Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com where smart Happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, how does a lightsaber work in the Star Wars movies? Unfortunately, lightsabers aren't real, like the Millennium Falcon and Yoda. Lightsabers are a special effect that looks so real you actually believe they exist. The technique used to create the lightsaber effect is pretty straightforward, but it's tedious on the set.
The actors use props. They hold handles that have aluminum rods attached to them, and these rods are the length of a lightsaber blade. The handles are plastic models, and the aluminum rods are painted red or green or blue. The actors use these props as though they were lightsabers. After the film is shot, it's taken to the special effects department. The actors look like they're fighting painted broomsticks instead of lightsabers. A special effects artist now has the
job of making those broomsticks look real. The artist looks at the film frame by frame and draws the outline of each lightsaber blade into the frame. Then, for each frame, the artist paints in the correct color for the blade using a bright cartoon color in the modern digital world. All of the outlining and coloring is done on a computer, but it's still all done by hand. The effect is amazing.
The lightsabers look incredibly bright and real. Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff Work staff as we explore them as promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow the house Stuff Works. I Find app has arrived down at it Today on iTunes,