Lets talk all things Star Wars

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Jaitea said:
Great, didn't realise that


J
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Damn you...this is literally my favourite scene from any movie I've seenand every time someone invokes it I gotta watch the entire movie. It's like Deus Ex, if anyone mentions it it gets reinstalled. :lol:

Bit more on-topic and referring to the ROTJ scene above (and also that cinematic greatness is mentioned). I kinda noticed lately that the photographic creativity sort of ran out of juice after the Jabba's palace bit. There's a few good pieces where there's creative lighting and some shot compositions are pretty good there but after that it's really bland overall. The Emperor's throne room is a great set and has some nice ambience but other than that it's all flat 1950s style shooting with straight flat lights and hardly any dynamics with the camera movement. Very prequel-esque.
 
sztriki said:
Damn you...this is literally my favourite scene from any movie I've seenand every time someone invokes it I gotta watch the entire movie. It's like Deus Ex, if anyone mentions it it gets reinstalled. :lol:

Bit more on-topic and referring to the ROTJ scene above (and also that cinematic greatness is mentioned). I kinda noticed lately that the photographic creativity sort of ran out of juice after the Jabba's palace bit. There's a few good pieces where there's creative lighting and some shot compositions are pretty good there but after that it's really bland overall. The Emperor's throne room is a great set and has some nice ambience but other than that it's all flat 1950s style shooting with straight flat lights and hardly any dynamics with the camera movement. Very prequel-esque.
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I feel like 1-4, and 6, are all pretty uninspired when it comes to the lightning. There's a few moments of "oooh that looks really good" but they're far and few between. ESB is a different story, particularly the carbon freezing chamber.
 
Joek3rr said:
I feel like 1-4, and 6, are all pretty uninspired when it comes to the lightning. There's a few moments of "oooh that looks really good" but they're far and few between. ESB is a different story, particularly the carbon freezing chamber.
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Yea agreed, ep4 is extremely well edited, but ESB is where it really shows that there is a proper film director at work there who knows how the camera works too. Also they make use of racking focus, follow shots, not just simple panning and shot-reverse-shot.
Have to say 7 and 8 look neat as well in terms of photography. Even R1 has some really cool shots and scenes. No idea why Solo was lit so poorly.
 
sztriki said:
Yea agreed, ep4 is extremely well edited, but ESB is where it really shows that there is a proper film director at work there who knows how the camera works too. Also they make use of racking focus, follow shots, not just simple panning and shot-reverse-shot.
Have to say 7 and 8 look neat as well in terms of photography. Even R1 has some really cool shots and scenes. No idea why Solo was lit so poorly.
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The cinematographer likes to use only natural lighting. And not artificial lighting. If that makes sense. It's an interesting approach. Not sure if I'm crazy about it for an action film.
 
I was changing my desktop wallpaper and the image from ROTS where the Clonetroopers "greet" Bail Organa at the Jedi Temple and tell him it's time to leave popped up. For some reason I focused on the two big spotlights in the back and my first thought was a Clerks-esque "I wonder if they had civilian maintenance people that change those and did those guys lose their jobs?"
tEToMcO.gif
 
I think at it's core the sense of community with this franchise is what's missing and as a result it's why there is so little anticipation for Episode 9. Defenders say it's because the haters can't like anything new. Haters say it's because the story just isn't compelling. Perhaps there is some truth to both those ideas. It hasn't done any good to try and convince the other side of each other's opinions because after all this time neither side has really compromised their position.

There has to be some sort of middle ground where we can agree to disagree. Just because I feel very strongly about my position doesn't mean that I will change anyone's mind. I just like being able to articulate why I care for/ don't care for certain things. I'm not trying to convince anyone otherwise. If you happen to agree with me, cool. If you happen to think I'm wrong, that's fine too.

Idk. Something else that comes to mind in this era of fandom is when fans like me say things like Star Wars is dead, I'm not just referring to how I feel about the story, I'm often referring to the spirit of innovation that became synonymous with it. I think as far as the stories they want to tell go, it is also a reflection of that lack of innovation by retreading the same ideas as opposed to trying to push the story forward. As much as I hated the direction George took his prequels from a writing perspective at least he largely succeeded in pushing the boundaries of what was possible and created new tools to tell his stories. I can't think of a single innovation that has been made in an effort to tell stories in a galaxy far, far away since the Disney buy out. It's partly why they feel so flat and uninspired.

There may have been innovations but you don't hear about them because Lucasfilm isn't willing to show us behind the curtain the way Lucas was with the extra content for his films. Not having that look at the talent behind the scenes in a real in depth way I think robs fans of the magic of Star Wars creation and in turn means this world isn't accessible the way it once was. George at least made it feel like it was possible to do anything if you set your mind to it. I don't get that at all with Lucasfilm now.

I don't think Star Wars is really the legacy that George Lucas will leave behind as a film maker. I think his real legacy will be that he innovated technology that furthered the art of cinema and not just for his own films.

Just some thoughts.
 
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Psab keel said:
I think at it's core the sense of community with this franchise is what's missing and as a result it's why there is so little anticipation for Episode 9. Defenders say it's because the haters can't like anything new. Haters say it's because the story just isn't compelling. Perhaps there is some truth to both those ideas. It hasn't done any good to try and convince the other side of each other's opinions because after all this time neither side has really compromised their position.

There has to be some sort of middle ground where we can agree to disagree. Just because I feel very strongly about my position doesn't mean that I will change anyone's mind. I just like being able to articulate why I care for/ don't care for certain things. I'm not trying to convince anyone otherwise. If you happen to agree with me, cool. If you happen to think I'm wrong, that's fine too.

