First off, I want to say that while I'm not a SW fan, I'm really impressed with what you're doing with this film. I really like the idea of improving issues with the film relating to the SFX limitations that existed when the film was made, as opposed to Lucas' interest in throwing as much random CGI crap as possible. Nice work.
And I would like to share a few observations I made, looking over this preview you've made available to us:
1) I really like the idea of the view through new binoculars, as the old ones bugged me a bit. However, the effect as it is now is kinda funky. The speed as which Luke scans over the surrounding area is way too fast, as everything sort of blurs by. Also, the movement far too smooth. It's like the binoculars are mounted on a tripod, and they're being rotated automatically. When we see Luke, he's turning at an inconsistent rate, rapidly at first, then slowing down, and he sort of bobs up and down. You've corrected a lot of issues where the motions of one shot don't correlate to another shot, so it wouldn't make sense to introduce an effect that CREATES this problem, ya know? I'd say either slow it way down, and make it more inconsistent (maybe taking advantage of existing footage as well, so that the features we see don't look so smooth and undetailed--it appears you created this effect yourself, and it sticks out), or throw out the effect altogether. I really like the idea, but if it ultimately feels like a video game shot, then toss it, as it'll jerk people out of the experience.
2) I do wanna say, I really like the torture droid. I especially like the detail that not only do we see the irregular quality of the blue electric arc, but you can see the flickering glow on the mechanical arm immediately behind it. I really like the subtlety there. My only thing with the shot has nothing to do with you--as it approaches, we see it wobbling around. Is there anything you can do about that? I really like the shot, but it weakens the menace of the thing if it wobbles and bounces around like that.
3) Mos Eisley
In that first shot of the speeder, where it's going up the hill, did you do the camera effect where it bounces up and down as the speeder comes into the shot? If so, very nice work.
Only thing I don't like about the shot are the little things running around on the right side (I assume those are Lucas' work). They just don't mesh into the scene well. An alternative would be to remove those, using a matte to fill in that part of the shot, and cut a bit off the beginning of that shot, so we only see that scene for a second before the speeder passes over, so we're not looking at this still shot for an overly long period of time, and we don't have the issue with these little rodent things looking odd in the shot. Just an idea.
4) Okay, I really, really love what you're doing with the Cantina. It's insane that in the only scene where you really get a sense of the variety of species that exist in SW, all of these individuals are so dead looking. So what you're doing is absolutely necessary. However, I feel that the effects you're using need to be refined or scaled back a bit, but in other areas, perhaps used a bit more. To go into more detail--
*In the first shot, we see the triangular headed alien looking around. It's sort of a dark shot, but it looks like you make his eyelids and eyebrows (for lack of a better word) moving around a bit. I like it, but in a way, the shot feels dead to me. It's his eyes. We have this close shot of his eyes, and you can tell they're just these gold things. I know it'd be a major pain in the ass, but could you give him animated eyes of some sort? It'd be a nightmare just to track them against the movement of his face, but it's sort of strange to have this opening shot where we have this extreme closeup of an alien, and he looks like a muppet. He needs eyes! Also, the wolf guy's glowing eyes in the background are odd. It's obvious that they're LEDs or something similar. If they could be dimmed down so it looks like they're reflecting light, as opposed to being lightbulbs, I think he'd be a cool looking, ominous character.
*Next shot, we see the four-eyed alien scratching his chin and proboscis. It'd be kinda cool to have maybe one of his lower eyes close just a bit, to give a sense of the pleasure of scratching the itch (like a dog narrowing his eyes when you scratch his head). He's got this super stiff face that doesn't loan itself to any sort of movement, but the eyes are a way of showing some life in his face.
*Next shot is of the two guys with their heads together, laughing or something. It seems like there's too much movement in their faces. The eyes of the guy on the left open and close and open and close, and his face feels rather elastic. Could the movement be scaled back a bit?
*I really dislike the shot of the lizard looking guy with the red hat. It sticks out like a sore thumb, because it's obvious he's CGI, and he's just sort of sitting there by itself. It feels like he's removed from the action. If it were me, I'd actually drop this shot.
*Little later on (around 6:02) there's a shot of the really tall alien with the big mouth talking to a small human on the right. The alien's face mouth moves a bit too much. Maybe it's just the bit where he smiles...it kinda throws off the speech movements of his mouth. Without that momentary smile, I think it'd look more natural. There's another quick shot of him, where we see his mouth moving later on, as he's turning away, that also feels odd. It just seems to me he has this sort of canine looking face, but his face is stiffer looking, crocodilian. Right now, his face feels like it's moving too much. Too elastic. If it could be toned down, I think it'd feel more natural.
*The shot with the elephant dude is weird. He's a '90s Lucas CGI add in, right? Again, I feel like the shot is out of place, and I'd lose it.
*I really like the way the slug blinks. It's kinda involved, but for some reason, I really like it. It's the sort of sleepy, slothful movement I'd expect.
*Right after Luke gets shoved, where we see the eyes of the red-eyed alien narrows--I really like that. Maybe the mouth is a little too animated, but I really like it.
*The Han-Greedo scene is genius. There's a lot of movement in Greedo's face, but it feels right. We've been teased with the strange movements of these aliens, and this feels like a payoff, where we see one of them really animated alive. I like it. I think you could lose the little forehead movement when he talks, though. His forehead is way too animated. He's got this big ear things, and they move nicely and really reinforce what he's saying (sort of like an Italian with their hands). So to have his forehead moving as well, while he's talking, feels like overkill. To have a forehead movement as a momentary, silent reaction (such as being surprised at something) would work, but when he's talking...eh, too much. Also, I noticed something interesting with the blinking. If you look at Han, he doesn't blink much during the scene--his shots are timed so that he's blinking just as his shots begin. So to have Greedo's blinking come smack in the middle of his shots, especially when he has such big obvious eyes is sort of going against that, plus he blinks in every shot, which again, might be overkill. Maybe look at the timing of this? Or maybe change it up, with a double-blink at one point (Han does this in this scene, at one point). Have his eyelids close most of the way, quickly open a bit, then a full blink. Some sort of interesting inflection. I do like the ear movement though. It's kinda reminiscent of the Andorians on Enterprise, where their antennae move around a bit, and reflect their mood. Interesting.
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Anyways, I do really understand that you've already done a hell of a lot of work on this film, and you've done a really nice job. I just think that operating on a more detailed and subtle level would yield some really fascinating and interesting stuff, if you played around with it a bit, especially with the aliens in the cantina. Try some different little details...maybe eyelids that blind sideways, rather than like human eyelids. Or rather than two eyelids that meet in the middle of the eye, a single lid that moves all the way across the eye. And really look at their faces, and think how they're faces should move. Some of them have really stiff faces, they shouldn't have much movement. Others have much softer looking, elastic faces. Look at how peoples' faces move when they talk, how they move when they're surprised, angry, etc, and translate that into these aliens. Maybe look at some really convincing CGI and puppet characters from various movies (E.T., Jurassic Park, Predator, whatever...), find the characters that really feel alive, and look at how their faces move, how the movements are adapted to their physical features.
I think taking the time to really map this stuff out could pay off in the other movies (such as the scenes in Jabba's Palace in Jedi, etc.
But even if you ignored every single damn thing I've said, I'll still be excited as hell to see how all this turns out. It looks fantastic. The above is simply the rantings of a detail whore of epic proportions.
