Star Wars: A New Hope

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Star Wars

File:Star Wars Style A poster.jpg
Style "A" theatrical release poster by Tom Jung
Directed by	George Lucas
Produced by	Gary Kurtz
Written by	George Lucas
Starring	Mark Hamill Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher Peter Cushing Alec Guinness
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Edited by	Paul Hirsch Marcia Lucas Richard Chew
Production Design by	John Barry
Costume Design by	John Mollo
Release date	May 25, 1977
Running time	121 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$11 million
External Links
Wikipedia	Link
IMDb	Link

Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is a 1977 American epic space-opera film written and directed by George Lucas. The film is renowned for its revolutionary special effects and for introducing a "used future" aesthetic, where its iconic artifacts appeared weathered and lived-in, a departure from the sleek look of earlier science fiction.

Plot Summary

In a distant galaxy, the Galactic Empire has just completed the Death Star, a battle station capable of destroying entire planets. When Princess Leia Organa, a leader of the Rebel Alliance, obtains the station's technical plans, she is captured by the ruthless Darth Vader. Before her capture, she hides the plans inside an astromech droid, R2-D2, who, along with his counterpart C-3PO, escapes to the desert planet of Tatooine. The droids are purchased by young farmboy Luke Skywalker, who discovers Leia's message. With the help of the hermit Obi-Wan Kenobi, smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, Luke embarks on a quest to rescue the princess and deliver the Death Star plans to the Rebellion.

Key Artifacts

The following is a list of notable screen-used artifacts from Star Wars.

Artifact Name	Type	On-Screen Use	Current Status / Last Known Location
Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber	Hero Prop	Given to Luke by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had kept it since taking it from Anakin Skywalker. It is Luke's primary weapon.	The original prop, made from a Graflex camera flash handle, was sold at auction in 2017 for $450,000.
Darth Vader's Helmet	Costume / Prop	The iconic helmet worn by Darth Vader, a key part of his life-support suit.	The original screen-used helmet from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back sold at auction in 2019 for $900,000.
Han Solo's DL-44 Blaster	Hero Prop	Han Solo's signature heavy blaster pistol, most famously used to shoot Greedo in the Mos Eisley Cantina.	The original prop, built on a Mauser C96 pistol, was long thought lost but was rediscovered and sold at auction in 2022 for $1,057,500.
Millennium Falcon (Filming Model)	Miniature / SFX	The primary 5-foot filming miniature of Han Solo's freighter, used for most special effects shots.	After being presumed lost for years, it was found in a restorer's collection and is now part of George Lucas's personal archive.
Stormtrooper Helmet	Costume	The standard-issue helmet worn by the soldiers of the Galactic Empire.	Several screen-used helmets exist in private collections. One sold in 2019 for £100,000.

Production Notes

Design & Construction

George Lucas's vision for Star Wars was a departure from the pristine, utopian futures often depicted in science fiction. He wanted a "used universe" that felt authentic and gritty. Set decorator Roger Christian was instrumental in realizing this vision. He famously created many of the iconic props from scrap and found parts. Luke's lightsaber was built from a 1940s Graflex camera flash gun, and Han Solo's blaster was based on a German Mauser C96 pistol with a scope and other parts added.

Costume designer John Mollo created the iconic look of Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers, drawing inspiration from historical military uniforms, particularly German and Japanese armor. The final helmet sculpts were done by artist Liz Moore and Brian Muir.

Special Effects

The film's special effects, supervised by John Dykstra and John Stears, were revolutionary. They pioneered motion-control photography with the "Dykstraflex" camera, which allowed for complex and dynamic space battle sequences. This involved filming multiple passes of the starship models (like the X-Wings and TIE Fighters) and compositing them together to create the final shot.

Trivia

• The sound of the lightsaber was created by sound designer Ben Burtt by blending the hum of an old film projector's motor with the feedback from a television set.
• The Jawa's language, "Jawanese," was created by speeding up and altering recordings of the Zulu language.
• The "laser" blasts were created by rotoscoping animation onto the film frames one at a time.

See Also

• George Lucas
• John Mollo
• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back