SpilkaBilka said:
zombie, msycamore, thanks so much for the info re: the shot of the fleet. Anyone know a reason why this was done, and when the FX shot was created? Was it a shot they simply forgot to put in, or one they felt they needed for some reason after the movie was released?
The way I understand it, the reason for the re-editing being that apparently there was some confusion where exactly Luke and company were located and where the Falcon (Lando) were in relation to them. Besides the two shots added before we first see Lando in the cockpit, they added the exterior shot of the ships with the extra dialogue, "When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we'll contact you."
SpilkaBilka said:
I seem to remember reading/hearing in some Lucas or Kershner interview, about a shot at the end of ESB that apparently came out crappy, I believe of the fleet, and I think Kersh said, "one bad shot can ruin the whole movie" or something like that, so they decided to redo it. I wonder if this is related to the missing/added FX shot?
Yes, I think the quote you remember is from IGN's interview with Gary Kurtz: http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/11/11/an-interview-with-gary-kurtz?page=4
Kurtz: At the very end of Empire ... we decided at the very last minute – we pretty much locked the picture in the mix and just getting ready to make 70mm prints – and we decided that there had to be an extra shot at the very end, to identify this rebel fleet.
If you remember how the end works, it's before you go into the medical department, who are working on Mark's hand. It's the establishing shot of the fleet, and we had a shot already of going into the window and showing Mark inside, and we just decided that it was confusing. We didn't know exactly how that was sorted out, so we wanted a long shot at the beginning, and then one at the end that shows the whole fleet when the Falcon flies off. They weren't very difficult to do, and all the ships were there ... just pile up the composites, and they were rushed through, just to get it done. Very last minute. One of them wasn't particularly good, and George said, "Oh well, maybe we should just let it go."
I said, "It's worth at least one more go through. One bad shot can ruin the whole movie, basically." Which I really believe is true, and it just wasn't very good. It was just a compositing problem, had nothing to do with the individual shot elements – I can't even remember what shot it was, now. I think making a movie wears everybody down. You have to be really careful of the decisions you make at the very end, because you can kind of throw a monkey wrench in, very easily.
Tobar said:
Anyway, nice catch msycamore!
Or not... ;) Hard to unsee, I thought more people had noticed it. And the reason behind it has been bugging me for years.