Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD * — Page 62

Watching the trailer again, that voice over just gives it such an awful quality.  The Dark Side....and the Light! Sigh

That first shot of Boyega is not flattering to the actor.  They should have picked a better more heroic shot for him.  The Ridley shot was neither bad nor good.

If those are the best shots they have right now, which usually is what a teaser is composed of, then this film could have serious issues...

There were only two things I didn't like.

One was the lightsaber. Just like the twin-bladed saber, it's a case of "looks cool, but functionally idiotic once you think about it". The crossguard may be intended to protect you, but I can see it easily getting in the way and causing injury to the user. However, if it's just some kind of ancient model with an exhaust vent, I can deal with that...

Second, and worse, is something that plagued the PT and almost all Hollywood blockbusters for many years now - it looks too busy. CGI and colour timing aside, every frame just has too much going on. Being able to focus on just people, simple sets, simple objects, and a stationary camera helps pull you into the movie. But adding stuff like close-up group shots, blowing sand, flying water, quick pans, blur, bloom/lens flares, atmospheric effects, and just simply too much detail induces confusion and distraction.

Even one of the lesser Kurosawa films will probably end up being much more entertaining than this.

I've downloaded the 1080p trailer via youtube and seen it a few times now. Tomorrow night I have a mate coming over for a film night so going to see how it looks on the Epson projector and 110" screen :)

I'm liking the trailer the more I see it. The only thing bugging me still is the falcon. The CGI is very detailed (pausing the 1080p shots reveals lots of attention to weathering and impressive digital lighting effects) but... the shape just looks off to me. It doesn't feel like the falcon. I've admired that ship since the late 70s, but this just feels wrong. I need to get a picture of the OTs model(s) and the trailer together to check. My gut feeling is the side walls of the ship are too thin, and the ship looks slightly too wide & long, stretched out?

There are seven blades on that lightsaber, so six of them really should be orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

(See? I'm fully capable of making fun of myself.) 

This doesnt bug me either way but the trailer has a very "fan film" feel about it.

If I didnt know who Boyega was, I'd have sworn when he popped up in the first scene, that he was some fan boy.

The saber has a very obvious look about it.  Its a Knight's Templar style sword.  If the PT had a guy who wielded a weapon that amounted to a laser bo staff, then maybe another version would be a medieval laser sword.  Perhaps another iteration would be styled like a Katana or Scimitar....whatever, you get the drift.  I dont think it looks stupid, i just think there is an obvious quality about it.

The Xwings over water and Falcon over desert....well this has fan boy imagination written all over it.  Who hasnt envisioned the classic star wars spaceships flying around in some environment other than space.  

JJ is a fanboy.  It shows.  Im not denigrating the trailer.  It looks good to me.  The story and characters will make or break this.

boards.theforce.net/threads/the-color-of-the-force-awakens.50024692/

People seem quite caught up in their desire for this movie to match the visual look of the OT. In some things, I agree. The universe should look lived in; things like flashbacks or dream sequences should stay out of it; the colours should look right; it shouldn't be a two hour-long, action-packed frenzy of eye-candy, but it should have it's moments like that. But when it comes to moving cameras and the like, or visually packed sequences, why should it be like a movie made 40 years ago? I expect, with the newer technology available, that this will be done, because the technology exists for it. Regarding busy visuals, what about the RotJ space battle, particularly the shot of oncoming TIE Fighters? I bet there would have been more business if it had been more practicable. Additionally, it seems to only be the action scenes that have this business. That's what I want to see during action.

As for people's expectations: keep in mind that your expectations are almost certainly higher than they were in 1977, '80, and '83. Were you scrutinizing the movies this closely and critically back then? Now, after improvements in technology in the movie industry, and the numerous other ideas that have been used and reused, making it far harder to be original, people tend to be more critical and cynical about movies. Don't go into the movie expecting to see the OT again, or even hoping to. The OT was classic, but the ST will not be classic, for several reasons: it's continuing a classic saga 40 years after the fact, and will necessarily be different in many respects. It just will not be the same, no matter how much anyone wants it to be. Due to cultural reasons and higher expectations than in the '70s and '80s, it will be harder to enjoy the movies as much. We can hope that it will reflect the OT as much as possible, but it will not become a classic itself, even if it's good.

The ST will be a trilogy of it's time, as the OT was. The OT looks like it was made in the '70s-'80s, and the ST will look like it was made in the 2010s. The story will not likely be completely original, because so many potential storylines have been used, leaving less ability to be original. If you analyze the OT to bits, it doesn't seem so good anymore (it only seems to still be amazing out of nostalgia and the memory of it being as enjoyable as it was), so don't analyze this trilogy or the trailers too much. Sit back, don't pick it to pieces, and enjoy it for what it is.

SilverWook said:

I dig this speeder. It evokes Luke's old hot rod, but looks like it's designed to tow stuff.

I like that the designs evoke OT designs, but are new at the same time. This has a similar feel to Luke's speeder (flipped sideways, of course), but it's unique at the same time. I hope the whole movie will give me that feeling.

Ryan McAvoy said:

Johnny Ringo said:

I did however do a quick mockup to get an idea of what things might look like sans hollywood teal / orange filtering.

 Trailer colour-timings are meaningless these days. They bare no resemblance to the finished films, so I wouldn't get too concerned based on an early teaser. But if some of those shots were the actual timing, I'd be mildy concerned same as you.

Yes, completely agree.  Just have to watch the teaser and main trailer for Desolation Of Smaug, and compare it with the final film.  MASSIVE colour-timing differences.  The trailers were orange and teal over contrasted and the final was low saturation with heavily reduced orange/teal look present in An Unexpected Journey.  Again, the final movie and even the next trailer (probably April) will certainly look very different, hopefully in a good way.

SilverWook said:

I dig this speeder. It evokes Luke's old hot rod, but looks like it's designed to tow stuff.

Looks like a giant flying popsicle to me.