Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Pre-release)

[Zombie_61]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I don't know either of them, but that's the way I've always liked Star Wars. No Tom Cruises or Angelina Jolies...

I concur. Every time they announce "So-and-so has officially joined the cast of Episode VII..." and I don't recognize the names or the faces, I like it more and more.

 

[NeoRutty]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Now I will state ahead of time, I'm reading this after drinking a 1 liter jar of Margarita, but...

This made me tear up.

****ya.

I've loved JJ since he wrote what I consider the best pilot script I've ever read, Felicity (I know... this explains margarita's and tearing up), and was stoked when he got this gig.

Yeah Felicity can be considered a chick show, but his pilot had everyone going nuts at the time because of the writing. The guy can write characters... relationships. He gets the humanity needed to believe what you're watching is real.

Now he's going to bring that humanity to the characters, and giving them a real world to play in.

I haven't had to be sold on this, but hearing stories like Kevin's, and reading about people starting to show a little faith, has me stoked.

I've been lucky enough in my career to meet and work with a lot of people I admire (and sometimes stop admiring after working with them) but I have yet to meet JJ. I really, REALLY hope I get that chance so I can shake his hand and thank him in advance, or after the fact, for what he's doing here.

Very cool...

....but lets get back to Kevin Smith....he has done another interview where he goes into more detail of what he saw on set

This news has got me very excited and I even mentioned my hopes that this would happen on a thread here somewhere:

Kevin Smith was doing a Q&A at the Neuchatel International Film Festival in Switzerland, where he shared even more bits about his Episode 7 set visit…

Here’s an excerpt from the Q&A via /Film:
What I saw, I absolutely loved. It was tactile — it was real. It wasn’t a series of ****ing green screens and blue screens in which later a bunch of digital characters would be added. IT was there, it was happening. I saw old friends who I haven’t seen since my childhood, who aren’t really friends, but I love them more than some of my ****ing relatives. I saw uniforms, I saw artillery I haven’t seen since I was a kid. I saw them shooting an actual sequence in a set that was real. I walked across the set, there were explosions. And it looked like a shot right out of a Star Wars movie.

Smith talked about visiting Stage M at pinewood, where they were not filming that day, where he visited the set of the Millennium Falcon:
He turns the lights on and there is the Millennium Falcon from my childhood. Now the ship outside looks like a movie set, but the inside, fully replicated, fully built. The guy told me, they took two blueprints: Star Wars and Empire, because the cockpit in Empire was bigger than the cockpit in Star Wars. So they went somewhere between the two. So he takes me over and I’m just looking at it. You look at it from the outside and you can still see inside. I don’t presume we’re going aboard or anything, and then Morgan (JJ’s assistant) says “You ready to go up?” I said (excitedly) “We can go on it?!”

As I walked up that ramp I realized that the something that was missing from those other movies (the prequels) and its now in these movies. And its not the obvious like hey the Millennium Falcon or hey the characters that we know are returning. Its something else entirely — he’s building a tactile world, a world you can touch. And hes replicating with all the love of someone who has the world’s greatest collection of Star Wars figures. And when you walk on that set man, I don’t know how else to describe it except thusly: you use another pop culture reference to describe this pop culture phenomenon. Its like the field of dreams, the Kevin Costner movie. And if JJ builds it, we’re all going to come hard, because its amazing. It looks fantastic. So anyone out there wondering if hes going to pull it off, hes pulling it off. He showed me cut scenes, he showed me sequences, images, pictures. I cried and I hugged that guy. And I’m sure as I was crying and hugging on him that he was thinking “time is money” because theyre making a movie. But he got it. He was very flattered. And I was like “Honestly dude, you’re doing it. You’re making my childhood again. You’re doing our Star Wars. What I saw, blew me away.

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9116901/KevinSmithMasterclass/videos/55760968


J

 

[gizmo]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Now I will state ahead of time, I'm reading this after drinking a 1 liter jar of Margarita, but...

This made me tear up.

****ya.

I've loved JJ since he wrote what I consider the best pilot script I've ever read, Felicity (I know... this explains margarita's and tearing up), and was stoked when he got this gig.

