Textbook Fail (SE shots used in matte artwork section)

I'm sure Lucas would roll with glee knowing that he has successfully changed history so solidly.

Sounds like the author of the book got really, really, confused. ;)

Octorox said:

"5.51 In Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope, the take-off of the Millenium Falcon was filmed as a model against a blue screen and matted into a shot of a building with imperial stormtroopers firing upward."- Film Art 8th edition

 

The shot they show is a cg shot from the SE doh....The section is about matte work btw

Wow.  I mean, instead of basing the caption on fact, they made things up that are OBVIOUSLY wrong.  Sad for that book.

Well, the written text was 100% accurate, wasn't it?

In Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope, the take-off of the Millenium Falcon was filmed as a model against a blue screen and matted into a shot of a building with imperial stormtroopers firing upward."- Film Art 8th edition

If I am not mistaken, those are all facts, it was just the picture included to illustrate this was inaccurate. Might not have even been the same person who wrote the text that was in charge of finding illustrations. Perhaps the person responsible didn't even realize that the shot had been altered, there seems to be a great deal of ignorance surrounding the original Star Wars films and the alteration that have been made to them.

No, it's not, because that shot wasn't altered.  It didn't exist in the original version.  The shot of the Falcon lifting up from the hangar bay while being shot at by stormtroopers was only in the SE versions and was completely CG.

Okay, it's possible I'm wrong and the hangar was a model, but my point remains.  Had they accidentally shown an SE picture of the Battle of Yavin the mistake would have simply been mis-versioning where the original shot would have been a model ship composited onto a background before it was updated.  But the shot they used is still exclusive to the SE and therefore never was a model ship composited onto a background.

Gaffer Tape said:

The shot of the Falcon lifting up from the hangar bay while being shot at by stormtroopers was only in the SE versions and was completely CG.

Ah, I guess I didn't realize the exact shot we were talking about, I haven't seen the SE versions in a very, very, very, very long time. That is a pretty massive screw up, akin to writing something about how amazing Jedi Rocks was to everybody back in 1983, and how it blew everyone away at what fluid motions George's army of puppeteers were able to achieve with their puppets.

Octorox said:

"5.51 In Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope, the take-off of the Millenium Falcon was filmed as a model against a blue screen and matted into a shot of a building with imperial stormtroopers firing upward."- Film Art 8th edition

 

The shot they show is a cg shot from the SE doh....The section is about matte work btw

 

 

If I were you I'd contact the publisher and inform them of the error. Maybe they can fix it for the next edition.

Octorox said:

Mielr said:

Octorox said:

"5.51 In Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope, the take-off of the Millenium Falcon was filmed as a model against a blue screen and matted into a shot of a building with imperial stormtroopers firing upward."- Film Art 8th edition

 

The shot they show is a cg shot from the SE doh....The section is about matte work btw

 

 

If I were you I'd contact the publisher and inform them of the error. Maybe they can fix it for the next edition.

 

 

hmm....do you think they would require that I have some sort of source to back up my claims? (I mean other than the films themselves of course)

A still photo of the original scene might help- but a nicely written letter mentioning that you're well versed on all the Star Wars versions should do the trick.

ChainsawAsh said:

I remember it being a good book (though the only two film-related books I've kept have been 'The Filmmaker's Handbook,' which is like a Bible for anyone who's starting out in film; and 'In the Blink of an Eye,' a fantastic book on editing written by Walter Murch), but I don't remember seeing the Star Wars thing in there.  I may have skimmed over it, or it might have been an older edition that didn't have that picture.  It was only two years ago, though ... I really don't remember.

 In the Blink of an Eye is a great one.  I loaned it to my brother who lost it for a year.  When my parents moved their couch, they found my mangled book under one of the pontoons.  I put it under my copy of the Filmmaker's Handbook for a couple months and that seemed to straighten it out.

Here's a screenshot from WookieGroomers GOUT vs DVD:

No original shot, and the red lighting on that Stormtrooper wouldn't be there if that was an actor being blue screened.  There very well may have been a physical hanger model, but everything else in this shot is 100% CGI.

Any chance of getting a scan of the picture out of the book?  Be nice to have around as a OT.com "Fail" picture.