How The Mandalorian Was Filmed: LED Walls and Unreal Engine

The Mandalorian has been a massive streaming success, turning its adorable protagonist into an instant meme and winning over fans with top-notch acting, solid scripts, great direction, and impeccable music. Many Star Wars fans believe it saved the franchise. But beyond that inevitable debate, many are curious about the technical side: how was it filmed? What kind of technologies were used? At first glance, the environments look real, but The Mandalorian relies on two resources that may change film and TV forever: a LED studio more than 20 meters in diameter and the Unreal Engine for creating virtual environments.

The Technology Behind The Mandalorian

The two main resources are a giant LED studio and Unreal Engine. The studio stands 6.4 meters high and 22.8 meters in diameter, covered with LED walls and a ceiling that can display complete parallax-based environments. Unreal Engine generates these scenes in real time.

I've watched each of the eight episodes four or five times. At that level, you can quote dialogue from memory, spot weak points, and make connections. Classic tales like Kozure Ōkami and Shichinin no Samurai come to mind, and fans of Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels are rewarded with many nods. The downside? We have to wait until October for that to happen.

The power behind The Mandalorian is truly impressive. Ten or fifteen years ago, making something like this for television was unthinkable, not only because of cost but also because production schedules are shorter. Technology has changed all that, removing old obstacles and creating new creative bridges. Thanks to Industrial Light and Magic, we can now see from a privileged position how The Mandalorian was filmed and what the future holds.

Jon Favreau, the mastermind behind The Mandalorian, describes the mega-collaboration between Disney, ILM, and Epic. This duo, along with other virtual production tools refined by Favreau and his team, is known as StageCraft.

One of the main advantages of filming this way reaches the actors, who can see virtual objects and environments without difficulty, including horizons. The LED panels provide real-time lighting changes, another notable element. They can be controlled from a simple iPad, and the need to physically move lights – a slow and expensive process – could become a thing of the past. Unreal Engine also enables editing and replacing entire sets in minutes. Is a building in the way, or do you need a different mountain range in the background? Cut, copy, paste, delete.

Barry Baz Idoine, the director of photography, says that having the ability to film something like a 10-hour sunrise is extraordinary. Think about it: sunrises, twilights, rainy days, deep starry nights. How many times has a production been delayed because nature simply didn't cooperate? From now on, any weather whim is left aside.

Technically, Unreal Engine isn't the only engine used this way. Unity was applied in the remakes of The Jungle Book and The Lion King, and we can't forget Blade Runner 2049. The Mandalorian isn't the first high-profile project to use a LED studio, but the combination of resources and the deep involvement of Unreal Engine puts it on a higher level.

Source: Ars Technica and Epic.