where did they film return of the jedi
Return of the Jedi
The first stage of production started with 78 days at Elstree Studios in England , where the film occupied all nine stages . The shoot commenced with a scene later deleted from the finished film where the heroes get caught in a sandstorm as they leave Tatooine . ( This was the only major sequence cut from the film during editing . ) While attempting to film Luke Skywalker 's battle with the rancor beast , Lucas insisted on trying to create the scene in the same style as Toho 's Godzilla films by using a stunt performer inside a suit . The production team made several attempts , but were unable to create an adequate result . Lucas eventually relented and decided to film the rancor as a high - speed puppet . In April , the crew moved to the Yuma Desert in Arizona for two weeks of Tatooine exteriors . Production then moved to the redwood forests of northern California near Crescent City where two weeks were spent shooting the Endor forest exteriors , and then concluded at ILM in San Rafael , California for about ten days of bluescreen shots . One of two `` skeletal '' post-production units shooting background matte plates spent a day in Death Valley . The other was a special Steadicam unit shooting forest backgrounds from June 15 -- 17 , 1982 , for the speeder chase near the middle of the film . Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown personally operated these shots as he walked through a disguised path inside the forest shooting at less than one frame per second . By walking at about 5 mph ( 8 km / h ) and projecting the footage at 24 frame / s , the motion seen in the film appeared as if it were moving at around 120 mph ( 190 km / h ) . 
The first stage of production started with 78 days at Elstree Studios in England , where the film occupied all nine stages . The shoot commenced with a scene later deleted from the finished film where the heroes get caught in a sandstorm as they leave Tatooine . ( This was the only major sequence cut from the film during editing . ) While attempting to film Luke Skywalker 's battle with the rancor beast , Lucas insisted on trying to create the scene in the same style as Toho 's Godzilla films by using a stunt performer inside a suit . The production team made several attempts , but were unable to create an adequate result . Lucas eventually relented and decided to film the rancor as a high - speed puppet . In April , the crew moved to the Yuma Desert in Arizona for two weeks of Tatooine exteriors . Production then moved to the redwood forests of northern California near Crescent City where two weeks were spent shooting the Endor forest exteriors , and then concluded at ILM in San Rafael , California for about ten days of bluescreen shots . One of two `` skeletal '' post-production units shooting background matte plates spent a day in Death Valley . The other was a special Steadicam unit shooting forest backgrounds from June 15 -- 17 , 1982 , for the speeder chase near the middle of the film . Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown personally operated these shots as he walked through a disguised path inside the forest shooting at less than one frame per second . By walking at about 5 mph ( 8 km / h ) and projecting the footage at 24 frame / s , the motion seen in the film appeared as if it were moving at around 120 mph ( 190 km / h ) .
The first stage of production started at Elstree Studios in England, where the film occupied all nine stages.  In April, the crew moved to the Yuma Desert in Arizona.  Production then moved to the redwood forests of northern California near Crescent City, and then concluded at ILM in San Rafael, California.  One of two ``skeletal'' post-production units shooting background matte plates spent a day in Death Valley.
The first stage of production started with 78 days at Elstree Studios in England , where the film occupied all nine stages . In April , the crew moved to the Yuma Desert in Arizona for two weeks of Tatooine exteriors . Production then moved to the redwood forests of northern California near Crescent City where two weeks were spent shooting the Endor forest exteriors , and then concluded at ILM in San Rafael , California for about ten days of bluescreen shots . One of two `` skeletal '' post-production units shooting background matte plates spent a day in Death Valley .