Rebecca Harrison, EIF Principal Investigator
Since 1976, when production began on the film that would become A New Hope (1977), Star Wars crews have filmed on location in three of the four UK nations. The saga features disused airfields like Cardington and Bovingdon (now themselves turned into film studios), sites of mineral or fossil extraction (Winspit Quarry, Coryton Oil Refinery), industrial infrastructure (such as the hydroelectric power station at Ben Cruachan), urban architecture (Barbican), and woods, moors, and other natural landscapes (Puzzlewood, Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons, Whippendell Woods).
I’ve been visiting a sample of the different sites used by Star Wars crew for my fourth case study on Locations. My aims are twofold.
First, I want to investigate the very real environmental impacts of location shoots on nature and communities. As EIF blog contributor Rachel Gough points out, the effects on flora and fauna can be huge. What wildlife, then, is disrupted when cameras and catering trucks move in? How do people feel when roads are closed or recreational sites closed off? Why are the advantages of location shoots always promoted in economic terms? I want to look beyond the headlines to understand how film shoots might become more environmentally sustainable for plants, animals, and people in future.
To this end, I’m running a survey that anyone with experience of a Star Wars shoot (local residents, councillors, filmmakers, people affected by site closures, etc.) can take.
Are you a bird watcher or business owner? A dog walker or decision maker? Or even a teenager who uses a site to get away from the prying eyes of adults? However you’re connected to the space, there’s a short, 5-minute version of multiple-choice questions, or a longer one for people with more to say.
Recognising the global and neo-colonial contexts of franchise filmmaking, I’ll also be contacting communities in Bolivia, Mexico, and Tunisia to ask how people responded to location shoots there.
Second, I’d like to explore how the franchise has used Britain’s geographies to create seemingly ‘new’ intergalactic settings for conflict and drama. What does it mean when familiar locations are represented to us as sites of decay or destruction? Do the aesthetics of climate disaster shape how sites like Ivinghoe Beacon are changed by CGI? And how does documentary and fiction footage of the locations compare?
To answer these questions, I’m visiting fourteen of the sites in turn (see below for the list) and shooting short videos. My hope is to interrogate the differences between the locations as I find them – complete with wildlife, human visitors, litter, traffic, and so on – and the versions that appear onscreen. The aim is to think historically and theoretically about our relationships to the land.
In a short film, and in the related book that I’m writing, I’ll draw on a range of sources to contextualise histories of Star Wars location shoots. These will relate to land ownership; local, national, and international economies; government legislation; land use; recreation and the policing of space; plant and animal subjectivities; and more.
If you’re able to contribute to this research by providing an interview, or if you have questions or comments about the work, please get in touch via the contact form.
Site visit list
Cleveleys (Andor)
Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons (The Acolyte)
Barbican (Andor)
Ben Cruachan (Andor)
Canary Wharf (Rogue One)
Coryton Oil Refinery (Andor)
Greenham Common Bunkers (The Force Awakens)
Ivinghoe Beacon (The Rise of Skywalker)
Leavesden Studio – local area (The Phantom Menace)
Little Marlow/Spade Oak Quarry (Andor)
Middle Peak Quarry (The Mandalorian)
Puzzlewood Wood (The Force Awakens)
Winspit Quarry (Andor)
Whippendell Wood (The Phantom Menace)