I couldn't make it through the week without completely revising my interpretation of the paint job on the back of the ESB jetpack. I now think it's quite different than I ever thought. Sometimes when you have seen something one way for so long, it's hard to see it another way, or as one obscure old sage put it, "you must unlearn what you have learned." What happened this week is I saw the back of the ESB jetpack another way. I always thought it was all green in back, the same as the front. I no longer believe that. Thanks to
RafalFett.
This might not prove to be popular, but I feel confident this is actually what the back of the ESB jetpack looked like, or something close to this:
So yes, I think the whole back was white and the green on it was simply from overspray from the rush paint job. It was also probably a lot more messy than I have done it here.
I can already sense some folks saying 'no way, that's dumb', so I'll try my best to make a case for it. If you still disagree, it's okay with me.
First, it started with the problem presented by the Selfridges photo. I decided to assume the jetpack in the photo is actually the hero ESB jetpack and not a backup. We have no evidence of a backup. Also, the rest of the costume we can see in the photo all seems to be the ESB hero costume.
With that assumption, there's an obvious problem that needs an explanation. The photo was taken well after the filming was complete. Yet it's very clear in the photo that the back of the jetpack has a much lighter area with a darker border than it seems in the film. The back is not the same color as the rest.
But why doesn't it look this way in the movie or production photos? If it's all the same green in back like the rest of the pack, why does it look so light back there? Like it's almost white?
I looked carefully at a UHD copy of the film to see if I could find an answer. And I think I did. If you look at scene 371 with fresh eyes (the scene with the best looks at the back of the jetpack thanks to Morton's wardrobe malfunction) along with a couple supporting shots from other scenes, the problem posed by the Selfridges photo seems to resolve itself.
Take a look at the back of the jetpack in this sequence of frames....
Look at it long enough to let your eyes adjust their white balance and you should start to see the back of the jetpack is white with green overspray. Like the infamous blue dress vs. gold dress photo controversy that swept the interwebs many years ago, the ability to see it one way or the other depends on how your brain interprets the white balance in the image. You will either see the back of the jetpack as either highlighted green or as white. It's one way or the other. Once you see it as white, it's hard to unsee it.
If you are having a hard time seeing it, focus here:
what causes the illusion that the whole back is just highlighted green is this overspray (arrow below) where it really is green, but at an angle your brain expects would be darker anyway:
when your brain sees that, it makes an adjustment to the lighter areas at different angles and reports those areas as the same green color that are simply getting hit with brighter light. But that's an illusion. The lighter areas are actually white underpaint with green overspray, not solid green paint getting hit with brighter light.
this highlighted area on the top of the tank also adds to the illusion because it actually >is< highlighted green paint with a gradient depending on angle:
this tends to calibrate your brain to judge the area on the back in the same way, though the surface of the back is at a significantly different angle to the light than the top of the tank.
Instead, you tend to ignore this because it's further away:
Additionally:
Going back to the Selfridges photo for a moment, I started to understand it a bit better after seeing it this way in the screen caps. What I thought was pure shadow on the middle of the back was actually a combination of the overspray and shadow:
So there is a very heavy spot of green overspray in sort of a 'V' shape at the top:
Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of production photos that really give us a good look at the jetpack back area. I've not combed through many of them for this yet, but will. However there are two more stills from the film that give credence to the white backing with green border.
this shot from the carbonite scene, you can clearly see the white with green border on the top right corner if you adjust the image:
seems to verify the Selfridges photo is giving us reliable info, the same area highlighted below:
This shot also seems to offer support, arrows pointing to the white around the green overspray spot:
*EDIT: Additionally, after dredging through the media pictures for ESB here on TDH, I found several more shots that show the upper left corner is definitely whitish with the green border. But the evidence is already strong for that. I was looking for evidence of the white elsewhere on the back. I did see something in this photo that does not seem to rule out there is white all the way to the bottom:
what is that back there?
Is it the bottom back of the jetpack? I don't know...
*EDIT: nevermind on this last bit. I agree with Levi that must be the back armor plate.
That's all I got right now. I plan to do lighting tests with my jetpack to put it to the test. And look at more photos. Anyway, this is all Levi's fault.
Finally I leave you with something else I stumbled on while looking at this problem: Luke's snot laser.
I never noticed that before either. Enjoy.
