If we include the most recent addition to the cannon, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the combined value of the Star Wars franchise – including video games, books, comics and all sorts of merchandise – is now nudging £20.7bn. Legendary Star Wars creator, George Lucas, recently walked off into the creative sunset with a very cool $4bn (£2.8bn), the price that Disney recently paid him for Lucasfilm and its back catalogue of movies in 2012.
As with any cultural phenomenon of this size, an awful lot of print is generated along the way.
Empire (strikes back)…
In November 2015, the Christmas edition of Empire hit the shelves of newsagents and bookstores on both sides of the Atlantic.
This Star Wars issue was particularly noteworthy in that it had no less than six different front covers, each with its own lenticular 3D image.
The magazine’s design director Chris Lupton can be forgiven for looking rather like the cat that got the cream. He remembers how the deal was secured: “From the day The Force Awakens was announced, we approached Disney and Lucasfilm with our ideas. That was back in 2013.
“The look of the movie’s main characters evolved quite significantly during the process of the movie being made – which in turn impacted on the look of our covers.
“We last used these this kind of lenticular cover image for the launch of the film The Hobbit. Then, just like now, we gave our consumers a choice of several covers.”
“The lenticular process is magic – but in it’s base form it’s a series of interlaced images printed on multiple layers of transparent lens. The 3D sequence is interlaced using bespoke software to create a single image file. This file is then aligned and printed directly to the reverse side of the lens sheets.
“We worked with a UK company called Hive Associates on the production of the covers, which were then, in turn attached to the magazines.”
Hive mentality
With some justification Hive Associates can claim to be one of the leading lenticular printing companies in the UK and Europe, counting household brands such as Nintendo, Diesel, WB and Sony among its clients. It has built its lenticular specialism into an enterprise that now turns over more than £4m.
Managing director Marc Edmunds, who helped found the business in 1999, has long experience of the creative advertising and media industries, and brought this wealth of knowledge to the Empire commission.
“Lenticular actually dates all the way back to the 1940s and 50s, when the first steps were taken to create a sort of 3D printing effect. However, many of the early images were unpolished, and to do anything really good was very expensive.
“This only began to change in the early to mid-90s when Kodak did some fine work to develop lenticular printing processes that could be used in a more creative and commercial way.
“On the back of these developments a number of printers began to offer lenticular merely as a side-line. However, Hive was formed in 1999 to specialise in this kind of printing 100%.
“We are now the European leader. We have reinvested back in the company and developed machinery that is now purpose-built to print lenticular.”
In terms of how the creative consultancy process typically work between Hive and a client such as Empire magazine, Edmunds replies: “From initial concepts Hive will create storyboards and sample digital animations. Once the idea and artwork has been developed further, Hive will produce work in progress – rough lenticular pieces to demonstrate what can be achieved. The artwork can then be tweaked ready to print the final production pieces.”
Hive Associates had been working with Empire on their limited edition front covers for a long time prior to the final print date in order to get the print work just right. Edmunds says: “Actual image assets were only available two to three weeks prior to the printing date, which made it quite a challenge to get all the proofs produced and ready for print.”
The firm’s print partner uses a specially adapted eight-colour B1 Komori Lithrone G40 sheetfed litho press, which can print the A4 covers at up to 48,000 per hour.
Titanic challenge
Titan is an Anglo-American publishing company that sells its books, magazines and comic books on both sides of the Atlantic.
Many of its titles are what is known in the publishing trade as ‘buy-ins’. However, on its own originated Star Wars magazine front they have a title called Star Wars Insider that sells very well in both the UK and the US under the stewardship of editor Jonathan Wilkins.
“It takes around six weeks to produce an issue of Star Wars Insider magazine, from start to finish. Copy is provided by mainly freelance writers and images are supplied directly from Lucasfilm,” says Wilkins.
“The magazine is generally pretty smooth in terms of the production process. However, with such a huge franchise, there is an approval process that requires a lot of secrecy and trust.”
“Our designer Oz Browne works wonders to ensure that we have a strong visual impact – especially with our covers. As you might imagine, covers are very important to us, particularly in recent months when every magazine has featured The Force Awakens on its cover, no matter how tenuous the link.”
Star Wars Insider is produced at Polestar Chantry in the UK and Quad Graphics in the US. Polestar Chantry’s Manroland Rotoman N web offset press runs off around 60,000 copies of the perfect-bound title magazine each month.
Browne adds: “We can absolutely rely on Polestar and Quad to get things just right. In fact we print to standard ink weights for our magazine titles, so there is no need for us to be actually present at the point of printing.”
DK input
Dorling Kindersley is arguably the world’s leading reference publisher, and part of the mighty Transatlantic group: Penguin Random House. DK’s art director, Lisa Lanzarini, oversees the design of the company’s licensed books division, which includes their impressive Star Wars list.
DK has had a long licensing record when it comes to books themed around the Star Wars franchise, and to coincide with the release of The Force Awakens, DK bought the rights to publish no less than three books.
Although it is always a labour of love for Lanzarini and her team of popular culture design geeks to produce a book, the turnaround on the Star Wars books was, at times, clearly sweat-inducing.
“On both The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary and Incredible Cross-Sections we had 10 months from start to finish – this included preparation work, dealing with revisions along the way and getting the books approved by Lucasfilm and Disney,” explains Lanzarini.