Idk. Something else that comes to mind in this era of fandom is when fans like me say things like Star Wars is dead, I'm not just referring to how I feel about the story, I'm often referring to the spirit of innovation that became synonymous with it. I think as far as the stories they want to tell go, it is also a reflection of that lack of innovation by retreading the same ideas as opposed to trying to push the story forward. As much as I hated the direction George took his prequels from a writing perspective at least he largely succeeded in pushing the boundaries of what was possible and created new tools to tell his stories. I can't think of a single innovation that has been made in an effort to tell stories in a galaxy far, far away since the Disney buy out. It's partly why they feel so flat and uninspired.

There may have been innovations but you don't hear about them because Lucasfilm isn't willing to show us behind the curtain the way Lucas was with the extra content for his films. Not having that look at the talent behind the scenes in a real in depth way I think robs fans of the magic of Star Wars creation and in turn means this world isn't accessible the way it once was. George at least made it feel like it was possible to do anything if you set your mind to it. I don't get that at all with Lucasfilm now.

I don't think Star Wars is really the legacy that George Lucas will leave behind as a film maker. I think his real legacy will be that he innovated technology that furthered the art of cinema and not just for his own films.

Just some thoughts.
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I see a lot of innovation. They've taken puppetry and animitronics to a new level. Just look at BB-8 or "six eyes" from Solo. They've brought an actor who was dead back to life. And the coolest thing in my opinion. They developed a program to render K2-SO with Unreal Engine 4 on the fly. So that Gareth could look at the monitor while filming and get an idea at what the final shot would look like with K2 in the scene. It worked out so well, that some of those shots are in the film.
 
I think a big part of why people aren't as excited for new Star Wars as they used to be is that "new Star Wars" isn't such a unique thing.

It's hard to conceive of now, but try to remember 1997 for a minute. There had been no "new Star Wars" in 20 years. Suddenly Lucas announces (1) he's finally doing the prequels, and (2) he's rereleasing the old films with new technology!

SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!!!

So many possibilities!

Then they came out and....Han DIDN'T shoot first?! WTF?! And man...that Jabba....doesn't really look right, does he?

Then came the prequels and again SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!!! Until...we were all walking out of the theater after watching TPM trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

That process continues over and over -- excitement in anticipation of a new film, followed by a kind of hollow feeling or outright disappointment. I felt it with AOTC when I thought at first "This will be a real course correction" and instead it was just the START of the Clone Wars. And then I just felt...empty when ROTS came out, because it picked up at the END of the Clone Wars and we missed the whole damn thing, and on top of that, the Jedi all die in, like, 30 seconds during a musical montage, and Anakin becomes evil because...he misses his mom?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!

Now, personally, I really enjoy the new films. I love TLJ and I like TFA. I've also really loved Rogue One and Solo. But each new film means that the next coming film is not a HOLY S*** THIS IS GOING TO BE ****ING AMAZING big deal. It's just another movie.

I think if you're looking to franchises for that experience...you're barking up the wrong tree. Franchises just keep on rolling and cranking out films. In a way, it's good because a good entry can be treated positively, but a bad entry isn't necessarily the end of the world, since more is coming (assuming you think there've been other good entries).

In that sense, Star Wars as a whole is perhaps less "special" than it used to be because it's less unique. And unlike franchises like the Marvel films, there wasn't a gradual and steady build up, with movies getting better and better. Instead, it's this amazing gold standard right at the start, and a constant chase to recreate that feeling to varying degrees of success.
 
Solo4114 said:
But each new film means that the next coming film is not a HOLY S*** THIS IS GOING TO BE ****ING AMAZING big deal. It's just another movie.
Franchises just keep on rolling and cranking out films. In a way, it's good because a good entry can be treated positively, but a bad entry isn't necessarily the end of the world, since more is coming (assuming you think there've been other good entries).

In that sense, Star Wars as a whole is perhaps less "special" than it used to be because it's less unique. And unlike franchises like the Marvel films, there wasn't a gradual and steady build up, with movies getting better and better. Instead, it's this amazing gold standard right at the start, and a constant chase to recreate that feeling to varying degrees of success.
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That's hit the nail on the head

J
 
I was in our local Disney store the other day. The only piece of SW merch in the whole shop was a kid's dress up Vader costume. And they only had one.
I find it amazing that a franchise that was created largely on the back of it's merchandising has pretty much given it up. Especially as a new film is right on the horizon.
I understand that the theme park is chock full of cool, interesting and park exclusive stuff. Which means most of us will never get at it, or will have to pay over the odds on ebay.
Get some of that out into the Disney Stores or big collector shops, it would help build some anticipation.
Also, the place was rammed with Avengers amd Toy Story 4 toys, figures and merch (amongst others) so I don't wanna hear any crap about how kids dont play with this stuff any more.
 
I took my daughter to our local Smyths Toy shop (about the same size of shop that Toys 'r' Us was before it shut down) to buy some Funko Pop figures

I noticed that the Star Wars section was one 4ft shelf!, before Disney, when all that was being made was the Clone Wars cartoon, there were still a huge section selling OT classic characters, lightsabres etc.....Marvel had about three 4ft sections, thats floor to the top shelf

It is sad to see it disappear like this

J
 
Jaitea said:
I took my daughter to our local Smyths Toy shop (about the same size of shop that Toys 'r' Us was before it shut down) to buy some Funko Pop figures

I noticed that the Star Wars section was one 4ft shelf!, before Disney, when all that was being made was the Clone Wars cartoon, there were still a huge section selling OT classic characters, lightsabres etc.....Marvel had about three 4ft sections, thats floor to the top shelf

It is sad to see it disappear like this

J
Click to expand...
Our Smyths is the same, the Star Wars stuff is buried in the Marvel and DC toys. Last time I was in there thay had more Rampage toys than SW, and nearly half an aisle dedicated to wrestling figures.
 
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