Anakin Skywalker makes a surprise appearance in “Ahsoka” reuniting with his former Jedi apprentice (Rosario Dawson) to teach him a lesson. What unfolds in “Part Five: Shadow Warrior” is an effort as engaging on a philosophical as it is a visual level. Cinematographer Quyen Tran looked to Akira Kurosawa's 1980 film “Kagemusha” for inspiration. “The color palette is very different from 'Star Wars'. The tones are red sunsets and heavy filters,” he says. “I took screenshots of the silhouettes for when it was time to create the 'Clone Wars' scenes.” His idea was to produce vibrant silhouettes practically, rather than using visual effects. “We did a very exhaustive test and arrived at the gray screen. What you can do with the gray screen is place LED track markers down [on a path] and fill the stage with smoke. That was very important to the look of those sequences.” Strong cross-departmental collaboration helped stage the menacing moment when Anakin enters the fog of war and appears as Darth Vader. “We had Hayden Christensen walk the trail. Then we turned off the camera and had Darth Vader walk the same path so it was perfect. “We then timed the fire explosions at the exact moment.”
