Since you started way back in Episode I, have there been any new building materials or processes developed that makes your job easier?

Over the past 10 years there haven't been any great leaps in the technology of building materials and processes, although each year there are small improvements and advances in all areas. This can range from materials themselves, like improved casting materials, or larger sheets of MDF (medium density fiberboard), to basic improvements in tools and machine technology.

The film business is, by its nature, a low-volume production business, and therefore we are not able to make use of techniques normally used in industry. If we were making 1,000 of the same object, then we could use these pieces of equipment, but we are more craft-orientated than mass production-orientated, with the need to make only small numbers of any given object.

The world of CAD drawing in the Art Department had seen a big advancement over the last 10 years, and this has a direct input into the Construction Department, as we can often feed the CAD information directly into various machine tools, like the router, or 5-axis cutter, which will cut shapes and elements straight from the digital information out of a variety of materials.