Notes on Audience Participation
Star Wars - 70mm - Audio Recording by L. Mayer
Below are some notes of none-movie sounds heard in this recording. There's sever limitations to getting a sense of an audience from just an audio recording. Can't tell if people are sleeping or completely engrossed in the story. But from the non-movie noises, there is a wide variety of people in this audience. Some young kids, couple teenagers, a few women stand out from the random voices.
So can do some cough analysis, generally coughs were kept out of critical moments of the film. People kept the coughs away from dialog or hid them in music crashes.
The laughs from this recording are the best place to hear people getting what's happening on screen. In the comment descriptions added the notation of which lines were GL and which were part of the dialog enhancement by Gloria Katz and Williard Huyck. Many of their additions gathered guffaws, but GL's dialog got some as well. And it's not just dialog. The special fx's get laughs (chess table) the last minute additions (the mouse droid) and edit changes (3po in the wires) which really clicked with this audience. and it's a credit to GL and Burtt that people from early on to later in the film identify with R2. From him being kicked and bickering with 3po to getting hit in the Death Star attack, people responded to the character in this recording.
00:04:40 - quiet yell
00:09:50 - mic adjustment and some speaking
00:10:00 - R2 comments get some giggles - The interaction between R2 and 3po gets a few giggles. The 3po kick seems to lighten the mood.
00:11:50 - coughing
00:12:30 - speaking?
00:23:50 - shifting
00:32:15 - coughing
00:38:15 - Vader's choking of Motti get a few guffaws from what sounds to be an adolescent male. (George Lucas dialog)
00:38:25 - Then a few more comments when Tarkin steps in.
00:54:30 - Excited talk after the escape and hyperspace jump, during shot of Death Star.
00:57:20 - Responding to "Don't everyone thank me at once" line or the chess table. (George Lucas dialog) laughter to one of the chess moves.
00:58:00 - Laugh at the 'Let the wookie win' line. (Gloria Katz / Willard Huyck dialog addition)
01:06:10 - Outburst.
01:07:40 - Outburst kid.
01:09:25 - Laugh "I can imagine quite a bit" (Gloria Katz / Willard Huyck dialog addition)
01:09:45 - big laugh at 'You put those on him' (George Lucas dialog)
01:10:10 - Laugh at Mouse Droid bit.
01:17:35 - Laughs and comments about Dianoga. Then quiet.
01:18:25 - Some comments, when luke goes under a second time. dead silence.
01:23:50 - Laughs at 'Walking carpet' line. (Gloria Katz / Willard Huyck dialog addition)
01:27:30 - cough
01:33:40 - Laugh at 'Help i'm melting' line. (Editing)
01:35:00 - Laugh 'I Care' line, predominantly women. (Gloria Katz / Willard Huyck dialog addition)
01:35:30 - Laugh, full crowd at 'No' line. (George Lucas dialog)
01:38:40 - cough
01:50:45 - cough
01:53:20 - Comments after R2 is hit.
01:55:50 - General chatter as Luke and Han walk to get awards.
Many thanks to L.Mayer for the recording and BrianM for cleaning it up and setting it free.
Added AotC IMAX to the first page list.
Haven't considered non-movie items, but the "Special Effects: Anything Can Happen", might end up in the Honorary Mention category, because of the opening scene recreation and the other movie centric material it contained.