Yeah Felicity can be considered a chick show, but his pilot had everyone going nuts at the time because of the writing. The guy can write characters... relationships. He gets the humanity needed to believe what you're watching is real.

Now he's going to bring that humanity to the characters, and giving them a real world to play in.

I haven't had to be sold on this, but hearing stories like Kevin's, and reading about people starting to show a little faith, has me stoked.

I've been lucky enough in my career to meet and work with a lot of people I admire (and sometimes stop admiring after working with them) but I have yet to meet JJ. I really, REALLY hope I get that chance so I can shake his hand and thank him in advance, or after the fact, for what he's doing here.

Really well said man.

I really think Kevin sees the prequels the same way I do. I like them and I'm no way a prequel hater but I feel the same way he does and it makes me excited when he says this new movie brought his childhood friends back. That's how I've always seen Star Wars. The characters are like a big group of friends I'd never actually met.The feeling of belonging in the movie itself and feeling every feeling the characters felt. That's what the prequels lacked for me even though I enjoyed them.


Ben

 

[glunark]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

On facebook I get regular pictures from the star wars archives, there was a picture yesterday of Liam Neeson sat on a blue box in an empty desert all on his own.

Contrast that with the pictures coming out of the new set where there is real stuff as far as the eye can see, and real extras dressed as aliens, where even boxes of junk are real and not put in afterwards.

 

[Edwardowan]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Not from this guy. He's got his act too much together!! :lol

so true! I'm curious as to his hiring... is it for his abilities? (oh, I just heard Obi Wan's voice in that one! ... " It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants.".... )
his moves are just so Jedi-like that it would seem as if that is why he would be cast... but so late in the filming? I know movies are shot out of sequence but having him start 2 or 3 months after shooting begins is interesting too... maybe he gets taken out by stormtroopers early on! JJ wants to show that troopers have finally figured out how to aim!

 

[Bryancd]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

^This is getting nasty...

Everyone... breathe... and enjoy the goodness of Ep.VII...!!

I agree and I think everyone's opinion should be valued and considered in discussing the things we love. We don't have to agree, but that's part of the fun. I listen to Kevin Smiths description of his experience and feel a tremendous amount if empathy, I'm sure I would have a similar emotional experience. But I enjoy the PT, so I am not qualified to discuss SW.

 

[mattycsi]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

JJ wants to show that troopers have finally figured out how to aim!

 

[CutThumb]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

The prequels were, for all their faults, ultimately highly successful financially and we should be thankful for them for they marked a turning point for many in the industry at that time.
Too many films were guilty of going down the purely CGI route simply because it was new technology, rather like 3D was just recently. And as we now know that over reliance one new gimmick resulted in some terrible dross , until the film makers managed to balance the need for 3D and CGI spectacle together with the old essentials like good scripts, great characters and actual live action sets.
All those experimental techniques and technologies used in the prequels ultimatley enabled nearly all the incredible effects work we see today to come into existence and it’s a truth we learn as much from our failures as successes. Its all a matter of balance and there is no doubt in my mind that the talent involved in SW7 represents the most matured and experienced in the industry available today. Just go read up on them.
These are people for whom the original Star Wars trilogy marked an almost religious cinema experience and they are involved in every level of this films production ,design and shooting. Plus it has the advantage of having a director who worshipped the OT as a kid, who has a close circle of colleagues and friends surrounding him that similarly loved them , with the added advantage of knowing just what everybody wants for the new films fromn the old, thanks to the internet feedback.
I firmly believe the Trequels will absolutely represent everything we could possibly want for the Star Wars future. Which ,let us be honest was absolutely dead in the water. Now, we have the distinct possibility of a series of at least seven more films released over the next decade, probably all made by people who think Star Wars marked the greatest point in their cinema viewing lives. Based on whats been achieved with Marvel, I feel they have a very strong chance to succeed.
I think SW7 will be somewhat surprisingly darker than we expected, with a better storyline than we could have hoped for, with more cultural and historical links to the original trilogy than we could have imagined. I think it will significantly deepen the series mythology, while moving it at pace to new worlds and characters to give it the lift we need the series to have to move it on .
As much as I admire and respect the original trilogy I find I badly want to meet a new set of interesting characters to face the threats and challenges in that universe I loved so much . And if there is anything we should take heart in today its that the whole production team working on it seems to understand that fact exactly. They are taking us back such a long, long time ago to that galaxy far ,far away to gives us the kind of filmatic spectacle that both they and we’ve all so missed, so badly.

