Via Starwars.com:

Earlier this month, we looked at the first days of shooting for the original trilogy; next up is the prequel trilogy, including The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

The Phantom Menace

After waiting more than 15 years, Star Wars would return to the silver screen with The Phantom Menace. George Lucas had begun writing the script as early as 1994, with pre-production starting around that time, as well. In the couple of years it took Lucas to write the script, he was at the same time checking daily on the progress of the designs for the many new worlds, aliens, droids, and other things to be featured in the movie. Returning to the director’s chair, he wanted to test the ongoing transition from filming on tape to filming directly in a digital format. It was decided that some shots would be shot digitally to check if they would stand out when edited together with the other shots.

Click below to read the full article.