A monkey is outfitted with a cane and a mask and measured. The simian was also briefly considered for walking shots of Minch-Yoda that would have been impossible to execute with a puppet.

Vanity Fair has a collection of shots from the new Making of Empire book.

Burke & Hare:

And a longer True Grit trailer:

Trailer for the Coen Brothers’ True Grit

A great piece about the creation of Chewbacca (it turns out it’s a little more than George’s dog, Indiana):

Chewbacca, the character, also started his life in the rough draft (May 1974) as a kind of barbarian alien prince on the jungle planet of Yavin:

…The eight foot Chewbacca, who resembles a huge, grey bushbaby with fierce baboon-like fang…

The article has great background on the development of Chewie’s appearance and story arc (or lack of unless you subscribe to an alternative interpretation) along with great concept art and costume images.

I think my favourite image is this one of Ralph McQuarrie’s where a Storm Trooper is wielding a lightsaber:

Also for anyone who’s interested: the original Jabba/Han scene from A New Hope with Jabba as a human gangster with an Irish lilt.

(via Kottke)

Logorama is a 16-minute animated film written and directed by H5/ François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain, and produced by Autour de Minuit. The film depicts events in a stylized Los Angeles, and is told entirely through the use of more than 2,500 contemporary and historical logos and mascots. The film won the Prix Kodak at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.

Logorama from Human Music & Sound Design on Vimeo.

(via Kottke)