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Post #397747

Author
Knightmessenger
Parent topic
"The People Vs. George Lucas" documentary...
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/397747/action/topic#397747
Date created
14-Feb-2010, 2:38 PM

Wow, I didn't realize how long this forum topic has been going until I reread my post from late 2007 on page 1. In the beginning, it sounded like a really cool idea but that can be very hard to realize, will they get good interviews or good people to interview? Easier said than done.

However, after watching the trailers, listening to some of the people you were able to interview and seeing some excerpts, I am tremendously impressed. I think you guys know exactly what you're doing and how to get it right in terms of addressing controversy involving passionate fans yet still maintaining professionalism. I was very pleased that the interview segments you shot were in sharp focus, had good lighting contrast and were exposed well. Just what I've seen so far, I'm amazed you were able to get, both in terms of permission and logistics. Some of the interviews excerpted in the trailers are even in another language. This looks like it will be very interesting to see even (and maybe especially) for those who haven't paid as much attention to all the debates among fans, or even those who aren't even into to Star Wars at all. The best thing about allowing the fans to respond is that you enable the average person to have a voice without doing a lot of work or needing to be a video whiz. I think many people here have dreamed of asking people involved with the films what they think and your project allows us to do that, without having to do the work ourselves.

I do notice that the footage is all in widescreen which is fine, it's your choice but I do hope that any footage originally in standard has been pillarboxed. I didn't hear about the project in time to submit a video but I think it would have helped if you put reminders about copyright in the guidelines. For example, someone might have wanted to use footage from the Greedo scene to illustrate their point and not realize that would mean legal issues with including it in your video. In fact, I assume your project was not able to include any footage from the actual movies, making of specials, or even the Holiday Special. Is that correct? What about fan parodies? And you probably didn't want people to burn in any graphics such as their name either, that would be done by your team to maintain consistency and editing flexibility. 

My only other thing I can possibly find to complain about is that for your tips on fan submissions, I wish your site had more about how to obtain a good looking video. Such as using the manual focus and manual exposure if the camera has them. I cringe at fuzzy, washed out video so I guess giving people more hints about how to avoid that would have been pleasing to me.