20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

5. The Podracing Spectators Were Actually Q-Tips

The most memorable set-piece in The Phantom Menace - both for better and for worse - is the mid-film podracing sequence, and though it's largely a triumph of digital visual effects, it also benefits from one especially ingenious practical effect.

Model maker Michael Lynch created the illusion of the podracing audience rowdily cheering in the stands by taking 450,000 Q-Tips, painting them and inserting them into a mesh grid. Fans would then blow air underneath, causing them to move about and simulate the motion of a fervent crowd.

It's an extraordinary amount of effort for such a minor part of the sequence, but blended with abundant digital elements, it's nevertheless tremendously effective (and, presumably, cheaper than going the full CGI route).