I got a call a while back from a member of the 501st Legion, an international fan-based organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of Imperial Stormtrooper armor, Sith Lords, Clone Troopers, bounty hunters, and other villains from the Star Wars universe. In celebration of a members upcoming wedding, 5 of them wanted to drive up to Cheatham Grove, the location for a significant part of the speeder bike filming in the Return of the Jedi, and hangout for the afternoon in costume. Would I be willing to come down and take some photographs? Heck yeah!
Cheatham Grove is off Highway 36, about 13 miles East of Highway 101, and has a number of flat expanses of redwoods, all filled in with ferns and clover.
The client asked me to try and match the color grade and look of the film, and it was fun to compare images and see how to adjust things back to look similar.
They asked me to add in some FX and art for one of the shots... I really wanted to work in the main bunker rear door from the films but we couldn't figure out a good place to shoot it (that location is actually not at Cheatham Grove).
The epic 1990's Cops parody Troops (featuring Storm Troopers set to "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle) had me laughing at some of the poses that happened while the guys were hanging out.