“However, if the pressure is really on we can produce – from concept to repro-ready file – a book, such as our Ultimate Sticker Collection – our 96 pages per book collection – in less than three months.”
Lanzarini and her team tried to make the whole Star Wars publishing process as smooth as possible, but in an imperfect world, there will always be bumps along the way. Lanzarini points out that it’s a highly collaborative process and worked closely with Lucasfilm’s former US executive editor Jonathan Rinzler in the run-up to publication.
“With right-to-the wire deadlines adding to the challenge, a big credit is due to Jonathan for supporting us on many Star Wars titles including The Force Awakens ones,” she says.
“Getting any DK Star Wars book done is, of course, all about delivering great designs and editorial content, but also constantly proving you can be trusted with this legacy and the future of Star Wars in print; as well as keeping all the stakeholders happy.
“After all these years working on Star Wars titles I have to say that having both a talented pool of designers and building a trusted relationship go hand-in-hand and complement each other.
“We also have an incredibly experienced production team, led by Alex Bell our senior producer, responsible for getting our books printed on time and making sure they look great.”
On the design side, apart from having to be prepared for last-minute image changes on the Star Wars Visual Dictionary a big issue for Lanzarini and her team was not to be able to proof the covers until very late in the game for secrecy reasons – and then all they could do was proof the covers without spot lamination.
“We were a bit limited in cover finishes, so we had to take a leap of faith and instruct our printers to go for basic foil blocking and spot UV and matt lamination for the Visual Dictionary and Incredible Cross-Sections, and standard lamination and foil blocking for the Stickerscapes and Ultimate Sticker Collection titles.
Unfortunately for any UK book printers hoping to secure a slice of the Star Wars action, DK has a well-established supply chain in the Far East.
China rising
These days one just cannot ignore the China effect, especially when it comes to large, full-service printing houses. Hung Hing is one of the principal far-eastern printers of choice for DK especially when it comes to their Star Wars list.
Hung Hing has grown from a tiny family-run business (one that started in small , building in Hong Kong in 1950) to a huge business consisting of some four sites spread throughout mainland China. It now employs 3,000 people and has a turnover in excess of £280m. Commercial director, Christopher Yum explains how it worked with DK on the Star Wars titles.
“Publishers come to us for licensed products, such as Star Wars, because we are a Disney-approved vendor – and that is not an easy thing to become.”
For the Chinese manufacturer to qualify it had to prove that it was committed to ensuring the well-being of its staff, that it used responsible raw material suppliers, and that it employed sustainable production methods – not necessarily qualities that are usually associated with production in the region.
However, it also offers a broader range of services than just production: “When a client like DK comes to us, we will ask if they need any help on design or paper engineering for the initial development. At this stage, we would recommend various types of finishes that might make the book stand out, or the best construction which would be most efficient for mass production.
“Paper type is normally fixed, as we only print with certified papers from a traceable source (FSC or PEFC). Then we will send in a price and a schedule for the process.
“Once an order is confirmed, and we are given the go ahead to print, the Star Wars book we did for DK, like all other titles, will go through our pre-press department. Then it will go onto one of our state-of-the-art printing presses for die-cutting, varnishing, foil stamping, all the way through to binding for the book, and finally to the hand labour floors for the slip cases.”
Matching up the right printing press to the style and design of the book is a critical factor when it comes to prestige products like Star Wars. Hung Hing says its Mitsubishi Diamond V3000TP perfectors ticked all the right boxes.
COMPANY FOCUS
Hollywood Monster
As one of the largest signage contractors and wide- format printers in the UK, Hollywood Monster’s skilled craftspeople provide clients with a range of graphics and digitally printed products – from A4-sized sign boards to big banners, to the largest building or structure wrap.
The company was created in August 2009 with the coming together of two companies: Hollywood Signs and Monster Digital. It now employs more than 65 people at its 3,000m2 Birmingham HQ.
Apart from printing production professionals, Hollywood Monster employs graphic designers, draftsmen, model makers, traditional signwriters, structural and civil engineers to professionally build and fit their jaw-dropping signage installations.
This is a company that takes its printing technology extremely seriously. The company estimates that it has spent £2m on state-of-the-art wide-format (up to 5m)printers from EFI Vutek, Nur (now part of HP Scitex) Mtex and Mimaki.
All of which has put Hollywood Monster in a very good position to service the UK/European cinema industry, which is why Cineworld came calling when it wanted something special to promote the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Which is, as Hollywood Monster marketing manager Gurminder Badan explains, exactly what it created for the UK’s leading cinema chain.
Badan says: “The Cineworld commission for The Force Awakens came through in early November. Our project delivery manager, Alice Lutwyche, worked to ensure the right materials were used and necessary equipment was booked. Cineworld wanted us to produce their interior retail graphics – which to ordinary cinema-goers might look like very glossy, large-scale posters.
“To ensure ease of installation and a high-resolution print on our Star Wars film vinyls, the graphics for The Force Awakens were printed on our EFI Vutek H2000 Pro on Utack media from CMYUK.
“Five different graphics measuring 2.5x3.5m, and a two-part graphic in a series of nine 4.6x1.3m strips per wall were installed in Cineworld theatres over eight hours. Gurminder is clearly immensely proud of what was achieved. “As the pictures of our Cineworld installations show, the proof of a job well done is there for all to see!”
