Jedi Mind Tricks Revealed: How Zack Snyder Nailed Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Lightsaber Filming Trick in Watchmen

Watchmen successfully implemented a technique to create the character Doctor Manhattan using visual effects, but the same approach did not yield the desired results for Obi-Wan Kenobi's blue lightsaber. Corridor Crew, a group of VFX artists on YouTube, analyzed the reasons behind this disparity and shared their observations.

Doctor Manhattan's costume and Obi-Wan's lightsaber both utilized blue lights on set, which cast a reflective glow on their surroundings. However, due to the way digital cameras capture color, the excessive amount of blue light adversely affected the image quality of Obi-Wan Kenobi. In contrast, the filming of Watchmen took place using traditional film, thereby avoiding this issue altogether.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Needed To Learn From Watchmen's Success

It's curious that Obi-Wan Kenobi failed to learn from the success of Watchmen, both in terms of similar techniques and the shooting style used in the Disney Star Wars movies. Interestingly, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was also filmed, which could explain why the iconic nighttime duel with a luminous blue lightsaber escaped the same issue encountered by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Given that The Force Awakens heavily marketed its return to shooting on film, it is puzzling that Obi-Wan Kenobi did not follow suit.

Not all Star Wars projects need to be filmed in the same manner, but it emphasizes the importance of approaching certain special effects with greater attention. With significant budgets and a highly skilled team of filmmakers, each Star Wars film and TV show should showcase their excellence. Although Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber fights were impressive, the show's creators would have been prudent to learn from Watchmen's success and address the issue with the blue lightsaber.