop lightsabers.
"One of the most memorable moments and one of the funniest was when Demetri and I made a lightsaber out of a torch [flashlight] and some lighting gel," Whittaker recalls. "Brian Simmons, the sound man, made one as well and we had a mini lightsaber duel, which was interrupted by stunt coordinator Nick Gillard who gave us some tips on proper dueling. It was hilarious watching him doing some quite spectacular moves, but every time he hit anything the whole lightsaber would just bend over."
Whittaker wasn't the only one taking advantage of the humorous and casual atmosphere on the set. According to Whittaker, producer Rick McCallum as also on hand to pull a couple of practical jokes on the crew.
"Rick got Demetri to edit a little film together of the grips Pete and Luke Myslowski," Whittaker remembers. "They had both been handed earlier that day a tax invoice informing them that they owed a ridiculous sum of money in back tax, unbeknownst to them Rick was behind the whole thing and he then had the EPK crew filming their disgruntled reactions all day. We showed the film in front of the whole crew, it was very funny.
"Also someone brought in a DVD of comedian Eddie Izzard doing an impression of Darth Vader in the Death Star canteen threatening to kill the canteen staff with a tray, and we played it to Hayden [Christensen] who laughed the whole way through," Whittaker continues. "I thought it must have been odd for him to see that and remember just what a huge character he is playing."
Even with her busy schedule on the set, Whittaker enjoyed bringing the Hyperspace webcam audience into her world of homemade lightsabers, tangled piles of cables and the never-ending monitoring of footage in the number one place to be on the set -- the Video Village.
"I had lots of fun with the webcam, and it brought even more fun to the day," Whittaker confesses. "I found it really bizarre that there were all these people out there watching, and I loved it when something would happen on set and then ten minutes later there would be all these comments on the message board about it. It's great that it was there for all the die hard fans to see what was going on the set. Nick Simmonds (one of the AD's) and I felt that it was our job to help entertain all the people watching out there but unfortunately never really got to grips with the whole 20-second delay so many of our efforts were lost in the mist of timing."
Straight after the reshoots, Whittaker returned to finish her work on Batman Begins.
"That has now finished so I'm having a bit of a rest while I wait to see what comes up next," Whittaker says. "There's quite a few projects that are starting up that I may be involved with but right now I'm just happy not to be getting up at 4:30 every morning.
"I had a really good time doing the reshoots, it's amazing to work with people like George Lucas, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, etc. everyday," Whittaker continues. "It feels somewhat unreal, certainly too good to be true. People have been asking me what I've been up to and I when I tell them they think I'm making it up. I just feel really lucky right now to be doing what I'm doing, and long may it continue."
