The Documentary Style of Star Wars: George Lucas' Unique Filmmaking Influence

The Influence of Documentary Style on Star Wars

When thinking of Star Wars, the last thing that comes to mind is documentary. Set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the franchise falls under the genres of science fiction and space fantasy. These are not genres typically associated with documentaries. However, the documentary style had more of an impact on Star Wars than it appears at first glance. A big part of any movie is how it is filmed. Different genres have different filming conventions in the same way they have story conventions. Documentaries tend to be filmed at wide angles that allow them to maintain an 'outside looking in' feel. They are often filmed partially with hand-held cameras for a more wobbly effect reminiscent of camcorders or, in modern times, smartphones. This makes them appear candid and improvised. As it turns out, this style has long since been influencing Star Wars, and Lucas himself has proven why it works for the franchise.

George Lucas in his The O.C. cameo

George Lucas has proven that Star Wars is perfectly suited to the documentary style of filmmaking. A big part of any movie is how it is filmed, and different genres have different filming conventions. Documentaries tend to be filmed at wide angles that allow them to maintain an 'outside looking in' feel. They are often filmed partially with hand-held cameras for a more wobbly effect reminiscent of camcorders or smartphones. This makes them appear candid and improvised. As it turns out, this style has long since been influencing Star Wars, and Lucas himself has proven why it works for the franchise.

Young George Lucas Star Wars Original Trilogy

Twitter article posted by Jason Ward

George Lucas' Background in Documentaries

Before George Lucas made his foray into the science fiction and space fantasy realms, he was a documentarist. Lucas made his first documentary, 1:42.08, in 1966. The somewhat odd name of his senior project for the University of Southern California (USC) comes from the lap time of the Lotus 23 race car - the film's subject. It's a visual tone poem, with most of the soundtrack being the sound of the car's engine. His second documentary, The Emperor, was made in 1967. It is a short film documentary on DJ Bob Hudson, nicknamed 'The Emperor.' It was created while he was a graduate film student at USC. Lucas made a third documentary titled 6-18-67 in 1967. Named for the date that the film was completed, this quasi-documentary short film was also a tone poem. While it ostensibly focuses on the filming of the 1969 movie Mackenna's Gold, much of it consists of time-lapse cinematography of the landscape of the Arizona desert where Mackenna's Gold was being filmed. His last documentary film before filming Star Wars was simply titled Filmmaker. Made in 1968, this 30-minute film focuses on the filming of Francis Ford Coppola's 1969 movie The Rain People. This film was quite successful, with Coppola saying in Tetro: How To Make Movies that it may even have been better than The Rain People itself. Coppola was inspired by Lucas' cinematography and used the same camera dolly on Tetro that Lucas had used on Filmmaker. It was, incidentally, Lucas' last short film before his first feature-length movie, THX 1138.

George Lucas and the posters of the Star Wars prequels

Deliberate Documentary Style in Star Wars

Given how much of his school experience focused on short-form documentaries, it is unsurprising that Lucas carried over his documentary filming techniques into Star Wars. A social media post by MakingStarWars shares what Lucas had to say about crossing his documentary style over into Star Wars. Lucas hired Gilbert Taylor, a cinematographer responsible for documentaries such as A Hard Day's Night, as Director of Photography. Lucas wanted there to be a 'nervous 'now' quality' to Star Wars. To achieve this, he went with a semi-loose form in the way the scenes were shot, which gave them a sense of being 'captured.' This is noticeable in several scenes, such as when the rebels are looking for a missing Luke Skywalker and Han Solo on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, and when Obi-Wan Kenobi is training Luke Skywalker on the Millennium Falcon. Lucas' choice to film in a documentary style was an unorthodox one, but it benefited the franchise by giving it a distinctly personal feel and authentic world-building.

Test footage from Star Wars: Undworld and The Mandalorian season 1 poster, with George Lucas in the center.