In a teaser trailer posted to Youtube on Friday, Apple revealed that there will be a special feature on Skywalker Sound that is dropping on Wednesday, May 4th, in honor of Star Wars Day.
Though the teaser is light on details, it looks like “Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound” will give us a look at the people who are creating the sound of Star Wars and more, working at Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound company. The special will be released on Youtube.
On the one hand it’s a bit odd that Apple is the one producing this rather than Disney+ or something like that, but the fact that it looks like it’ll just be released on Youtube makes that a bit more understandable. This “Behind the Mac” feature is actually a series done by Apple, so this is just the latest installment of that.
And it’s super cool that it will give attention to some unsung heroes of the Star Wars saga. The franchise has had a significant impact in almost every area of filmmaking, including storytelling, visual effects, musical score, sequels, merchandising – and sound design should not be left out of that whatsoever. The company was founded in 1975 and rose to prominence under the guidance of Ben Burtt for working on Star Wars, and it has emerged as the premiere company for sound design ever since, winning or being nominated for an astounding number of movies.
I’m glad, then, that for Star Wars Day this year, among plenty of other stuff going on, there’s an opportunity to highlight such an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of filmmaking and the Star Wars franchise in particular.
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