Within the world of Star Wars, the lightsaber "blade" consists of a very tight loop of highly focused energy, or a loop of plasma contained in a strong magnetic or other field. When deactivated, a lightsaber appears as a polished metallic handle, about a foot long. Lightsabers emit a distinctive hum when active, which rises in pitch and volume as the blade is moved rapidly through the air. A loud crackling noise is heard when the blade comes into contact with an object or another lightsaber blade. According to a 2008 survey of approximately two thousand film fans conducted by 20th Century Fox, the lightsaber is the most popular film weapon.

Concept and creation

Nelson Shin, renowned South Korean animator, was approached by his manager to work on the visual effects for a live action movie. He was tasked with drawing the lightsaber to match the film scenes that the film producers brought. Shin explained to the people from Lucas Film that since the lightsaber is made of light, the sword should look "a little shaky" like a fluorescent tube. He also suggested that when printing the film on an optical printer, one frame should be inserted that was much lighter than the others, making the light seem to vibrate. Shin also recommended adding a degausser sound on top of the other sounds for the weapon since the sound would be reminiscent of a magnetic field. The whole process took one week, surprising his company, and Lucas Films demonstrated the film to him, having followed his suggestions, including using an X-Acto knife to give the lightsaber a very sharp look.

Visual effect

There is a visual inconsistency throughout the Star Wars saga in regard to the light the sabers themselves cast. Light is typically cast across the face of a digital character, such as Yoda in Episodes II and III. When a saber passes by a human figure, there is very little glow cast across the figure or face. An exception is that during the Dooku/Skywalker fight in Attack of the Clones, the actors shot close-ups while holding, essentially, neon tubes colored appropriately for their blades. This was not done to contradict anything previously stated but purely dramatic effect.

Arguably one of the most sought-after props in film history, various toy replicas have been released, ranging from essentially a flashlight with a plastic tube attached, to accurate copies of the original film props, complete with motion-sensitive sound effects and colored blade. Toy lightsabers are consistently the best-selling of all Star Wars related merchandise.

Sound

The characteristic sound, that was added later by the sound effects team, is a combination of a film projector's idling motor and interference caused by a television on an unshielded audio cable. The latter sound was discovered accidentally when sound designer Ben Burtt was moving house, knocking his microphone behind his television and creating the sound.Fact: date=June 2008