 

[Bryancd]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Yeah, the PT was as much the story of the fall of Anakin Skywalker as an opportunity for GL to experiment with new film making technology. There us no reasonable expectation that these new films would be made the same way. The PT was GL tinkering around with his own $. The ST is being produced by a publicly traded company by an entirely different team of people.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Interesting points re: the PT and the impact it's had on moviemaking since its release. Maybe in the end, the PT's financial success and narrative failures were ultimately a good thing. I mean, obviously, it'd be preferable if the PT was simply better/different from what we got, to the point that everyone agreed it was a fitting follow-up to the OT. But that's some alternate universe.

In this one, I suppose it's better that the PT was a financial success, since that helped ensure the viability of the Star Wars brand itself. Even in the face of a widely -- albeit not universally -- disliked trilogy of films, followed by some really mediocre marketing (which began to improve in recent years), the brand has proven INCREDIBLY durable. If not for that, let's be honest -- Star Wars on the big screen would simply be dead, because Disney never would've bought it, and Lucas would've left it to languish while he did other stuff.

Likewise, I suppose that the PT's narrative failures were the best kind to have, if you had to have them. They were problems of weak storytelling set against EXTREMELY ambitious and forward-thinking (albeit not forward thinking enough, in some ways) use of technology. I think that a generation of filmmakers was likely influenced by this, and came to realize (or be reminded that) you can't just rely on f/x to carry the day if you want to tell a good story. I mean, yeah, if you're Michael Bay and you don't give a ****, you'll just use technology to enhance your 'splosions, but if you actually care about storytelling at all, and you watched the PT, you've seen firsthand the (ironic) embodiment of Lucas' old adage: "A special effect without a story is a really boring thing." Or, at the very least, even if you liked the PT story, you've seen that a lot of people demand something better.

In the end, I suppose this is good news for the ST's prospects. Hopefully the people making it have learned and are more focused on telling a coherent, interesting tale which is itself enhanced by the CGI and whiz-bang f/x, rather than which is simply a vehicle to showcase them.

 

[Skelatorious]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Looks like they are filming here for this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvPCWX3iNc0

http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/...nes-new-Star/story-21338434-detail/story.html

http://www.puzzlewood.net/

 

[Bryancd]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Looks like they are filming here for this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvPCWX3iNc0

http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/...nes-new-Star/story-21338434-detail/story.html

http://www.puzzlewood.net/

Nice find!

 

[jme3]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

so true! I'm curious as to his hiring... is it for his abilities? (oh, I just heard Obi Wan's voice in that one! ... " It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants.".... )
his moves are just so Jedi-like that it would seem as if that is why he would be cast... but so late in the filming? I know movies are shot out of sequence but having him start 2 or 3 months after shooting begins is interesting too... maybe he gets taken out by stormtroopers early on! JJ wants to show that troopers have finally figured out how to aim!

I'm thinking the same thing; there has to be a connection with his moves and what he'll be playing. Maybe a jedi, or even a sith, but he'll be a blur whatever he is!

I agree and I think everyone's opinion should be valued and considered in discussing the things we love. We don't have to agree, but that's part of the fun. I listen to Kevin Smiths description of his experience and feel a tremendous amount if empathy, I'm sure I would have a similar emotional experience. But I enjoy the PT, so I am not qualified to discuss SW.

Not so; you're as qualified as any of the rest of us. While I don't value or like the prequels nearly as much as the OT (and that's probably as much a sign of my age as anything else! ), they have their moments for me here and there. As others have said before, I think they just could have been executed more effectively. But they're ancient history now as well, and the really fun ride is still ahead of us!

