Executive producer Kathleen Kennedy has given an update on the production of Episode VII at Star Wars Celebration Europe.

“ We have an amazing team at ILM, who can create fantastic effects, but if we don’t have a great story and characters, the effects mean nothing."

Kennedy revealed she is currently dividing her time between Lucasfilm – where she's sat in George's old office, by the way – and Bad Robot, where she's busy having extensive story meetings with J.J. Abrams and the rest of the writing team, including Empire Strikes Back scribe Lawrence Kasdan. And that emphasis on story and character came up repeatedly during today's panel, hosted by Warwick Davis."The story and characters are all we’re talking about right now," said Kennedy. "We have an amazing team at ILM, who can create fantastic effects, but if we don’t have a great story and characters, the effects mean nothing.""I do think making huge popular culture – and I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of a lot it – is really hard to do and get right. And if you don’t spend the time you need on developing characters, and finding stories, complicated stories, the audience gets tired because they think they’re seeing the same thing again and again."Kennedy also went on to talk about the use CG effects, which many believe the Star Wars prequels relied upon too heavily. Kennedy is uniquely placed to comment on the relationship between traditional special effects and CG effects, since she worked not only on the very first CG composited shot in the history of film (it was in Young Sherlock Holmes, if you were wondering), but also produced Jurassic Park, which helped pioneer the technology that features so heavily in today's blockbusters. Clearly, it's something she's still passionate about. "There's nothing more exciting than to be involved in that kind of technological innovation," said Kennedy. "When the story ideas you're working on contribute to pushing the technology, I really think that's what's so exciting about our business. It's when the imagination drives innovation and new design."But she's also wary of films becoming overly reliant on this technology, forgetting older methods. Jurassic Park is a great example of how CG can be successfully blended with practical effects, and it seems this philosophy, also informed by the original Star Wars trilogy, will underpin the production of Episode VII and the future sequels. "It's a conversation we're having all the time in the development of Episode VII. Looking at all the Star Wars movies and getting a feel for what even some of the early films did, combining real locations and special effects – that's something we're looking very seriously at."This resulted in rapturous applause from the audience, with many glowing lightsabers being waved in frantic approval. "So we're going to find some very cool locations that we're going to use in support of Episode VII," promised Kennedy. "And I think we're probably going to end up using every single tool in the toolbox to create the look of these movies."And when Davis asked what exactly was in that toolbox, Kennedy said, "It's using model makers; it's using real droids; it's taking advantage of artwork that you actually can touch and feel. And we want to do that in combination with CG effects. We figure that's what will make it real."So a new Star Wars film focussing on character and story, featuring models and real-life locations working in tandem with CG effects, all capped with a score by John Williams (confirmed earlier today)... interested now?

Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer. You can be part of the world's most embarrassing cult by following him on IGN and Twitter