Bingowings said:
"I assume the crawl to be a place holder not the finished text.
I could give it a bit of thought if you want suggestions along those lines.
Beginning the film with Jabba after making such a big thing about Luke in the crawl doesn't quite work either.
Really with the crawl as it stands you want to start with Luke.
If you want to start the film with Han as the focus of the first scene the crawl should be weighted that way (which may be problematic as Han is rescued less than half way through the film. In the round the main threats are the Emperor and the Death Star).
If you really want a scene like that I would start with the shot of Han frozen and turn around to see the court.
The audience needs to connect the new environment and new characters with someone they know.
So I would show them Han and then the full horror of where he is.
The album version of Lapti Nek (I know it's popular) isn't quite getting the mood if you want to use a version I'd use what you can from the soundtrack of the GOUT discs."
The crawl is indeed a temporary version, it's the best I could do in Sony Vegas in the few minutes I could be bothered to spend on it - the writing clearly needs to be tightened up, as well as the look of the crawl: if you have any ideas for ways of improving the crawl I'd love to hear them!
After getting back from a few days on the south coast I watched that 15 minute clip again, and although I agree the choice of Lapti Nek isn't right, the cold open works great (IMO) - it's a scene unlike anything in the first two films, and the audience is thrown into it without warning. Personally I really like the idea of starting that way - and certainly you can't start with Leia Boushh leading in Chewie without having previously set up that a) Jabba is a grotesque gangster who is firmly in charge around here, and not to be messed with, b) that Threepio is already there and given some kind of introduction (even if it's just a shot of him and the music swells), c) that Han is on the wall. So, while the dance number seems irrelevent I think it's essential, and there's no alternative scene that can be used to introduce Jabba's palace, unless you put back the droids wandering up to the palace and being led to Jabba - and that whole scene is, IMO, boring and is better off ditched.
The idea of starting with Han on the wall and then showing the dance scene might work, I'll try it out, although I think it is quite nice to (I'm repeating myself here) start with throwing the audience in at the deep end, with no idea what's going on, and end the scene with Han - to get out of the scene on a dramatic note that pushes the story forward and tells the audience where the conflict is (Han's in this awful place, helpless).
I'll look for other music to use instead of that SE Lapti Nek - I totally concur that it's not right.
