Star Wars @ Dolby Soho

The long-awaited moment has finally arrived - the final saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker released in theaters last night. Since the beginning of the Star Wars saga up through this final episode, Dolby has played a role in bringing the beloved, fantastical world and legendary characters to life through our technologies, including Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision most recently. Last week we debuted a video celebrating our deep partnership with the iconic franchise. 

In addition to the video, we are celebrating Star Wars in our Dolby Soho experiential space in New York City and have invited some of the people who have devoted their lives to creating, building, and eventually bringing the Star Wars world to life to participate in some unique experiences for both the creators and their fans. See below for some of the highlights and watch the video captures from these events on YouTube below. 

Meet the droid builders of Star Wars.

Last week, fans were accompanied by some of their favorite characters - R2-D2, R4-K5, BB8, and even C-3PO - while they walked through our experiential Star Wars activation at  Dolby Soho. People of all ages lined up to get a photo with our esteemed guests and their creators, the Tri-State Droid Builders, and we sat down with them to discuss how this all got started. Watch a video from our Facebook Live capture below to meet the droid builders!

Here are a few of our favorite moments from the event: 

• The club started with a group who wanted to build R2-D2 (naturally), but has grown to cover all droids 

• You can build a droid with a 3D printer, the plumbing section of Home depot, oh and let's not forget the handy dandy Wookieepedia

• Solo actually features several fan-built droids! 

• This fantastic group delights people all around the world, including kids in hospital wards who may not be able to meet the droids otherwise. 

Designing the sounds of Star Wars.

Later that evening, we sat down with David Acord and Matthew Wood from Skywalker Sounds, and learned about the complex process of creating distinct sounds for every type of vehicle and ship in Star Wars so the audience can distinguish between each but not feel like they clash with each other. John Williams is also mentioned a few times, as they describe the symbiotic relationship between the musicians and the sound designers. By the way, for all you Mandalorian fans out there, David may or may not be the voice of Baby Yoda. Oh, and did you know that Matt is the voice actor for General Grievous in Episode III? Tune in below to find out how this happened! 

Inspiring the visual effects of Star Wars.

Last but not least, meet James Clyde, the design supervisor for LucasFilms. He got into the business after reading The Sketchbook of Star Wars, by Joe Johnston, featuring the concept art of Star Wars. His curiosity in how these visual effects are created eventually led him to where he is today. James slideshow presentation takes us back in time to George Lucas' basement, where all the historical artifacts of original Star Wars concepts are kept. He walks us through how he and his team derived the X-wing from 70's drag racing cars, and demos how to they use digital tools to train it to interact with its environment, creating shadows or deflecting raindrops. We even get a glimpse of Yoda's original head study! His talk made us realize that so many of the visual motifs now feel like second nature. Learn about the incredibly detail-oriented process that went into creating the world of Star Wars.