 

[Bryancd]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I was a few months shy of my 9th B-Day in May, 1977, but when I saw the PT, I experienced it through my much younger brothers eyes, he was about the same age as I was when TPM came out. He loved it and so did I.

 

[RougeAvenger81]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I am going out on a limb here (Based on previous interviews with JJ) that this film will feel similar to the new Star Trek and less like the PT. JJ admittedly has stated he filmed Star Trek in a "similar" manner that he would like to see Star Wars had he gotten the chance to do a Star Wars film. He took on Star Trek and filmed it that way because he never thought he would get the chance to make a Star Wars film because Lucas always said the films were done.

Now I'm not suggesting you are going to see the new Star Trek with lens flare lightsabers, but my assumption based on his statements are they will at least have a much closer feel to those films then the PT. Which does not upset me in the least. He only used CG where he really needed to or for touch ups and tried to use real life places or sets as much as possible. Minimal CG is a plus in my book. Makes it feel more real.

 

[eifion]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Looks like they are filming here for this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvPCWX3iNc0

http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/...nes-new-Star/story-21338434-detail/story.html

http://www.puzzlewood.net/

Saw this on the bbc just now too.

"You will go to the Dagobah system . . . "

 

[cboath]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I don't agree with less CG makes it look more real. It's all in how you do it and probably how long you mess with it. It's been pointed out in this thread (probably multiple times by now) that there are CG shots you'd never tell were CG shots in the PT and shots you'd swear were CG that weren't. The art department has to have time to get it right, if they don't get the time, the result will suffer.

There's also the concept of biting off more than you can chew. Fully animated characters are a laudable goal, but you have to in part realize the limitations of the technology. Cloth sim, for example, basically didn't exist in '97/98, yet they were trying to do just that and had to invent what they came up with. Not an easy task when you're on a short timeframe.

As for the OT, it's not like everything they did there was all current day what everyone else was using tech. They came up with a lot of new stuff there. They used people in suits and miniatures for the simple fact that they had no other choices, period, short of stop motion characters which just wouldn't work. Each set advanced effects in it's own way. Just because they didn't use CG (a part from a couple things) in the OT doesn't mean they didn't advance tech big time in the OT. There's not much denying that some things were overdone in the PT, but proving it was do-able seems to have been a goal of the movies. It shouldn't be that way, but it clearly was. The point was made though. From that point on, lots more people starting using the tech...

 

[rodneyfaile]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I don't even know you, I have little expectations as to how you might regard someone else's opinions nor do I care.

I don't know why you chose to take it as an insult. I said not everyone likes the same things. I was just pointing out that Kevin Smith praised the prequels before they were released, and since I do not like the prequels very much, it devalues his opinion as far as Star Wars goes. I didn't insult anyone.

 

[CutThumb]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

Saw this on the bbc just now too.

"You will go to the Dagobah system . . . "

Its a very small world. And universe! I used to live in Lydney Forest of Dean, six of the best years of my life, from '84 to '90. Lots of field archery, shooting, camping and ninjitsu on a Sunday followed by a nice pint in the Woodman at Parkend. Great pub lunch as well. Know the countryside there very well, used to hike and run around most of it. And I know Puzzlewood, its not far from Clearwell caves either . Its no Dagobah thats for sure. Its been featured in a lot of British TV series over the years, mainly fantasy stuff as its particularly witchy and eldritch. We used to joke your more likely to see elves and hobbits there than people, its like Mirkwood on a good day. They filmed parts of the later Harry Potter in the Forest of Dean around there but not in Puzzlewood,interestingly its not that far from where J K Rowling grew up. The Wye valley is beautiful this time of year, I've walked and canoed down it a couple of times in my younger days. I shall have to make some enquires!!!!

Another set of odd coincidences- local actor from TAUNTON??? Get it?? (Tauntaun)But it isn't local at all its over the other side of the Seven and down a bit. And another BBC interview. Just watch over the guys shoulder at the end.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28203716

 

[seelsa73]

Re: Star Wars Episode VII

I don't know why you chose to take it as an insult. . .

I'm not trying butt in when its not my "fight" for lack of a better term, but your comment did read that way to me as well.

Steve