Lots of people sat through the credits at the end of The Last Jedi waiting for a post-credit scene or for bloopers.
Margaret and I did to see all the job titles that went into making the movie. It is a practice we started a few years ago. It’s fascinating to recognize the people who bring these movies to life (some profiled in the video below) and how CGI, sound and other technology continues to work alongside the human element, not replace it. In Silicon Collar, I had a section which looked at the man-machine mix in the animated movie, Zootopia.
Star Wars has plenty of digital talent – SFX technicians, droid puppeteers and LIDAR techs. It also has old school carpenters, stunt artists, travel coordinators, weather consultants and costume makers. It is a microcosm of our changing labor economy.
Before you say but this is not the real world, with every episode the science-fiction becomes science-fact. After episode 7, Infoworld wrote in 2015 about 10 technologies that are “almost here”. With this episode, US News writes about “Real-Life Tech” inspired by the movie. Wikipedia has an bigger section on how lasers, cybernetics, prosthetics, biotech use in the movies don’t seem so distant. Think of the ripple effect on jobs in medicine, energy, defense.
Want more reality? Luke Skywalker hides in a spectacular, remote island called Ahch-To. That is actually Skellig Michael, in the SW of Ireland. Other scenes were shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia and at the salt flats in Bolivia. Should open up new tourism jobs.
Then there is the impact on jobs in the theater and concessions industry. The AMC I went to has new reclining seats, Dolby Surround Sound, IMAX screens. Lots of concession sales.
Then there are new toys like the Porgs and R2-Q5 in the movie and many others here. Lots of Christmas retail and delivery jobs.
The film has made $450 million around the world since opening overseas Wednesday. And it will not even open in China till January 5.
Long and short – plenty of jobs, digital and old school. In a galaxy pretty close to us.
